Dolly Sods: (picture heavy)

[tallen702]

For those who have never been there, it's a breathtaking experience, especially around Bear Rocks Preserve on the northeast if wide vistas off of the Allegheny Front are your cup of tea. The wife and I just did two days at Black Bear Resort (very reasonable prices for the cabins) as a brief getaway to decompress from work. We've been several times (to Canaan and the surroundings, especially Davis and Thomas) but this is the first time my wife had been to Dolly Sods and my first time since I was about 14 or 15. I highly recommend the trip to any nature lover. Just make sure to stick to the trails as there is still UXO that gets brought up by the freeze-thaw cycle from when the Army used the area as a target range during WWII. Most of the stuff was cleared out by the ACE in '97, but the occasional round is still found every few years or so.

It should be noted that this is indeed wilderness. 17,000 acres of it. The only things even remotely resembling the creature comforts of home are two vault toilets at the Red Creek Campground and the spring nearby that requires boiling/treating. There are no stores, no potable water, no flush toilets, no shelters, nada in the whole place. Remember to pack what you may need with you, and pack it all back out when done.

 

[tallen702]

 

[joppaj]

Gorgeous pictures Sir.

 

[toppkatt]

It is beautiful there. Some friends and I went there just out of high school camping. When we got back and I was telling my cousin who lived at the farm in Keyser. He said there were lots of copperheads there at that time. :-( Well I didn't meet one so all's well. Go and enjoy the view!

 

[HappyCamper]

Very Cool, thanks for posting those. It's hard to find very large wilderness areas out East. Having lived in Northern AZ and other places in the Rockies, I don't get in the backcountry much anymore. Not quite big west acreages (millions) but it definitely looks worth the trip. Very beautiful.

And that tree is spooky amazing. I wouldn't camp there at night.

Are there many many people doing remote hike-in camping or is it pretty secluded?

 

[ground chuck]

I like the red creek trails and those that lead up to the northern section.

 

[mauser58]

Thanks for the pics. Nice place for sure. They say Almost Heaven.

 

[joppaj]

I've been to Dolly Sods, but never that resort. About 2 hours from DC?

 

[E.Shell]

Great pics! Beautiful countryside! VERY close to where we shot the Allegheny Sniper Challenge matches (Seneca Rocks).

 

[tallen702]

Very Cool, thanks for posting those. It's hard to find very large wilderness areas out East. Having lived in Northern AZ and other places in the Rockies, I don't get in the backcountry much anymore. Not quite big west acreages (millions) but it definitely looks worth the trip. Very beautiful.

And that tree is spooky amazing. I wouldn't camp there at night.

Are there many many people doing remote hike-in camping or is it pretty secluded?

There's been far more recently than before. When the pandemic hit, WV was pretty much the only state in the Mid-Atlantic area that stayed "open." People who knew that reasonable precautions would keep them safe and also knew that the main stem of the ridge-and-valley Appalachians in WV along with the Allegheny Front (eastern edge of the Allegheny Plateau) would be a good place to get away from the stupidity of the cities headed there. Then somebody spilled the beans to reporters in Pittsburgh. They published articles about the area and then the NY Post picked up on it, then the Times, then the WaPo, and next thing you know, the whole area was flooded with jackass college kids and man-buns as far as the eye could see. It got really bad at one point with some folks bringing Walmart back-yard tents and camping (illegally) next to the road and just leaving their trash and even tents right where they pitched them when they left.

It's calmed down quite a bit since then. The USFS has been a bit more strict in enforcing the rules up there, and the fact that there are no bathrooms, no sources of potable water, etc. seems to have made the ill-advised stay away since then. Summer is obviously the busiest time. Fall (when the leaves are at peak) is also very busy, but if you pick the right time, you'll see few people while you're there. The chances of not running into another human being are nil, it's small enough and popular enough that you're likely to see others throughout the day if you're on the trails (as is advised) but it's also easy enough to find solitude, especially mid-week.

Just a reminder. It's WV, so constitutional carry is the law of the land. There are black bears and coyotes, and while 99.99% of the people out there are fine, upstanding and law-abiding citizens, there's always that 0.01%

Dolly Sods is just a small portion of the whole Monongahela National Forest which covers most of the mountainous areas of eastern West Virginia. I think of it as a 3-5 day backpacking trip if you plan to do every trail there. You also have the (smaller) Roaring Plains Wilderness and (larger with 20,000+ acres) Otter Creek Wilderness nearby. You also have Canaan Valley State Park, Blackwater Falls State Park, Canaan Valley Wildlife Refuge, and lots of other Monongahela National Forest land all around. If you want much more wilderness with far fewer people, Cranberry Wilderness (also called Cranberry Backcountry) is where it's at. 47,000+ acres of pure wilderness. Cell service in all of these areas is VERY spotty at best, and non-existent 90% of the time. Paper maps, a good handheld GPS device, and knowledge of proper backpacking technique is definitely needed.

I've been to Dolly Sods, but never that resort. About 2 hours from DC?

3-ish. Corridor H being finished from Wardensville all the way to Davis really makes it a quick trip these days. Black Bear is nice. They have everything from inn suites to larger luxury homes. All of the cabins/homes/suites are privately owned and the resort itself handles the rental end of things for the owners. Each cabin and even each inn suite is different from the others depending on the owners' tastes. Most of the rentals have a gallery so you can see what they look like on the inside. Some are more updated than others. They have a heated pool that's open in the summer (it has to be heated because the average high temp up there is ~80*F all summer long, so it gets chilly overnight) catch and release fishing ponds, fire pits, and a lodge with a pool table and event space. Nothing fancy, but as I said, the price ain't bad at all. It's on the north end of Canaan Valley, so only a few miles from Davis and Thomas as well as Blackwater Falls State Park.

 

[boothdoc]

I love the area. Love the scenery. The crazy weather patterns. The extremeness of it all. Just hate so many peeps who don’t understand leave no trace behind. From climbing on the tree to stacking rocks every to leaving their trash.

 

[Naptown34]

Bump


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[davsco]

did you hike in from timberline or black bear or thereabouts? when we left there in sept, the bridge was closed from the lanesville / rt 32 entrance.

 

[sxs]

I've not really ever hit anything close to all the trails in Dolly Sods. But I do appreciate those sections of trails I have been on. For me, it mostly a few hours at a time hiking there. We drive there usually from Blackwater Falls State Park in WV where I camp. Its a spartan kind of campground but they do provide electric and facilities plus a place to fill with water coming in and dumping going out. From there it is a fairly easy drive to Canaan, Dolly Sods, Spruce knob, Seneca Rocks or, going a bit further out (2 hrs or a bit more), you can visit Cass WV home of the Cass Scenic Railroad. Hiking is easy around Blackwater Falls itself and there is a great short easy hike there at Lindy point with a spectacular view. My Dad is from West Va and I have driven all other state from the northern areas down to the south eastern areas. But I most often trip to places between Davis and Marlinton. My Dad was born in the 30s just outside Greenbank +in Arbovale) which is a cool site for astronomy buffs as it is the home of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Fantastic trout fishing in many of those areas as well.

Thanks for posting the Dolly Sods pics. I need to do a hike there again sometime soon. ..maybe next spring or early summer. I think you sparked a WV bug in me since I haven't made a trip to the area since last fall.

 

[calicojack]

Thanks for the pics. Nice place for sure. They say Almost Heaven.

Yes!

 

[tallen702]

I love the area. Love the scenery. The crazy weather patterns. The extremeness of it all. Just hate so many peeps who don’t understand leave no trace behind. From climbing on the tree to stacking rocks every to leaving their trash.

The rock stackers are the ones who piss me off more than anything. They have ZERO clue as to the environmental damage they cause by doing what they think is some sort of Instagram-able art installation. It took hundreds of millions of years for that rock to get there Karen, don't go f***ing moving it just because you think you're some zen master. The Tree should never be climbed. And any idiots who do so need to get their asses whooped. That yellow birch is at least a century old at this point. It has insect damage the way any old tree does, but otherwise, when we were there, it seemed in pretty good shape. I worry more about the young red spruce around it. Most of the gawkers have no idea that the red spruce which is only about 8-10' tall and super skinny is probably 15 years old. Most of them have no idea that the whole plateau was once covered in a forest of 300-400-year-old red spruce and that all the red spruce there now are less than 100 years old at this point.

did you hike in from timberline or black bear or thereabouts? when we left there in sept, the bridge was closed from the lanesville / rt 32 entrance.

No, I did that before when I was much, much younger (hiking in from Timberline). My parents are good friends of Bob and Ann Orders who have donated thousands upon thousands of acres to both the WV Nature Conservancy (they most recently donated enough land to double the size of Bear Rocks Preserve in 2018) and the Wildlife Refuge. They have a small cabin at Timberline and we spent some time with them there (I'm the same age as their kids) and would often hike or bike the various trails in the area.

The USFS has put in a temporary bridge across Red Creek at Laneville and it opened in early October, so you can access both the Red Creek Trailhead at Laneville and Forest Road 19 from there again. It's a single-lane which makes things a bit hairy if there's any oncoming traffic as there's not a great line of sight before you get to the entrance to the bridge on either side, but it works for what it's needed for.

I've not really ever hit anything close to all the trails in Dolly Sods. But I do appreciate those sections of trails I have been on. For me, it mostly a few hours at a time hiking there. We drive there usually from Blackwater Falls State Park in WV where I camp. Its a spartan kind of campground but they do provide electric and facilities plus a place to fill with water coming in and dumping going out. From there it is a fairly easy drive to Canaan, Dolly Sods, Spruce knob, Seneca Rocks or, going a bit further out (2 hrs or a bit more), you can visit Cass WV home of the Cass Scenic Railroad. Hiking is easy around Blackwater Falls itself and there is a great short easy hike there at Lindy point with a spectacular view. My Dad is from West Va and I have driven all other state from the northern areas down to the south eastern areas. But I most often trip to places between Davis and Marlinton. My Dad was born in the 30s just outside Greenbank +in Arbovale) which is a cool site for astronomy buffs as it is the home of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Fantastic trout fishing in many of those areas as well.

Thanks for posting the Dolly Sods pics. I need to do a hike there again sometime soon. ..maybe next spring or early summer. I think you sparked a WV bug in me since I haven't made a trip to the area since last fall.

I lived in Slaty Fork for a couple of years when I worked at Snowshoe, so Cass, Greenbank, and Arbovale along with Bartow, Durbin, Boyer, etc. are all very familiar to me. I'm mainly a Marlinton to Davis/Thomas guy myself when it comes to destinations in that part of the state. From Beartown and Droop Mountain just south of Marlinton all the way up to Blackwater Falls, there's just so much packed into that area that it's incredible.

 

[Pushrod]

Hey Tallen, nice pictures!
My property borders the Roaring Plains and through the RP's we can get to Dolly Sods, although it is quite the hike to get through the Roaring Plains to Dolly Sods wilderness.
Do you know if the bridge over Red Creek is still closed? They were going to put a temporary bridge across while the old one was repaired. That is the quickest way for me to get up to the Sods. I'd like to go up and pick cranberries, but don't want to get to the bridge and find out it is still closed.

 

[tallen702]

Hey Tallen, nice pictures!
My property borders the Roaring Plains and through the RP's we can get to Dolly Sods, although it is quite the hike to get through the Roaring Plains to Dolly Sods wilderness.
Do you know if the bridge over Red Creek is still closed? They were going to put a temporary bridge across while the old one was repaired. That is the quickest way for me to get up to the Sods. I'd like to go up and pick cranberries, but don't want to get to the bridge and find out it is still closed.

Yes, the bridge is open now. They put in a temporary single-lane truss bridge where the old one crossed Red Creek. You have to stop and look across before you get to the bridge itself to make sure there is no oncoming traffic.

Have you been to the new pizza place in Thomas yet? We had a really good pie there on Saturday night. They use a wood-fired oven which is nice versus how they do things at Sirianni's. That said, I really thought it ironic that they don't use a coal-fired oven given the history of the town.

I was also interested to see that the bike shop in Davis is tripling in size at the moment. They've got the new addition framed out and wrapped. They'd better get it foamed and sided before long though, or they'll lose the wrap to the winter winds in short order.

Things seem to be picking back up in both towns recently. One of the outfitters in Canaan told us that business had tripled since Perfect North took over Timberline.

 

[sxs]

The rock stackers are the ones who piss me off more than anything. They have ZERO clue as to the environmental damage they cause by doing what they think is some sort of Instagram-able art installation. It took hundreds of millions of years for that rock to get there Karen, don't go f***ing moving it just because you think you're some zen master. The Tree should never be climbed. And any idiots who do so need to get their asses whooped. That yellow birch is at least a century old at this point. It has insect damage the way any old tree does, but otherwise, when we were there, it seemed in pretty good shape. I worry more about the young red spruce around it. Most of the gawkers have no idea that the red spruce which is only about 8-10' tall and super skinny is probably 15 years old. Most of them have no idea that the whole plateau was once covered in a forest of 300-400-year-old red spruce and that all the red spruce there now are less than 100 years old at this point.


No, I did that before when I was much, much younger (hiking in from Timberline). My parents are good friends of Bob and Ann Orders who have donated thousands upon thousands of acres to both the WV Nature Conservancy (they most recently donated enough land to double the size of Bear Rocks Preserve in 2018) and the Wildlife Refuge. They have a small cabin at Timberline and we spent some time with them there (I'm the same age as their kids) and would often hike or bike the various trails in the area.

The USFS has put in a temporary bridge across Red Creek at Laneville and it opened in early October, so you can access both the Red Creek Trailhead at Laneville and Forest Road 19 from there again. It's a single-lane which makes things a bit hairy if there's any oncoming traffic as there's not a great line of sight before you get to the entrance to the bridge on either side, but it works for what it's needed for.



I lived in Slaty Fork for a couple of years when I worked at Snowshoe, so Cass, Greenbank, and Arbovale along with Bartow, Durbin, Boyer, etc. are all very familiar to me. I'm mainly a Marlinton to Davis/Thomas guy myself when it comes to destinations in that part of the state. From Beartown and Droop Mountain just south of Marlinton all the way up to Blackwater Falls, there's just so much packed into that area that it's incredible.

I've been to all those places you mentioned quite a number of times. I even had some relatives that lived in Durbin and would visit them until they passed or moved away. I am still in some contact with second cousins who grew up in Durbin.

So you ran up and down 219 more than 28.
I run up and down 28 more often but also drive up and down 219 mostly between Slatyfork and Davis/Thomas....but I do drive down to Marlinton, Droop Mountain etc on occasion.
As a kid and younger adult I would visit relatives (paternal grandfathers siblings and their offspring) in the Arbovale area. I did have an elderly great great aunt who lived in one of the old Cass Company homes until probably around 1980 and visited her there. Funny, I stayed with her for free a number of times. Now it costs like 150+ a night to rent one of those old homes. I have a few distant relations still living in the area. I am acquainted with them, but don't know them well, so I really don't regularly visit anyone there anymore. I still go to that area at least every other year or so to look around and remember all the good times I had there....hunting fishing, visiting, square dances in Dunmore....and remembering those who have passed that I loved and maybe, time permitting, tend to family graves in Arbovale Cemetary. Most often drive there from Blackwater Falls while camping or take a 2 day drive from home during peak colors. I sometimes stay at Elk River Inn at Slatyfork but also stay at Snowshoe. Last year I actually stayed 1 night at Boyer Station. I wasn't even sure prior to that they were still in business. I plan on taking a few days to trout fish the area either next year or soon after. Haven't done that in quite a while and it's my favorite kind of fishing.

 

[tallen702]

I've been to all those places you mentioned quite a number of times. I even had some relatives that lived in Durbin and would visit them until they passed or moved away. I am still in some contact with second cousins who grew up in Durbin.

So you ran up and down 219 more than 28.
I run up and down 28 more often but also drive up and down 219 mostly between Slatyfork and Davis/Thomas....but I do drive down to Marlinton, Droop Mountain etc on occasion.
As a kid and younger adult I would visit relatives (paternal grandfathers siblings and their offspring) in the Arbovale area. I did have an elderly great great aunt who lived in one of the old Cass Company homes until probably around 1980 and visited her there. Funny, I stayed with her for free a number of times. Now it costs like 150+ a night to rent one of those old homes. I have a few distant relations still living in the area. I am acquainted with them, but don't know them well, so I really don't regularly visit anyone there anymore. I still go to that area at least every other year or so to look around and remember all the good times I had there....hunting fishing, visiting, square dances in Dunmore....and remembering those who have passed that I loved and maybe, time permitting, tend to family graves in Arbovale Cemetary. Most often drive there from Blackwater Falls while camping or take a 2 day drive from home during peak colors. I sometimes stay at Elk River Inn at Slatyfork but also stay at Snowshoe. Last year I actually stayed 1 night at Boyer Station. I wasn't even sure prior to that they were still in business. I plan on taking a few days to trout fish the area either next year or soon after. Haven't done that in quite a while and it's my favorite kind of fishing.

I used to get my hair cut (when I had hair) by "Lefty" in Cass. The barber shop is still there, but Lefty passed on some years ago according to the folks I know. I know that Boyer Station was for sale some time ago (it even landed on Zillow!) but I'm not sure if someone bought it to keep it up, or nobody bought it and the owners have just kept it going. I love everything in that area of the state. There used to be a killer Mennonite-owned bakery on 66 right at Deer Creek just before you head over the mountain from Green Bank to Cass. When I lived at Snowshoe, you could go there and get a "meat and three" hot lunch for something like $6. Fried chicken, slow-simmered beans with bacon, mashed potatoes, and a biscuit with butter and honey was one of the usuals. They had the best pecan buns there as well. I hated to see that place go out, but it eventually did. The wife and I would pick up and move to the region if we could find work that would keep us in the style of living we are accustomed to. If only we had the winning lottery numbers for tonight!