Dolly Sods Wilderness
The dolly sods wilderness is one of the top search results when looking for a backpacking route in West Virginia.
We had a beautiful trip, we hiked in early Friday morning to avoid the crowds. The sun was shining and we happily heaved our packs onto our shoulders and set out. Our research told us that Dobbin Grade trail was muddy and to be avoided so we planned a route around it. While Dobbin Grade may have been muddier, the whole trip was muddy. This appears to be a result of overuse. The trails are wide and well worn. In places they are 5 ft across and 6 inches of mud. Much of our time was spent picking our way across the rocks trying to keep our boots dry. This mostly makes me sad. We also didn’t see anything bigger than a squirrel, and even those were few and far between. It seems that the area is so heavily traveled by people and people on horses that other wildlife has moved out for the most part (although I did read online that bears are active in the area).
example mud
Our hike from the car and for most of the first day was along the ridge from bear rocks trailhead. This was beautiful and sunny. We hiked along looking at the trees, sunshine, crossed a few creeks, and stopped at an overlook for lunch. Here we looked out over the valley floor. After lunch, we hiked along and realized we would have to look for camp based on where we could find water. Although the trails were wet, there were not actually that many streams so once we made it to the next stream crossing, we began looking for campsites. There were many but they were too close to the trail. We decided that we could be picky since we hadn’t seen anyone and it was still mid-afternoon. After continuing, we found a site near the last stream crossing of the day (the next would be several miles). Our campsite was near water and secluded from the trail. In the theme of the area being well traveled, there was also plenty of trash in it. We picked it up but it was disappointing to see that people here are not following leave no trace. We also found a brand new still-in-the-plastic tarp which we left behind because none of us wanted to carry it around the loop — hopefully someone else will pack it out and be able to use it.
day 1 lunch on the ridge
We were eating dinner in our campsite when a guy came from the trail and asked if he can set up camp in our site. I would have asked him to find another spot, but Ryo told him he was welcome. Seems like a lot more people hiked in after us because Aidan (new friend/campsite mate) told us that he couldn’t find a campsite and the only other one he saw only had two girls camped there. He thought it would be weird to ask them but thought we were okay because we had a guy with us. Anyways we made small talk with Aidan, a recent college graduate with a mechE degree and a substack. He told us he doesn’t think he wants to go into engineering and he likes writing substack essays, he didn’t say what he likes to write about. I didn’t ask him why he does solo trips and hangs out with strangers.
Saturday was Ryo’s birthday, the sun was shining, and we ate instant oatmeal and instant coffee for breakfast before heading out. This was the day of the lionshead loop, the majority of our miles, and short side quests. We hiked through the forest and mud and shrub to the bottom of the loop and there, we dropped our packs to take a detour up the “lion’s head.” This turned out to be more of a scramble up a boulder field. This brought to mind the granite fields in the Wallowa Mountains with Anthony and Alex and, of course, my mom anxiously watching from camp. These boulders did not house any pika that we could see, though. I’m pretty sure this is the quintessential Dolly Sods spot. The views were nice and I’m SURE they will be even nicer when the fall colors are in full swing. The boulder scramble turned out to have been unnecessary as we found the trail on our way down.
lions head, also, the sun was in our eyes
Lunch on Saturday was excellent. We had lunch on a big rock in the middle of a stream. Here we rested our feet in cool water (these boots are giving me blisters). After lunch, we sunbathed and reflected on the privilege of not being able to see Slack. Ari suggested a swim. I didn’t need much persuading. We made Ryo turn around as we stripped to our underwear and waded down to the main creek where the water was deeper. It was at this point that we both started regretting our choices. The sun which had originally felt warm now felt like the not-quite-warm-enough fall sun. The water was freezing; my feet were numb. We had committed, no turning back now. I waded around looking for a good spot and fell in while looking. Floating in the creek, I thought of all the times in my life I have had the privilege of swimming in mountain lakes with my family. I like the way cold fills my ears and the sun warms my eyelids. It’s not something you can achieve at home. I am glad I got to share this with Arianna. We hung our underwear to dry on the outside of our packs, and I wore a damp sports bra for the rest of the day.
this loop has a mix of forests, ridge lines, and fields. also, if you look closely you can see the full gallon of water behind ryo's neck
We hiked uphill in the forest until we hit the fork for dobbin grade trail. Here, we filled up water again since it is the last spot for water until a mile before the trailhead. Ryo was the hero here and carried a gallon of water a couple miles on top of his pack somehow. We had a hard time finding a nice campsite the second night. We eventually went quite a way off trail and found an old one that was mostly covered in leaves. Dinner was pasta, red sauce, sausage, and fireball shooters. Followed up with instant cook in bag cookies?? They were surprisingly not bad. It was a real oversight, but we forgot marshmallows. This night was fun since it was just the three of us hanging out. It started to sprinkle around sunset, so we cleaned up camp and crawled in the tent to play card games. Ryo was teaching us a Japanese card game when I realized it was the Japanese version of Old Maid (the game where you try not to be stuck with the lone card?) so we played this for a while until it was well past time to sleep. Sunday we mostly wanted to get home. We cleaned up camp and hiked the last 3 miles to the car, reaching the trailhead before 10a. we looked at the sign in sheet and there were multiple pages of people coming in after us on Friday.
foggy hike back to the car