The high meadows of Dolly Sods North have some of the most spectacular scenery on the east coast. With beautiful valley views, and seemingly endless rolling
fern pastures, this is an area you'll want to come back to again and again. Part of the Monongahela National Forest, Dolly Sods is a taste of the Canadian high country right in our own back yard.
Trail Notes: The trails in Dolly Sods ARE NOT color blazed. We have them marked on the maps here in different colors for ease of identification only. Non solid dotted trails indicate secondary non-official hiking trails.
From the parking area head down the washed out Bear Rocks Trail TR-522 through a meadow, then climb over a small ridge before descending again to meet the Dobbin Grade Trail TR-526 in 1.1 miles. Continue straight across the Dobbin Grade Trail remaining on the Bear Rocks Trail. The trail is considerably narrower at this point. After passing through a meadow cross Red Creek and head uphill to the left, emerging from the trees and reaching a trail junction marked by a thin trail post.
Turn right at the trail post, pass through a small clearing, and enter a wooded area climbing the ridge. Emerge from the trees at one of the larger high mountain meadows. The trail heads down through a small valley before climbing another meadow and reaching the intersection of the Raven Ridge Trail TR-521.
Stay right uphill on the Raven Ridge Trail for 0.2 miles to the intersection of the Beaver View Trail TR-523. Stay right on the Raven Ridge Trail as it passes through an area of red spruce before arriving at a connecter trail on the left in another 0.4 miles. Continue straight on the Raven Ridge Trail, then turn left onto the Rocky Ridge Trail TR-524 in 0.8 miles. If you miss this trail junction in another 120 yards you will arrive at a three way intersection marked by a small rock cairn. Instead of backtracking you can turn left here for 200 yards through the brush, and pickup the Rocky Ridge Trail.
The Rocky Ridge Trail is intermittently marked with rock cairns. In 0.3 miles enter a wooded area where the trail becomes very rocky. It can be hard to follow in places and is only marked by the rock cairns. Reach the summit side trail with views to the southwest of Canaan Valley 1.0 miles from the last trail junction. Continue south, now descending, along the ridge and arrive at a jeep road in 0.5 miles just past a small red spruce stand. There is only a thin trail post marking the jeep road junction. Continue straight on the Rocky Ridge Trail and pass a small campsite before reaching the junction of the Dobbin Grade Trail in another 0.2 miles.
Turn left downhill on the Dobbin Grade Trail as it descends the valley, then crosses the left fork of Red Creak in 1.0 miles. The trail will veer more to the right before arriving at the junction of the Beaver View Trail in 0.6 miles. Continue straight on the Dobbin Grade Trail passing a spring (hose attached) in 0.3 miles, then descend to the valley floor and pass through a boggy area before arriving at the intersection of the Upper Red Creek Trail TR-509 0.6 miles from the spring. Continue straight on the Dobbin Grade Trail shortly passing the unmarked Raven Ridge Trail, then crossing Red Creek in 0.2 miles.
Immediately after crossing Red Creek turn left on the Dobbin Grade Trail. There isn't a marker at this intersection, and the trail that continues straight climbs a small rise to a vista point. After crossing Red Creek and turning left, pass through a wet boggy section for 0.8 miles, then in 0.2 miles arrive at the junction off the Beaver Dam Trail TR-520. Continue straight on the Dobbin Grade Trail for 0.7 miles to the intersection of the Bear Rocks Trail you descended earlier. Turn right uphill on the Bear Rocks Trail for the 1.1 miles back to FR75 and parking area.
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Reviews For The Dolly Sods North Hike (5 Most Recent)
This was my first visit to Dolly Sods. I live in NJ so this was a long drive for me but worth it. It was alittle marshy in spots just like people have claimed but thanks to my trekkie poles I did okay. I ate lots of berries along the way and did my best to keep my feet dry. I hiked a loop of about 10 to 12 miles. Unfortunately I lost my trail guide about a 1/3 of the way in but remember which trails I wanted to use so was able to find my way. My only issue was with trail markings on a few of the trails. I would have liked alittle more. Occasionally I questioned whether I was on the still on the trail, especially when climbing over rocks but thanks to some previous hikers that left piles of rocks I was able to find my way. All in all a great day and a great hike.
By:
Jack
Rating:
Date of Hike: Thursday, July 15, 2010
This was not my first hike here, I've been coming back for almost thirty years. That should tell you how I feel about Dolly Sods North. I have hiked/backpacked all the trails in Dolly Sods and the north remains my favorite. My early experiences with Dolly Sods North were before the land became NFS. The trails were either nonexistant or old jeep trails, and the old logging railroad bed, Dobbin Grade. The excitment back then was, with compass and topo, to bushwack and see what was over the next ridge. With the NFS marked trails now life is more civilized. But the thrill of hiking the high country, of wind swept heath, of scattered stands of spruce or beech and of wide vistas over looking verdant valleys... it's still there.
By:
Amanandhisdog
Rating:
Date of Hike: Friday, April 02, 2010
I went to Dolly Sods for the first time last Friday (4-2-10). I have to say that the road is very rough once you leave the paved area and hit the dirt road. However, I have to say that I never hit bottom in my car on any rock and I have a Scion XB, You just have to take it relatively slow and watch for rocks.
The last 1.3 miles before you hit Bear Rocks were closed, so I parked my car, grabbed my dog and my water, and walked there. There were no views along the road, save for nice waterfalls both on the left and right due to snowmelt. When I got to the ridge, the view was absolutely spectacular, and you could see for miles and not see a single building.
I found the first trail, Bear Rocks Trail, and that isabout 1/4 of a mile after the parking area for the rocks and Dolly Sods. I was limited for time so I used my GPS and figured out that there are many hikes, some short and some much longer. I took a series of trails (Bear Rocks trail and Beaver Dam trail) that took me in about a 4 mile loop. The scenery was absolutely spectactular and in some cases unequaled from what I have seen from other East Coast hikes, particularly once you hit the streams and the wooded areas. The last thing that I found kind of cool was the fact that it was 83 degrees and I was in shorts, yet when I returned to the road from Beaver Dam Trail I found out why it was closed. Apparently during the storms in February snow had drifted so high in the shaded areas that it was still 2 feet deep right in the middle of the road. How high that snow must have been to still be there even with the warm weather we had been having! There was no way around it, so I had to walk straight through it. It was really quite strange being hot and having your feet freezing cold at the same time.
The last thing I would say about this area, is that it is very marshy and at times downright wet and muddy, so I would recommend replacement socks/shoes/or boots. But to me that just added to the experience. I was not expecting to go on top of a mountain and find marshland. It really seemed kind of surreal.
If you like the feeling of peace and solitude, if you are willing to go beyond just the view at bear rocks and take the trails to find the true beauty of natural wilderness, this area is for you.
By:
GaliWalker
Rating:
Date of Hike: Monday, September 07, 2009
In the wee hours of the morning, with rain hanging in the hills and AC/DC blaring from the speakers, I roared into West Virginia high country, here I come!
Sep 7th, 2009: Dolly Sods Wilderness
Mountains have been hard to come by, here in the Pittsburgh area. Loads of hills and other goodies, but the high country had remained elusive. A few people recommended West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest so, after some homework, I settled on the Dolly Sods Wilderness region. This high plateau (~2700ft-4000ft) promised nice hiking and especially open views, which had been relatively hard to come by in Pennsylvania's green hills.
I had an ambitious day planned so was out of the house by 2:30am. My first planned objective had been to catch the sunrise at Bear Rocks and its awesome views (not part of the hike). Rain and dark clouds meant that this was a bust, so I saved that for a non-rainy day. (Snafu #1.)
I only had a map with me (in Pittsburgh, West Virginia guide-books are hard to come by on short notice) so promptly drove to the wrong trailhead. (Snafu #2.) There was a trailhead sign and a fair number of cars parked, the location seemed to tally (somewhat) with what I could see on my map, and there was a wide trail heading off into the hills. Moron that I am, I took this one...a half-hour later I knew that I had made a mistake so back I went. Oh, did I mention that I first explored the correct route but abandoned it too soon.
Finally, after chatting with some back-packers who were finishing off their hike, I found out that the road ended little more than a mile shy of the trailheads. 15min later I was at the start of the Big Stonecoal Trail and on my hike. Right from the beginning the scenery was spectacular. With the light rain the colors of the ferns (both green and gold), mountain laurel, and even the ground, were turbo-charged. Almost unreal
The trail was easily graded by the surface, at times, was a rocky, rooty mess. A couple of miles into the hike I entered a creepy grove of previously burnt, dark trees. The branches were completely bare and stuck out like porcupine quills. Gawking at the weird sight I took a wrong turn and was soon happily squishing my way through a boggy area, where I encountered bear paw-prints, gravel bars and meandering Big Stonecoal Run. (Snafu #3, but not really, since the entire area was extremely scenic.)
My original plan was a longish loop, but with the various time-consuming snafus along the way this had to be cut in favor of a much shorter loop. So, once back on the Big Stonecoal trail, I turned left onto the Rocky Point trail. Think of the worst creek-bed style trail you can and that was the Rocky Point trail...ugh. A short way into the trail I took a side trip up to Rocky Point. This was the best part of the hike. Meadows, ferns, flowers, autumnal colors, cool rocky outcrops with views of the surrounding mountains, and best of all, a trail that vended its way through an honor-guard of young pines.
After the side trip to Rocky Point, followed by another side trip down to a cascading waterfall, I put on the after-burners. The remaining ankle-twisting mess of the Rocky Point trail was dispatched quickly. After intersecting with the Red Creek trail, I motored along until I hit the Breathed Mountain trail, which would complete my loop. Quick progress slowed down here as I encountered gorgeous meadows and fern/boulder gardens. I was still able to maintain a 3mi/hour clip though and reached my car 9.5hr/14mi after starting.
Did this hike on a Thursday and saw very few people... not a sole once we got onto Raven Ridge Trail. Mid August is a great time to do this hike - there were billions (not kidding!!) of berries - blueberries and huckleberries. We picked and ate so many berries that it took almost 2 hrs to reach Rocky Ridge Trail, and realized if we wanted to finish before night fall we would have to stop eating berries - still couldn't resist a big fat one occaisionally. If you actually look up instead of down in amazement of all the berries, you are greeted with a variety of landscapes. All awesome. Grassland/Meadows, hardwood forest, dark spruce forest (near intersection of Raven Ridge and Rocky Ridge), rocky outcrops and of course the infamous bog on Dobbin Grade Trail. In retrospect, I laugh at the difficulty we had through the bog (the section between intersections of Raven Ridge and Beaver Dam) but would probably avoid if I did this hike again. At first we had some success at hopping from rock to rock, then tried to go around some areas (I know this is not accepted hiking ettiquette however, some areas looked capable of sucking you under - probably an exaggeration - but I was not willing to find out) - this tactic proved mostly unsuccessful as it felt as though you were walking on a giant floating sponge and you had to move fast to avoid sinking to unknown depths. Had one moment of fear when I jumped from a rock onto what I thought was "solid" ground and my foot punctured the sphagnum moss mat and plunged calf deep into I'm not sure what. I quickly pulled my foot out and moved on. All in all, a great hike and would like to explore more in the Dolly Sods area in the future. Thought we might see some evidence of bear because of all the berries, but did not. In fact, no wildlife other than birds. One other note - I actually drove a small motorhome (21 ft) up FR 75 - would not recommend doing this in anything larger or coming back down this way (no guard rails) - we took the other road down (near Bear Rocks) and it was not as bad.
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