Hiking Dolly Sods

What it is, and why it looks like that

Dolly Sods sits on the Allegheny Front above 4,000 feet, and it does not look like Appalachia. Heath barrens, sphagnum bogs, exposed sandstone and red spruce flagged sideways by the prevailing wind — the effect is subarctic, and the reason is a combination of elevation, brutal exposure and a history of logging and fire that stripped the soil in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

It is federally designated wilderness, which has practical consequences. Trails are deliberately unblazed and unsigned. There are no bridges. Trail junctions look like nothing at all, and on the open plateau the trails braid into a dozen boot-worn variants.

The trails you will actually use

Bear Rocks Preserve, owned by The Nature Conservancy, is the northern gateway and the single most photographed spot in West Virginia. It is a drive-up in the sense that a road reaches it, though Forest Road 75 is unpaved, rough and not winter-maintained.

From there, Bear Rocks Trail and Dobbin Grade run south into the plateau. Dobbin Grade is an old railroad grade and is notoriously, memorably wet — expect bog. Blackbird Knob Trail is the standard route in from the Red Creek trailhead and crosses Red Creek, which can be impassable in high water. Rohrbaugh Plains and Wildlife Trail give the cliff-edge views on the eastern rim. Red Creek Trail runs the spine of the drainage and is the backbone of most multi-day loops.

South of the wilderness proper, Lions Head and the Roaring Plains area are rougher, less travelled and arguably more interesting. Further west, Spruce Knob, Seneca Creek and the Judy Springs area give a completely different and gentler experience within a short drive.

Route options by ambition

For a first visit with a car, park at Bear Rocks, walk south along the rim as far as you feel like, and come back. You will see the best of the landscape within a mile.

For a full day, the Red Creek and Blackbird Knob combination gets you into the interior with a creek crossing and enough plateau walking to understand the place. For an overnight, the classic loop links Red Creek, Big Stonecoal and Rohrbaugh, though almost every published version of it disagrees with every other.

For a big traverse, north to south across the plateau is the signature Dolly Sods day, and it needs a shuttle, a map, and a realistic assessment of your navigation in poor visibility.

Take the navigation seriously

This is the part that gets glossed over. Fog rolls onto the plateau fast, the terrain has almost no distinguishing features when it does, the trails are unmarked by design, and phone reception is unreliable. Search and rescue callouts here are a regular occurrence and they are not usually novices.

Carry a paper map and a compass and know how to use them. Download offline mapping as a backup, not as your primary. Tell someone your route. Add margin for creek crossings, because Red Creek after rain can turn a planned loop into an out-and-back.

Seasons

Late summer is blueberry season on the barrens and the single most pleasant time to be there. Autumn is spectacular and busy, with color arriving earlier at this elevation than anywhere else in the state. Winter is genuinely serious — Forest Road 75 is not maintained, and the exposure on the plateau in wind is unlike anything else in West Virginia.

Spring is wet. Dobbin Grade is wet in every season, and in spring it is a wade. Waterproof footwear is not optional here, and neither is accepting that it will fail eventually.

Leave it as you found it

The heath, sphagnum and thin soils here recover extraordinarily slowly — decades, not seasons. Stay on rock and established paths, camp on durable surfaces well away from water, and pack out everything including food scraps. Dolly Sods absorbs a lot of visitors now, and the damage is visible where people have spread out to find their own spot.

Questions

Read next

Best of

The Best Hikes in West Virginia

Thirty West Virginia hikes worth the drive, from 400-foot overlook walks to the Dolly Sods traverse, with distances as the managing agencies publish them.

11 min read Best of

West Virginia Overlooks, Sorted by How Far You Walk

Every notable West Virginia overlook sorted by effort: drive-up terraces, 400-foot walks and full-day climbs, with gate hours and current closures.

9 min read Destination · Potomac Highlands

Things to Do in Davis and Thomas, West Virginia

A guide to Davis and Thomas, West Virginia: Blackwater Falls, Dolly Sods access, Canaan Valley skiing and two of the best small towns in Appalachia.

8 min read