Every organization we link to: local tourism offices, the state and federal agencies that manage the land, the nonprofits and clubs that keep access open, and the universities doing the research.
West Virginia has roughly 1.5 million acres of public land and a handful of places that carry almost all of the attention. The consequence is that a great deal of very good ground sits nearly empty, usually for one of three reasons: nobody has heard of it, the road in is gated or rough, or it is undeveloped and has nothing to advertise. Those are the places below — of them across regions.
Almost Heaven Swings
The plateau, from 3,000 feet to Mount Porte Crayon
Roaring Plains West Wilderness covers 6,792 acres of high plateau immediately south of Dolly Sods. The southern edge of the wilderness sits at about 3,000 feet, and the high point, Mount Porte Crayon, tops 4,700 feet. That spread is the shape of a day here: you gain the plateau first and walk the open ground second.
What grows on top is the reason people make the effort. Bog, heath and wind-flagged spruce run across the high country, the same communities that made the wilderness next door well known. In the Potomac Highlands these are relict boreal systems left behind after the last glaciation, closer in character to eastern Canada than to the hardwood slopes below them.
Every acre of West Virginia above 4,000 feet lies in this region, and Spruce Knob, the state high point, reaches 4,863 feet. Four federally designated wilderness areas sit inside the same highlands. Roaring Plains West is one of them, sharing a boundary with Dolly Sods, whose 17,000-plus acres take in most of the visitors.
Forest Road 70 and the gate that sets your year
Forest Road 70 is gated, and it opens only during the autumn hunting season. That one fact governs how a trip here works. For most of the calendar the wilderness effectively begins where the gate stops your vehicle, and the mileage you were going to drive becomes mileage you walk.
The record names two foot approaches for the rest of the year: from Forest Road 19, or from Bonner Mountain Road. Both put walking between you and the plateau. If you are planning to be on the high ground at first light, build that approach into the plan rather than assuming a short pull from a trailhead. Road status changes year to year, so confirm the current condition of the gate with the Monongahela National Forest before you leave.
Driving in from Petersburg
Petersburg is where the documented approach starts: WV 28/55 to Jordan Run Road, a mile to Forest Road 19, six miles to Forest Road 75, then a mile to Forest Road 70. Those are short distances on paper.
What the record does not describe is the surface or condition of FR 19 and FR 75, so ask the Forest Service what a passenger car can reasonably do before you count on driving the whole sequence. Note also that the last mile of it is the piece behind the gate. No fees, permits or parking arrangements appear in this record either; the Forest Service is the place to settle those.
One named trail, and no mileage to plan from
The Forest Service publishes no total trail mileage for Roaring Plains West. Flatrock Run Trail 519 is the main named route. That is the entirety of what this site knows about the trail network here, and it is less than most hikers want in hand before a day out.
Plan for it rather than around it. Carry a map and compass, and treat this as wilderness rather than a marked park trail system. Designated wilderness in the Monongahela is not blazed and groomed the way a state park loop is, and finding a line across open heath is a different task than following worn tread through timber.
If you want a signed loop with a known distance, ask the Monongahela National Forest what is currently cleared and signed before you draw one off a map. A confident trail total for this wilderness is not coming from the agency, because the agency does not publish one.
Group limits and what you may not take out
Parties larger than ten people are prohibited, the same cap that applies in every Monongahela wilderness. It covers hiking groups as well as camps, which rules out larger organized outings.
Removing plants, stone or moss is also prohibited. On a plateau built of bog and heath that is more than paperwork: sphagnum and heath at this elevation recover over decades, not over a season. The Forest Service holds the current rules, and they are worth reading before a first visit rather than after.
Nights on the bog and heath
There is no campground. Dispersed camping is the only kind available, because this is designated wilderness inside the Monongahela National Forest, and it carries distance rules that keep camps back from trails and water. This record does not state those distances, so get them from the Forest Service.
The ten-person cap applies to camps, and so does the prohibition on taking plants, stone or moss. Use ground that is already durable instead of clearing a site out of heath.
Water, weather and exposure are the real constraints above 4,000 feet, and nothing in this record describes the water sources on the plateau. Plan to treat what you find, and ask the Forest Service about seasonal conditions before you commit to more than one night out.
Reach people planning this trip
Placement alongside guides for outfitters, guides, shops and lodging.
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