Overnight Trip in the Otter Creek Wilderness

I hiked a 19 mile loop in the Otter Creek Wilderness last summer. (See Otter Creek Wilderness East Loop) In late June I got a text from Jeff Mitchell, with whom I have backpacked a couple times before, letting me know he would be coming to West Virginia to do an overnight trip in the Otter Creek Wilderness. I decided to go along for a quick escape. This trip would be similar to my loop last summer. The main difference would be our starting point. When I did the hike last summer, I started at the south end of the Wilderness at the Condon Run Trailhead. We decided to hike in from the north end of the Wilderness at the Dry Fork Trailhead just east of Hendricks, WV. This would add some distance to my 19 mile loop. From the Dry Fork Trailhead, our loop would be a lollipop, adding about four miles at the start of the hike to the main loop and finishing on the same four miles back to the trailhead at the end of the hike for an approximately 27 mile trip.

We started our trip around 230PM on June 25th. The late start worked out for the best since most of the morning had rained. By the time we hit the trail, the sun had been out and the vegetation had a chance to dry. We began on the Otter Creek Trail, which runs nearly 11.5 miles through the length of the Wilderness. The trail drops a short distance from the trailhead to the Dry Fork River. The trail crosses the Dry Fork on a nice suspension bridge, just above where Otter Creek flows into the Dry Fork.

Steps leading to the suspension bridge

Suspension bridge

Downstream from bridge

Upstream from bridge

Entering the Wilderness

For the next 11+ miles

Flowering raspberry

After crossing the Dry Fork, we entered the Wilderness. The Otter Creek Trail never veers too far away from the creek. Much of the Otter Creek Trail follows old roads from the days the area was logged, that have reverted back to trail. There are several neat features along the opening stretch of the hike. At times the trail hikes along large cliffs. Several side streams tumble down the side of the mountain towards Otter Creek. We passed the remains of an old stone foundation at one point.

Cliff rising from trail

Waterfall coming from the rocks on a side creek

Old foundation

Pretty creek flowing into Otter Creek

When I hiked this area before, I remember seeing a lot of flowers and mushrooms. We saw quite a few varieties of both, though it seemed like I saw more when I hiked the area last year in the second half of July. Although the rhododendrons with blooms were more abundant on my previous trip, we did encounter sections that were blooming as well as a few mountain laurel.

Fringed Orchid

Probably old logging road

It doesn't stay this nice

Weeping wall

Red mushroom

A few miles in from the trailhead, we found a couple pieces of gear along the trail that appeared to be dropped. First was a Nalgene. A little further, we found a Tenkara backpacking fly rod. Not wanting to carry them our whole trip, we decided to leave them prominently visible along the trail in case the owner came looking for them.

The Otter Creek Wilderness doesn't have any far-flung mountain views. It's real highlight is the namesake creek. Otter Creek tumbles through the forest with numerous cascades, pools, and rock features. If you have read my posts before, I have often mentioned how I love a good mountain creek. Otter Creek surely is a lovely mountain creek.

Looking down Otter Creek

Narrow section of Otter Creek

Narrow sluice

Looking upstream

Otter Creek is a wild mountain stream

Small drop

Endless cascades

Within the Wilderness, signage is limited and bridges not part of the plan. There are several unbridged crossing of Otter Creek. Even in low water, expect to get your feet wet. I usually pack a pair of camp shoes. For this trip I packed a pair of sturdy flip flops specifically for the fords. I am not a fan of hiking in wet shoes if I can help it.

Rhododendron

Soon ready to bloom

First ford on Otter Creek

Tomcat mid-ford

Most of the hike along the creek is fairly easy. We took our time to enjoy the creek views and admire the flowers and mushrooms. In late June, the area doesn't get completely dark until after 9PM, so we weren't in a rush.

Fringed Orchid

Lighter colored fringed orchid

Interesting mushroom

Slug

As you hike further upstream, the middle section of Otter Creek becomes more rugged. There are several nice cascades and small waterfalls that are worth exploring. If you can handle to frigid mountain water, there are no shortage of swimming holes in the creek.

Starting to get into a section of falls and cascades

View downstream

Nice drop in the creek

Rocky section of creek

Gentle cascade

The water features on Otter Creek are endless

The tallest waterfall comes about three miles after the first ford of the creek. Several smaller cascades can be heard just off the trail. A worn herd path leads to the creek. In summer water levels, we walked along the edge of the creek to the tallest fall on the trip. Here a nice waterfall drops about 20 feet. There is plenty of space to get to the base of the falls to take in the view.

Passing through rhododendron

Particularly nice section of the creek

20' or so fall, the tallest we saw

Shortly after the tallest waterfall, we came to another ford. This ford crossed Moore Run. This small ford was not very wide, but moved quite fast over a rocky section of the creek. It took a little care to find the right line, since it had some deep holes.

This ford was soon followed by another ford on Otter Creek. This ford was wider than Moore Run, but not as wide as our first crossing of Otter Creek. Just beyond the second Otter Creek ford we arrived at a nice campsite along the river. By now it was around 645PM. We hiked a little over 7 miles for the day.

I didn't pack a stove and ate a mix of nuts and bars for dinner. The first bar I ate was a Nature Valley granola bar. It was particularly bland and flavorless. After I finished it, I looked at the wrapper. It expired in 2013. I just ate a bar that expired 13 years prior. Fortunately I didn't have any ill effects. If you are wandering, I found the bar in a dry bag in my gear bin. What I didn't realize is that I didn't use that particular dry bag in over 13 years.

The campsite sat just above the creek. On the creek, the water flowed over a tiny cascade with a large rock wall rising from the river. It was a nice little spot and one of the best looking campsites on the entire loop. The night cooled down to near 50F for the night, making for a comfortable night.

Cascade in front of cliff by our campsite

View of the creek from our campsite

My home for the night

Otter Creek sits in a deep valley between McGowan and Shavers Mountains. The sun was a little late to shine on our campsite. Since the hiking is relatively easy, we took our time getting up for the day and didn't hit the trail until about 8AM.

The nice water features continued not too far from our campsite. We encountered more cascades after just a few minutes. Our final ford across Otter Creek came maybe a 1/2 mile from our campsite.

Falls just past our campsite

Nice rhododendron bloom

Wild section of the creek

Tomcat on the final ford

After the final ford, Otter Creek is less tumbling as the creek drops less steeply. At one point, the creek winds sluggishly through a meadow. As the trail makes its way to the southern end of the Wilderness, it finds its way onto a dirt road. Out of the Wilderness, the trail crosses a side creek on a bridge, the first bridge since crossing the Dry Fork.

Orange mushroom

Not sure if this different species as above

Near the trailheads the trail is in nice shape

Upper reaches of Otter Creek

The creek meandering in a meadow

We stopped for water and a break at this bridge. We would soon be climbing up Shavers Mountain, which doesn't have any reliable water. I found it a little amusing that someone built a small cross in the middle of this creek. 

Did someone die in the creek here or
is it holy water?

Now at the southern end of the Otter Creek Trail, we turned on the Hedrick Camp Trail. Our route was just outside of the Wilderness boundary for a few minutes. We crossed another bridge and even saw a few trail markers in this stretch.

A primitive bridge

Club moss

A nice family of mushrooms

After a mile, we left the Hedrick Camp Trail and joined the Shavers Mountain Trail. Since the southern end of the Wilderness sits around 3,000', the climb up Shavers Mountain doesn't seem too steep. At times the trail was overgrown on the way up the mountain. We wandered off trail at one point where a blowdown hid the trail.

Hiking through spruce

The hike along Shavers Mountain isn't too difficult as you stick to the top of the ridge. The trail on the ridge isn't nearly as well worn as it is along the creek. And at times, it can be overgrown and thorny.

Jeff leads when we hike together. At one point he stopped dead in his tracks. I soon realized a baby porcupine was nervously crouched down in the middle of the trail. Rather than wander off, it got into its defensive position. It was quite brushy in the area and not too easy to go around. Eventually, it slowly waddled off into the brush. I've seen porcupine over the years, but never one this small.

Baby quill pig

The Shavers Mountain Trail wanders along the ridge, topping out a little over 3,800'. While not unattractive, it's not as pretty as the hiking along Otter Creek. The mountaintop contains mostly hardwoods, with a few nice sections of spruce and rhododendron. After reaching the height of the land, the trail drops about 600 feet into Mylius Gap. We had lunch at a nice campsite at Mylius Gap. 

Passing through rhododendrons

Getting brushy

Happy little mushroom

Another section in the spruce

From Mylius Gap, the trail regains most of the elevation it lost. The trail isn't really steep, but gets quite brushy at times. From the height of the land north of Mylius Gap, the rhododendrons become much more prominent. Long stretch pass through the rhododendrons with the occasional tunnel.

Dense thicket of rhododendron and mountain laurel

More rhododendron

Rhododendron tunnel

Another happy mushroom

We reached a large clearing with a nice campsite at the junction of the Possession Camp, Green Mountain, and Shavers Mountain Trails. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing this clearing may have been the site of the Possession Camp from the logging days. From the clearing, we descended back toward Otter Creek on the Green Mountain Trail. The descent started gradually. Sections of the trail were a little wet and muddy. The descent becomes more steeper, and at times follows a creek bed with minimal water. Jeff nearly stepped on a garter snake during this descent. Long stretches of the Green Mountain Trail travel through rhododendron.

Garter snake

Closeup of the garter snake

Hiking in dry creek bed

Pretty pink bloom

Some blooming, some not quite

Lower on the Green Mountain Trail

With gravity on our side, we seemed to make good time descending on the Green Mountain Trail, even with a stop to filter water. We were back on the Otter Creek Trail. We had about four miles left on our hike back to the Dry Creek Trailhead, retracing the path we hiked in on.

Back along Otter Creek

The final four miles went by relatively quickly. It's interesting how different the scenery can look hiking the opposite direction. As we were hiking out, we came across the fly rod and Nalgene that we saw on the way in. I packed out both in hopes of finding the owner through local hiking pages on Facebook. We made it back to the trailhead around 6PM, covering almost 20 miles for the day.

Nicely manicured section of the Otter Creek Trail

Must be getting near the trailhead with the trail so nice

Jeff crossing the suspension bridge near the end of the trip

Even though I hiked a similar loop last year, it was nice to revisit the Otter Creek Wilderness. The area is quite pretty. We didn't see another person during our hike. Despite the dreary start to the day on the morning our hike began, the weather turned out really nice with comfortable conditions. For more photos and details on the trails in the area, visit my original post at Otter Creek Wilderness East Loop to read about my previous trip to the area. You can also follow on the map of the area.

Rocky cascade

The Otter Creek Wilderness doesn't get the attention like other nearby places such as the Dolly Sods. It also doesn't get the crowds. We didn't see another soul on our trip. Just be aware that the trails aren't marked and signage is minimal. Make sure you carry a good map and have some basic route finding skills. And as I mentioned before, there aren't bridges within the Wilderness. Most of the fords require getting your feet wet. Use caution if water levels are high.

Another rocky drop

As for the fly rod we found, I ended up finding the owner. I posted on several West Virginia hiking groups on Facebook. I found the owner pretty quickly and will be reuniting the fly rod with its owner soon.

Largest falls on the creek that are accessible

Rhododendron blooms

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