Dolly Sods Wilderness
A 17,371-acre federally designated wilderness on a plateau largely above 4,000 feet, containing wind-flagged red spruce, heath barrens, sphagnum bog and exposed rock. The original spruce forest was logged and the remaining duff burned to bedrock in the early twentieth century, which is why much of the plateau remains open. The area was used as a live-fire artillery training range during World War II, and unexploded ordnance warnings are still posted at trailheads. Trails are unblazed and stream crossings are unbridged.
Know before you go
- Bear Rocks at sunrise is the classic photograph — arrive in the dark
- Navigation is required; trails are faint and junctions unsigned
- Red Creek runs tannin-brown and crossings can be impassable after rain
- Weather changes fast and hypothermia is a real risk in any month
- Camp only on durable surfaces — the bogs are fragile and slow to recover
What you can do here
Backpacking
Hiking
Outdoor Photography
Birding
Primitive & Dispersed Camping
Snowshoeing
Nature Observation
Orienteering
Trail Running
Guides, gear and lodging near Dolly Sods Wilderness
Place-level placement for operators within range of this trailhead, put-in or crag.
List your business hereWho looks after it
Nearby in the Potomac Highlands
Bear Rocks Preserve
The northern edge of the Dolly Sods plateau, owned by The Nature Conservancy: bare Pottsville sandstone slabs, one-sided spruce sculpted by prevailing wind, and blueberry heath dropping east into the Allegheny Front with a 3,000-foot view over the Potomac Highlands.
Spruce Knob
At 4,863 feet, the highest point in West Virginia and the high point of the entire Allegheny range.
Seneca Rocks
A 900-foot fin of near-vertical Tuscarora quartzite standing above the North Fork of the South Branch — the most recognizable rock formation in the eastern United States and the only true summit in the East that can only be reached by technical climbing.
Seneca Creek Backcountry
A network of trails below Spruce Knob following Seneca Creek through spruce and northern hardwood to a series of waterfalls, the largest around 20 feet.
Blackwater Falls State Park
A 57-foot falls where the Blackwater River drops into an eight-mile canyon, its water stained amber by hemlock and spruce tannins.
Canaan Valley
The highest large valley east of the Mississippi, at about 3,200 feet — a 14-mile-long bowl of wetland, bog, beaver meadow and northern hardwood that behaves climatically like central Canada.