After my last trip to the Dolly Sods Wilderness, I was ready to check out more of the area. Nearly 50 miles of trails crisscross the Wilderness and I only covered about 11 on my last hike. About three weeks after my first visit, I planned an ambitious 20-mile loop as a day hike. My planned route started at the Red Creek Trailhead and would take me through the heart of the Wilderness along Red Creek, traversing the length of the Dolly Sods south to north. I then planned on following trails along the western side of the Wilderness before dropping back to Red Creek near my starting point.
I headed out Friday, August 29th. It was the start of the Labor Day Weekend and I wanted to hit the trails before the weekend rush hit the area. Despite a few sprinkles and overcast skies on my drive, the forecast called for improving conditions by midmorning. I reached the trailhead a little after 830AM and was on the trail about 845.
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| Red Creek Trailhead |
The hike heads north on the Red Creek Trail. I covered the first 1.7 miles on my last trip in the area. I made sure to enjoy the view along the creek near the start of the hike. If you're not familiar with the area, side trails near campsites can cause a little confusion since they are more prominent than the actual trail at places.
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| Red Creek not too far from the trailhead |
The southern reaches of the Red Creek Trail usually sticks close to the creek. Occasionally it climbs away from the creek to avoid steep banks. The trail tends to travel through long stretches of rhododendron. Usually the trail isn't too crowded by the vegetation though. At one point, the trail veered away from Red Creek. It passed a small side stream. I could hear water crashing loudly below. I reached a vague herd path into the gully and found a pretty waterfall. Even at lower water levels, the 20 or so foot waterfall was quite pretty. I'm sure it's even more impressive when the water levels are higher.
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| Nice mushroom |
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Nice waterfall on a creek feeding into
Red Creek |
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| Plenty of rhododendron on the first couple miles |
Soon after the waterfall, the trail drops back to Red Creek and rosses the creek. The last month has been quite dry and crossing the creek was an easy rock hop. Earlier in the season this is a wet crossing and can be tricky in high water. Like most creek crossings, there are lots of campsites nearby. After crossing the creek, the trail climbs away from the water before leveling off on an old road bed through spruce.
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| First crossing of Red Creek |
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| Upstream from the crossing |
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| Another mushroom |
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| Passing through some spruce |
The trail travels over pretty level terrain above Red Creek. After hiking more than a 1 1/2 miles from the crossing, I could hear a loud roar of water in the creek below. I could see a nice waterfall. Thickets of rhododendron made access to the creek difficult at best. I picked my way through and eventually found my way to the water. The waterfall dropped an overhanging cliff with a deep pool below it. It would have been a nice swimming hole on a warmer day.
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| The first waterfall I came across on Red Creek |
With the lower water levels, I continued downstream on the edge of the creek towards another waterfall. I quickly reached another beautiful waterfall. The main falls leveled off before dropping a few more feet to a small cascade. If the creek levels were much higher, I don't think I would have been able to get to this lower falls- at least without some challenging bushwhacking.
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| The next waterfall downstream |
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| Looking upstream at the end of the waterfalls |
I continued upstream along the creek passed the first falls I came to. I stuck to the edge of the creek bed. In the lower water I could move upstream without getting my feet wet. This would definitely not be possible if the water was much higher. At the top of the first waterfall, I could hear and see another waterfall. This waterfall was the biggest with a long steep slide. While still pretty, I think it would be even more scenic with higher water flow. A nice pool below the falls would have made a nice spot to swim.
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The last waterfall heading upstream,
closer to campsites
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Unlike the lower two waterfalls, the uppermost waterfall sat not too far from campsites along the creek. This waterfall was more accessible and was probably reachable even in higher water. The lower two waterfalls would have been quite challenging to access earlier in the season.
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| Top of the last waterfall |
After enjoying the waterfalls, I continued north. The trail crosses the Left Fork of Red Creek. The Left Fork was an easy rock hop in the low water. On the opposite bank, the trail reaches a large concentration of campsites on a point of land where the Left Fork flows into the main branch of Red Creek. There are a lot of trail headed off in multiple directions to the campsites. Check your map here. The actual trail isn't that obvious without looking at a map.
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| Crossing the Left Fork |
I followed the Red Creek Trail another mile or so before it ends at the Blackbird Knob Trail. A few minutes on the Blackbird Knob Trail brought me to the Upper Red Creek Trail. The Upper Red Creek Trail passes through the first of the open meadows that the Dolly Sods are known for. I saw several piles of bear scat along the Upper Red Creek Trail.
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| Entering the first meadow |
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Lots of bear scat on the Upper Red Creek Trail,
(or perhaps Sasquatch or Pakuni) |
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Much of the northern section of the Wilderness
travels through open meadows |
The first few meadows were narrow and intermittent. As I continued further north, the majority of the trail passed through meadows. Apart from a few small groves of hardwoods, most of the trees in this part of the Wilderness are spruce.
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| Hiking through the open terrain is enjoyable |
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| A short section of muddy trail |
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| Small pond near end of the Upper Red Creek Trail |
The Upper Red Creek Trail ends at the Dobbin Grade Trail near a small pond. This junction has some great views over the vast open plateau. The Dobbin Grade Trail is notorious for its soupy mud. Not having any great desire to trudge a couple miles in mud, I quickly turned onto the Raven Ridge Trail.
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| On a brief section of the Dobbin Grade Trail |
The Raven Ridge Trail travels more than 2 1/2 miles to the northern boundary of the Wilderness. Nearly the entire trail travels through the open plateau. The views over the plateau and distance ridges do not disappoint. The full length of the Raven Ridge Trail was a lovely hike.
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| Near the beginning of the Raven Ridge Trail |
Most of the morning was overcast. By the time I reached the Raven Ridge Trail, the clouds began to break. I was in the sunshine more often than not. It was a little chilly though with a steady breeze across the open landscape. The Raven Ridge Trail climbs above 4,000', keeping the temperature cooler than the valleys.
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| View to the south from Raven Ridge Trail |
As beautiful as I found Raven Ridge, The Rocky Ridge Trail was my favorite trail in this trip. The trail travels three miles along the western boundary of the Wilderness. Much like Raven Ridge, the majority of the trail traverses open terrain. The real treat along the Rocky Ridge Trail is the views that stretch over the Canaan Valley just to the west. The ridge drops relatively steeply just west of the Wilderness into the valley.
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Rocky Ridge Trail with Timberline Resort ski
trails in the distance |
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My favorite view on the hike looking over Canaan
Valley and Spruce Island Lake |
As its name implies, the Rocky Ridge Trail is at times rocky. Unlike the grassy trail on Raven Ridge, much of the Rocky Ridge Trail passes over rockier footing. Traveling through here is a little slower than other trails in the Dolly Sods. With the beautiful views, you won't mind taking your time here.
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| Most of the Rocky Ridge Trail stays in the open |
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The Rocky Ridge Trail was my favorite on
the hike |
Countless side trails and herd paths wander off the main trail. None of them are marked, so take time to explore the side trails. Most lead a short distance to a viewpoint, interesting rock feature, or perhaps campsites. The main trail can also be a little tricky to follow at times. Lots of braiding leads to less traveled paths. Generally they seemed to bring you back to the actual trail. At one point I had to backtrack a short distance to get onto the right path. I encountered other groups doing the same thing. If you aren't comfortable with route finding or reading a map, you may want to go with someone more experienced.
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| Views are plentiful on the Rocky Ridge Trail |
Since the Rocky Ridge Trail sits immediately above the Canaan Valley with open terrain, the trail was quite windy at times. I stopped along one of the side trails to enjoy a view and have some lunch. The wind was quite intense. I had to be careful where I set down my stuff so it didn't blow away.
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Rocky terrain along the western boundary
the Wilderness on the Rocky Ridge Trail |
As my day went on, I started to see more people. I started at the Red Creek Trailhead. The hike passes fairly close to the much busier Sundew/ Bear Rocks Trailhead access to the Dolly Sods in the northeast corner of the Wilderness. I started to encounter people setting off on Labor Day Weekend trips. The groups were sporadic until I reached the Rocky Ridge Trail. I passed at least five groups along this three mile trail. I kept leapfrogging a group of four. I would pass them, then head off on a side trail and then they passed me. This repeated several times. For a little bit I hiked with a faster duo out for a weekend trip.
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Another look into the Canaan Valley with Spruce
Island Pond just visible |
As the Rocky Ridge Trail continues south, it moves a away from the top of the ridge. While still open, the views toward Canaan Valley become less frequent. Finally the Rocky Ridge Trail ends at a four way junction. Here I continued south on the Big Stonecoal Trail.
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| Near the southern end of the Rocky Ridge Trail |
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I'm guessing this might have been an old road at
one time |
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| Some views as I continue south |
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| Coal Knob |
The Big Stonecoal Trail starts off quite rocky. This might have been the rockiest part of my loop. The worst of the rocks become less intense as I hiked south. I occasionally passed through a couple of spruce groves with nice soft footing. The open meadows ended once I began the Big Stonecoal Trail.
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| The Big Stonecoal Trail gets rocky |
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| Toad |
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| Wide trail through the spruce |
At one point, the Big Stonecoal Trail veers to the left. I missed this turn. I followed a very well-trodden herd path that followed a meadow along Big Stonecoal Run. As I continued, the tread became less worn and the brush denser along the trail. I passed a couple of nice-looking established campsites along the creek. Soon my path abruptly ended.
I backtracked to the campsites and consulted my map. The trail crossed the creek at some point and there was an obvious crossing by the campsites. I followed a couple paths that ended in brush. Finally I backtracked again until I found better tread. Sure enough, I missed a sharp turn. A spindly stick was placed across the herd path to show it was the wrong path, but was easy to miss. I continued back on the actual trail.
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I'm kind of glad I missed the turn and
there were some nice campsites nearby |
I wasn't too upset about missing the trail. The scenery along Big Stonecoal Run was pretty. The slow creek meandered through an open meadow. It reminded me of the creeks in Northern New England or the Adirondacks. I don't think I went much more than a 1/4 mile out of the way, a 1/2 mile roundtrip. I would definitely consider using the campsites on this herd path.
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| The scenery was pretty on this herd path |
After nearly 2 1/2 miles on the Big Stonecoal Trail, I turned onto the Dunkenbarger Trail. It was soon pretty obvious this trail doesn't see much traffic. I encountered dense rhododendron thickets along much of the trail. At times I had to push through. The tread was visible but there wasn't any recent clearing.
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Overgrown rhododendron crowding the
Dunkenbarger Trail
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At one point the trail crosses a creek. The trail appears to continue straight. I followed it to a couple campsites and a dead end. Back at the creek I found the actual trail pushing through more rhododendrons along the banks of the creek. I probably only went off track a 1/10 of a mile this time. The rhododendrons became less of a problem near the end of the trail.
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| Dense, but more manageable rhododendrons |
While there are plenty of herd paths and sections of braiding in the Dolly Sods, all of the named trails have signs at the junctions. The only junction that I found wasn't marked was the transition between the Dunkenbarger and Little Stonecoal Trails. It's not much of an issue because you don't have a choice but to continue on the Little Stonecoal Trail. The transition is pretty obvious between the trails if you look at a map.
Unlike the brushy Dunkenbarger Trail, Little Stonecoal looks to be an old logging road. It descends for majority of its 1.4- mile length. I stopped at a campsite and grabbed a snack near the start of Little Stonecoal. This was the biggest descent of the day.
About halfway along Little Stonecoal, I came across two guys that looked defeated. They followed a herd path by a campsite, got off trail, and decided to bushwhack. They got themselves into dense forest full of thorns, unpassable rhododendrons, and thick spruce while enroute to trailless Coal Knob. They stumbled down to the Little Stonecoal Trail in low morale. I hiked with them the last 1 1/2 miles back to the trailhead. If you read this Joe and Phil, I hope your night went smoother than your day and it was nice talking with you two.
The final 1 1/2 miles went by smoothly. The crossing of Red Creek, like all the others, was an easy rock hop. This crossing offers a pretty view downstream of a distant ridge in the Roaring Plains. After crossing Red Creek, you quickly reach the Red Creek Trail. The Red Creek Trailhead is less than 3/4 of a mile to the south. We reached the trailhead around 540PM.
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Final water crossing of the day near the
end of the Little Stonecoal Trail |
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| The view downstream while fording Red Creek |
This hike totaled a little over 20 miles. Despite the distance, I didn't find the hike too difficult. There really isn't any big climbs on the route. The trail gains steady elevation from the trailhead. There is some up and down at times, but nothing too crazy. The elevation gain is a little more noticeable as I made my way along the Raven Ridge Trail, but it's still pretty gradual. A few rocky sections slowed me down a little bit along the Rocky Ridge and Big Stonecoal Trails. A few spots took some care to follow the trail, especially near campsites where the was a lot of braiding. I didn't really rush the hike and took plenty of time to check out some views and explore around Red Creek.
I would definitely recommend this loop or some similar variation. It takes in a lot of what the Dolly Sods has to offer. There are long stretches on the open plateau with good views across the meadows. The section along the Rocky Ridge Trail offers plenty of views throughout its length. Even though I did this trip as a day hike, most people would find it to be a great backpacking trip. There are plenty of campsites throughout the loop. Just be aware that the Dolly Sods gets quite busy on nice weekends in the summer. It's possible to add to this loop with side trips to Lion's Head or Rohrbaugh Cliffs (see
Dolly Sods Vistas: Lion's Head and Rohrbaugh Cliffs) for even more views.
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My route in orange- for more detail,
refer to this map |
For navigation, I recommend the Purple Lizard Dolly Sods/Seneca Rocks Map. The Monongahela National also has a decent map on their
website.
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| Raven Ridge Trail |
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