3 nights in the Dolly Sods (WV)

[wsp_scott]

Dolly Sods (WV)
7/30 - 8/2/23 (3 nights)

CalTopo says about 27 miles and 3000' of elevation

Book: The City and The City by China Miéville (I clicked on the wrong title on my Kindle and decided that maybe I was "supposed" to read this book on this trip. Ended up being an awesome backpacking book. Slightly weird and highly recommended.)

My wife took the kids for the annual grandparents visit. Normally, I would have headed for the Sierra, but I had a trip planned for Yellowstone in another week. So what to do while I'm home alone? Haven't been to the Dolly Sods in a while.

I started at the Red Creek Trailhead about 3pm with the idea of a couple miles to camp. I had never been up the Little Stonecoal Run Trail, so that sounded like a good way to start. All of the trails from Red Creek gain a lot of elevation, some of them do it all in a short distance. The Little Stonecoal gains about 1000' in about 1.5 miles, so a good start to the trip.

Crossing Red Creek on a beautiful day


I had a pretty good idea where I was aiming for the first nights camp and a couple hours later, I was there.

Night 1 camp


Remains from logging






Camp visitor


Stonecoal Run


Some reflections in the creek ...


... and clouds in the sky


More reflections






Next morning, heading north

Large beaver dam on the edge of the trail, no signs of the builders


Near a favorite lunch spot overlooking Canaan Valley






Along Dobbin Grade Trail, this lake wasn't hear the last time I passed through ...


... The beavers have been working. Someone has routed the trail across the top




I followed a new to me user trail up the ridge to a dry camp and then fetched water down the hill.

Night 2 camp


I was hoping for a nice sunset, but the lack of clouds made it not very photogenic





The next morning was very hazy, but I did not think too much about it.


Canaan Valley


Blueberries


Cabin Mountain

Very hazy, a little weird


Old road around Dobbin Slashings



Back on the Dobbin Grade Trail and a little bit of mud


Dobbin Grade Trail has lots of stretches like this


Night 3 camp above Upper Red Creek


About this point I realized that the haze was smoke, probably from Canadian wildfires, maybe a good sunset?




Way to hazy for a nice sunset, the sun just sort of disappeared as it got close to the ridge.

Next day back to the car and then drive home and get ready for Yellowstone

 

[Janice]

Beautiful pictures - I really love your reflections, especially the ones where we don't see the sky.

The mud looked...fun?!

Someday we'll get to Dolly Sods... I see you were there mid-summer. What kind of temps and humidity did you have?

 

[wsp_scott]

Beautiful pictures - I really love your reflections, especially the ones where we don't see the sky.

The mud looked...fun?!

Someday we'll get to Dolly Sods... I see you were there mid-summer. What kind of temps and humidity did you have?

The mud can be avoided by choosing different trails, don't let the mud keep you from visiting

Probably was about mid-70s during the day and one night got into to mid-40s. The wind really matters here, the second night when I was up on a ridge, I had to hide behind a tree while I was reading and waiting for the sunset. It was probably gusting about 25mph. I had my summer quilt and was trying to decide between that or the warm/winter one for Yellowstone. It got cold/windy enough on this trip that I took my warm one to Yellowstone.

 

[OldBill]

Stunning photos as usual! Yeah, Dobbin Grade is notorious for a muddy slog particularly E of Red Creek. We did a 2 night loop through the upper section in in mid-May from Bear Rocks. Thought the open meadows were similar to what you see near Yellowstone. Spent the 2nd night at the Forks. Luckily not crowded that time of year. Great area. Liked Seneca Rocks area as well. Ton of rain in 2022. Luckily the 3 days we spent on the Sods backpack were great.

 

[wsp_scott]

Stunning photos as usual! Yeah, Dobbin Grade is notorious for a muddy slog particularly E of Red Creek. We did a 2 night loop through the upper section in in mid-May from Bear Rocks. Thought the open meadows were similar to what you see near Yellowstone. Spent the 2nd night at the Forks. Luckily not crowded that time of year. Great area. Liked Seneca Rocks area as well. Ton of rain in 2022. Luckily the 3 days we spent on the Sods backpack were great.

I tend to think of Yellowstone as well, wind swept plains and spruce definitely give the vibe. Then throw in some beavers and mud and it is very Yellowstone

Dobbin Grade used to be mostly bad east of Red Creek, now the whole trail is pretty much consumed by the beavers.

 

[Janice]

@wsp_scott and @OldBill (and anyone else who's been) - My cousin from the East Coast wants to try backpacking and reached out about doing a trip together (just me and her) this summer. She's interested in trying 2 nights, and I'm thinking Dolly Sods might work well. I still have never been and know the two of you are enthusiastic about it. The drive is almost 8 hours for me but only 3.5 for her, so I think that would be ok. A few questions:

1) I'm not available in June or September. Do you think it matters whether we go in July or August? (bugs, weather, mud, etc.)

2) I'll make sure she trains ahead of time, but I want to plan a route that won't be too hard for her. Do you think we should do the Lions Head loop? I would love to hear your specific recommendations for route, camping locations, and anything else. Are there ways to minimize crowds and mud?

3) Anything else I should know about Dolly Sods? I'd love to hear!

Thanks,
Janice

 

[wsp_scott]

July or August should be fine, but weather gets a vote. I got destroyed one July with a "heat dome" over the whole southeast, but usually the Dolly Sods elevation (4000') helps to dial down the worst of summer. I've only had bug issue on one trip and it wasn't terrible and could have been avoid by hiking a little more, but I had kids with me so more hiking wasn't happening.

Mud is mostly avoidable, crowds in the middle of the week aren't bad.

I think I suggested a route/trip for you in the past, but if not I'm happy to provide some details for you.

 

[Janice]

Thanks for your help. I remember you gave me great ideas for Big South Fork (but we didn't make it there yet...) and I'll look through things and see if I have notes from you on the Sods.

Good to know that mid-week shouldn't be too crowded. I'm off during the summer so will make a point of going mid-week. One advantage of driving vs. flying is that if there's a forecast for horrible weather we can try for a different week.

 

[OldBill]

I'd suggest mid-August for berry season and less bugs, but like @wsp_scott said, letting weather decide. It will be crowded so your best bet is avoid weekends.

We went in early May and historic flooding was in progress. Luckily the 3 days we had for the backpack were perfect but we couldn't do the southern portion of the loop to Lion's Head. We talked to some people coming up from Big Stonecoal who said it was a stream walk.

We rerouted to Breathed Mtn trail. Nice and quiet - passed one other person. Our 2nd night camp was at the Forks. Even with all the prior rain, the 2 days of dry weather made the crossing of Red Creek very easy (ankle deep). The Forks can get noisy, but we had only a few other campers anywhere near us. Our first camp was near Blackbird Knob. I picked that for relative seclusion. Near the junction of Blackbird Knob and Harman trails. Good firepit and near the stream.

I'd avoid the upper/northern part of Dobbin Grade trail as that has a reputation of being the worst mud. We took Raven Ridge to the unofficial bypass trail back to the Bear Rocks TH. I found this info and map useful for planning: www.midatlantichikes.com/dst.htm

 

[Janice]

I'd suggest mid-August for berry season and less bugs, but like @wsp_scott said, letting weather decide. It will be crowded so your best bet is avoid weekends.

We went in early May and historic flooding was in progress. Luckily the 3 days we had for the backpack were perfect but we couldn't do the southern portion of the loop to Lion's Head. We talked to some people coming up from Big Stonecoal who said it was a stream walk.

We rerouted to Breathed Mtn trail. Nice and quiet - passed one other person. Our 2nd night camp was at the Forks. Even with all the prior rain, the 2 days of dry weather made the crossing of Red Creek very easy (ankle deep). The Forks can get noisy, but we had only a few other campers anywhere near us. Our first camp was near Blackbird Knob. I picked that for relative seclusion. Near the junction of Blackbird Knob and Harman trails. Good firepit and near the stream.

I'd avoid the upper/northern part of Dobbin Grade trail as that has a reputation of being the worst mud. We took Raven Ridge to the unofficial bypass trail back to the Bear Rocks TH. I found this info and map useful for planning: www.midatlantichikes.com/dst.htm

Super helpful - thanks. I'll spend time with the map and your info and the midatlantichikes info. I think this will be great!