Dolly Sods Backpacking – July 2022
Dolly Sods Backpacking – May 2022
22
MAY, 2022
After my April 2022 Land Between the Lakes overlanding trip with Jeremy, In May 2022, Bailey and I met with Travis to do our 2nd hike in the Dolly Sods Wilderness of West Virginia. Despite some seriously muddy and challenging trails, it was a great hike. Sadly, this was the first hike in which I had to separate my two labs, Jaden and Bailey. I had to leave Jaden at home for this trip. Jaden is 16 years old, and his back legs are very weak. I knew it was best to leave him home. But Bailey didn’t handle the separation well and seemed a bit ‘off’ the entire trip. Despite that, we all enjoyed our 2nd hike in the beautiful, unique, and diverse Dolly Sods Wilderness.
8-hour drive to Dolly Sods
Even before we started driving, Bailey looked sort of sad. She must have sensed that something was different about this trip. Usually, she would be bouncing off the walls with excitement when she saw the backpack ready to go on a trip. Leaving Jaden at home wasn’t a difficult decision to make. Taking Bailey without him was. I was concerned she wouldn’t handle the separation well, and in the end, that concern proved justified. I don’t regret taking her, but I’m not sure I’ll separate them like that again. The drive was long but uneventful. Eventually, we crossed under the West Virginia welcome sign and finished the drive on back roads to the Inn at Canaan.
Inn at Canaan – closest hotel to Dolly Sods
The Inn at Canaan had been completely renovated since I last stayed there in May 2017. I barely recognized the place. They were in the process of adding a putt-putt golf course. Another difference is it was more expensive than I remember—nearly $200 with taxes and a dog add-on fee. But there aren’t many lodging options in that part of West Virginia, so we bit the bullet on the price and stayed. While we waited for Travis to arrive, we explored the surrounding area. Across the street was a big field with horses in it. The horses were friendly and came over for a nose scratch. We grabbed some barbeque for dinner from Canaan Valley BBQ, just down the street from the hotel.
Gas station breakfast and drive to Bear Rocks Trailhead
The first order of business for the day was to drop one car off at the Red Creek Trailhead. From there, we would pile in the remaining car and drive to the Bear Rocks Trailhead to start the hike. Our hike would be a roughly 20-mile, point-to-point hike from Bear Rocks to the Red Creel Trailhead. We stopped at a gas station along the route and picked up a delicious bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. The drive back to the Red Creek Trailhead was beautiful, with the road winding up and down hills. The mountains’ clouds draped down their sides made the scene a bit dream-like. The weather was cool but expected to heat up quickly.
We passed the Dolly Sods Wilderness entrance sign immediately after leaving the Red Creek Trailhead. Shortly the pavement ended, and the road became substantially rougher. We had traveled this same road when we did our 2017 Dolly Sods Wilderness hike. The going was much slower than I remembered from that trip. Finally, we arrived at the Bear Rocks Trailhead. Last-minute pack adjustments were made, and we compared notes with a couple planning to start on the Bear Rocks Trail. There is a self-registration kiosk at the trailhead. We all registered, and the hiking on the first day started.
Dolly Sods Wilderness Bear Rocks Trail
The weather was pleasant as we started the Bear Rocks Trail hike. Aside from the couple, we met by the trailhead; we had the place to ourselves. A little over a mile into the hiking, we crossed a branch of Red Creek. There was a nice campsite in the woods next to the creek. If you plan to continue hiking to the west side of Dolly Sods, it’s wise to fill up with water at the stream. There is no water once you’re on top. It was too early for a snack or water refill, so we pressed up the hill on the other side of the creek. At the top of the climb, we came out onto a vase meadow with great views of the Dolly Sods in all directions. I remembered this area from our 2017 hike, and it was one of my favorite sections.
“Time stands still high above Canaan Valley, in Dolly Sods, where a flat, windswept expanse of subalpine heath barrens opens up to the sky. Stunted red spruce, ancient bogs and forlorn boulders define this haunting landscape…” – The Nature Conservancy
Diverse habitat, muddy trails, and the Dobbin Grade
After hiking on the subalpine heath barren for another mile, we entered a dense evergreen forest. The transition was immediate and startling. Shortly after that, we entered a rhododendron thicket. Such is the diversity in the Dolly Sods! I’ve never been where such drastic habitat changes occur so quickly or often. We descended on the Raven Ridge Trail until it intersected with the Dobbin Grade Trail. Regarding the Dobbin Grade Trail… never hike on it! It is the muddiest trail in all of the Dolly Sods, and in many places, it resembles a river more than a trail. We turned onto it and, fortunately, took it for only 0.1 miles. Turning left onto the Upper Red Creek Trail, we started the ascent up to Blackbird Knob.
First night campsite on Left Fork Red Creek
We climbed for about a mile and rounded the summit of Blackbird Knob. I had gotten a little ahead of Travis and wasn’t familiar with the area. We planned to stop at a specific campsite Travis had used previously, and the camp was close. I started getting concerned I had already passed it, so I turned back to find Travis. About 1/4 mile back, I reconnected with Travis. We hadn’t passed the camp, but it was less than a mile ahead. Wow, what a great campsite that was on Left Fork Red Creek. The only downside was there weren’t good places to sit. We set our tents on a soft grassy spot next to the creek. The area was popular, and there was no firewood close by. We made four firewood runs deep into the nearby woods but eventually found enough for the night.
Dinner for the night was planned to be Spam cooked over the fire, so getting enough firewood was important. Later in the afternoon, another group joined our site and set up camp further down the creek. It was a great spot and very comfortable once we got a fire to keep some of the bugs away. Bailey was bothered by the flies and spent a lot of time biting them out of the air. I don’t think her efforts reduced the bug population, but watching her was entertaining. We had Packit Gourmet Cheddar Cheese Spread as an appetizer and then finished the delicious fire-roasted Spam for our dinner. After dinner, we sipped some adult beverages before the fire, then headed to our tents to sleep.
Hiking on day 2 – blue skies and more Dolly Sods diversity
The second day dawned clear and beautiful. It was mostly cloudy the entire first day, with a couple of stretches where it started to rain. It didn’t look like there would be any rain on this day. Our plan for day #2 was to hike west on the Blackbird Knob Trail for two miles until it intersected with the Big Stonecoal Trail. Then take the Big Stonecoal Trail five miles to the Red Creek crossing. After crossing Red Creek, we would look for a campsite. The Dolly Sods diversity was with us from the start on day 2. After hiking uphill from camp, we passed through a birch-type tree grove, then immediately into an evergreen forest near the intersection with the Rocky Ridge Trail. We turned left and started hiking down the hill.
Muddy Big Stonecoal Trail to the Red Creek Crossing
As is always the case in the Dolly Sods, the trails were muddy the entire hike. But there were a few muddy stretches on day two that were awful. Bailey got stuck in two deep mud pools, and I had to pull her out using her collar. The trail was lined with rhododendron, and deep mud stretched the entire trail’s width. We came out of the mud a couple of times only to find ourselves on entirely rock-covered trails. It was frustrating, slow, and exhausting. Fortunately, the temperatures hadn’t risen to the expected 90-deg range. That would have been brutal. We passed the fantastic campsite on Stonecoal Run, where Travis and I met Matt on night #1 in 2017. From there, we started downhill toward Red Creek.
More mud and diverse Dolly Sods habitat
The vegetation changed constantly. We walked through dense, dark evergreen forests, then into rhododendron, into deciduous forests with wildflowers. The one constant was the muddy trails. The technique was to stare down at the trail, find a rock or root to step on and take one little forward step at a time. In areas with no rocks or roots to step on, you had to check the depth of the mud with a trekking pole to ensure you didn’t step into a bottomless mud pit. It was slow going. The brutally steep trail down to Red Creek began when the mud finally ended. It was steeply downhill and almost entirely on stair-like rocks. It beat my knees to death, and it was really tough on Bailey.
Red Creek Crossing
The bottom was entirely rocks covered with slime, making it extremely slick and sketchy. I held Bailey’s color with one hand and braced myself downstream with trekking poles with the other. It worked. We crossed safely AND got the money shot!
The muddy, rocky, and steep trails had been tough, but the crossing of Red Creek was downright dangerous. It had rained heavily in the days before we hiked. Red Creek was high and running fast. I was apprehensive about how I would get Bailey across. Making it more ‘fun’ was that I wanted to capture the crossing on video for my 2022 Dolly Sods YouTube video. To do that required crossing Red Creek three times. Once to take the camera to the other side of the river, twice to cross back again, and a third time to do the crossing on video. Travis hadn’t arrived at the river yet, so I had no one to hold Bailey, and I knew if I tied her up, she would lose her mind when I went across without her. So… she crossed with me all three times.
Change of plans
Our original plan was to look for a campsite in the vicinity of Red Creek after we had crossed. But the day had been long and exhausting, and we were only a mile from the car at that point. We discussed alternatives, and Travis suggested we camp at Seneca Rocks. I knew about Seneca Rocks but I had never been there, and had always wanted to go. It had also been a rough trip on Bailey.
You could tell that without Jaden, her heart wasn’t in it. On top of that, it had been an exhausting hike for her. It was brutally challenging hiking for Travis and me, but it was even more challenging for Bailey. Travis and I could pick our way out of the mud using roots and rocks – Bailey just plowed right through. Twice she had gone into mud deep enough that she couldn’t get out on her own, and many other times, she’d gotten into deep mud but was able to pull herself out. We decided to head to Seneca Rocks for the night, which worked out exceptionally well. It was a great night with a campfire, and we were able to find her a perfect ‘swimming hole’ in a river near our camp.
Conclusion – Dolly Sods Backpacking
Despite the challenging trails and an out-of-sorts Bailey, it was a great trip. The Dolly Sods Wilderness is a unique and beautiful backcountry area that has a great deal to offer. From gorgeous views and scenery up top to a diversity of habitat and vegetation that exceeds anything I’ve seen while backpacking to plentiful great campsites. I think I will leave Bailey at home with Jaden next time, but I would very much like to get back to Dolly Sods for a third trip.
