Backpacking Dolly Sods, West Virginia

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It's good to be back in Dolly Sods, WV! This is my second trip to the Sods and I swear it got more beautiful than the last time. There are a million things I could say about backpacking in West Virginia, but I'll let the 35 minute video I created speak for itself.
We had originally planned on making our first annual outing for the channel here at Dolly Sods earlier in the year, but a record snow fall had other plans. We ended up moving that trip to North Fork Mountain which is an adjacent mountain range from Dolly Sods which received no snow. I gathered some of the folks from the annual trip and we decided to take a second go at it.
We started off at Bear Rocks trail, which instantly shows off some of the beauty of the Monongahela National Forest. Open meadows and beautiful skies give you a preview of how majestic this area really is. Along the various trails on the plateau, you weave in and out of small spruce groves, boulder fields and even some spots with trees that are leafy.
Our time atop the plateau was capped off on Rocky Ridge where we saw some amazing vistas along the edge of the plateau. Our timing was a few weeks early, but we managed to pick quite a few blueberries while hiking for convenient snacks. They would have been more ripe in a week or two but they were still good. We capped off day one by descending along Big Stonecoal trail down into the lower elevations. We set up camp here and I got my second swing at pitching my Warbonnet Mountainfly tarp in porch mode.
James and Andrew got to try out some new gear as well, as they had lightened their packs significantly since their last outing. Some notable improvements were their use of trail runners and switching to the Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo trekking pole tent.
Day two started us off with some minor water crossings and venturing through some older growth conifers. The low lying areas along Red Creek are very beautiful and provide another “biome” to further add to the diversity of the wilderness area.
The highlight of day two was climbing to the top of Breathed Mountain. The trail up isn’t really a trail as it is more rock climbing and scrambling than anything else. The views from atop the mountain are some of the best in the Monongahela National Forest. I didn’t capture it on video because there were people in the way, but there is a rock formation that juts out from the side of the mountain called Lion’s Head that is very unique.
One of the high notes of the trip was snagging a primo campsite along Red Creek. We managed to go for a swim a couple hundred feet from a small waterfall in the creek. I must say this is the first time I’ve ever gone for a swim during a backpacking trip which was a welcome refreshment.
Day three started by climbing the big hill by Blackbird Knob. This put us back up at somewhat higher elevation where the mountains opened up into meadows with great views. We once more descended into the lower elevations along Upper Red Creek Trail and the notorious Dobbin Grade.
Dobbin Grade has a reputation for being a trail you should avoid due to all the mid. My personal opinion is that everyone should experience this trail at least once. Despite slogging through the bog, this trail has some amazing meadow views and cool water features.
Here’s the gear I brought on this trip!
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Join our Facebook group and ask us some questions and tag along on our annual trip!
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If you want to plan a trip to the Dolly Sods Wilderness, here is my GPX file that includes multiple routes and waypoints for water sources and campsites!
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