Nelson Rocks Outdoor Center (NROC), previously known as Nelson Rocks Preserve, is an outdoor recreation area located in the North Fork Valley of Pendleton County, West Virginia

Pendleton County, West Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 8,196 people, 3,350 households, and 2,355 families residing in the county. The population density was 12 people per square mile . There were 5,102 housing units at an average density of 7 per square mile...

. The privately-owned nature preserve is dedicated to the preservation of Nelson Rocks as a natural, scenic, and recreational resource.

The mountainous 145 acre site is known for its sheer rock walls of Tuscarora sandstone

Tuscarora Formation

The Silurian Tuscarora Formation — also known as Tuscarora Sandstone or Tuscarora Quartzite — is a mapped bedrock unit in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia.-Description:...

 and features a canopy tour

Canopy tour

A canopy tour is an established route through a wooded and often mountainous landscape making primary use of zip-lines and aerial bridges between platforms built in trees. Tourists are harnessed to a steel cable without interruption throughout the entire tour for safety...

 featuring zip-line

Zip-line

A zip-line consists of a pulley suspended on a cable mounted on an incline...

s, and a Via Ferrata

Via ferrata

A via ferrata or klettersteig is a mountain route which is equipped with fixed cables, stemples, ladders, and bridges. The use of these allows otherwise isolated routes to be joined to create longer routes which are accessible to people with a wide range of climbing abilities...

.

Rock climbing

Rock climbing

Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...

was once common there; climbers may now climb only if guided by approved climbing guides.

External links

Allegheny & Blue Ridge Trip at Nelson Rocks - The Via Ferrata. (Photoessay.) Daniel Woodrum, 2008. http://www.takemytrip.com/08vapawv/08n_16a.htm

High Adventure for Beginners. West Virginia Department of Commerce. August 2011. http://www.wvcommerce.org/(S(4glc555510ef2a45yavx0j45))/info/wvmagazine/discover_2011/high_adventure/rock_climbing/default.aspx