Location: Dolly Sods Wilderness, WV
Date: September 5th-7th, 2020
Duration: 3 days
Mileage: 20.92 miles
Time: around 15 hours
Elevation gain: 1,649 ft
GPS Info

Dolly Sods holds a special place in my heart as I was brought there a few times as a Boy Scout. At the time I remember being fixated on the unexploded ordinance signage & the otherworldly landscape of this area. Later on I began to realize how special this corner of West Virginia was with Canaan Valley, Dolly Sods, the Blackwater River, and White Grass cross country skiing all nearby. Davis & the surrounding areas really are one gem of an adventure town.

I had last backpacked in Dolly Sods in 2012 and recently took advantage of a 3-day weekend over Labor Day weekend to explore the area once again. Amelia & I decided on a fairly standard route that followed the perimeter of the park & then looped back up the center following the Red Creek Canyon. There's some great info on Hiking Upward when choosing a route & camps. The route was fantastic & really gave us a taste of the different sides of Dolly Sods - from the high windswept sandstone meadows to the creeks and bogs below.

A view of the picturesque open landscape of the high areas in Dolly Sods.

We took our time on the route and used the shorter days to focus on the gourmet side of things! We succeeded in our backcountry pizza preparation and pulled off cinnamon rolls even though we forgot to bring butter. It was luxurious & definitely worth the extra weight.

Amelia showing off the gourmet backcountry personal pizzas!

The area was incredibly busy due to a combination of spectacular weather, a holiday weekend, and people being tired of staying indoors due to COVID. The access trails looked a bit like a theme park, but we got some solitude after hiking in a handful of miles. Many of the prime backcountry camps were also taken so we had to work a bit more but ended up with two beautiful spots.

Stopping at a popular lunch spot atop the swept rocks with Timberline Resort in the distance.

The first night we camped in a forested section after the trail temporarily left Stonecoal Run, and on night two we camped along Red Creek by the junctions of trails 509 & 511. This turned out to be a great option for some solitude since the Forks of Red Creek campgrounds were inundated with campers.

Amelia cooling off night two at our campsite beside Red Creek.

One final word of advice is to be aware of is that Dobbin Grade (526), trail map here, can be used to link trails 509 & 522 but it is very, very boggy. We weren't aware of this, and while it was a fun adventure we both ended the hike pretty muddy. I even managed to post-hole once up to mid-thigh as I threw my cares to the wind and confidently walked across a mud pit. Take trail 521 if you're not into that type of adventure.

Amelia confidently leaping across a particularly muddy section of the Dobbin Grade trail.

Surprise, she didn’t quite make it to dry land…

Below is a map of the route with a downloadable GPX track:

I hope you get to enjoy one of my favorite areas in West Virginia! Remember to leave no trace & enjoy the adventure.

Drop any questions or thoughts in the comments below!