Dolly Sods Circumnavigation

Dolly Sods 7/24 - 7/27
Red Creek Trailhead
2016 bag nights: 16

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The "heat dome" was coming to KY and my wife and kids were heading to her parents, so I decided I could either go to North Carolina mountains or West Virginia mountains. After a moment of thought, I decided this would be the perfect time to revist the Dolly Sods. Even better, the weather forecast looked like the highs should be about 80 with very little chance of rain.

Soundtrack: the chorus to Sam Cooke's Cupid running on repeat in my head for most of the trip, heard on Pandora on the drive to WV. Weird hiking music, but happy

"Cupid draw back your bow
And let your arrow go
Straight to my lover's heart for me, only for me"
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When I got to the trailhead about 4pm, the thermometer in my car said 88! I headed up the Red Creek Trail and then crossed the creek onto the Big Stone Coal Trail.

My goal was the Lion's Head since I had never been there and the sky looked like the stars were going to be out. Big Stone Coal was a nice hike with nice flowers.





From the map, it looked like I could load up on water near the intersection with the Rocky Point Trail and then head up to the Lion's Head. I hiked about 10 minutes past the intersection and came to a largish waterfall that was easy to climb down to from the trail.



I spent a little time enjoying the view and then headed up the trail to find my way up the slope of Breathed Mountain. In the process I spooked a deer.



I had one false start where I saw a cairn and what looked like a trail, but wasn't and then found a very obvious trail and lots of cairns marking the user trail to the Lion's Head.

The path through the pine forest was very pretty in the fading light

I followed cairns out to the Lion's Head hoping that there would be a place to hang my hammock, but no such luck. So I explored a little bit and enjoyed the view...

... and then headed back to the pine forest to set up camp.

As it got dark, I heard something moving around in the brush. When I shined my headlamp that way, there were a couple of deer. I ended up seeing at least 5 different deer that evening and a couple woke my up in the middle of the night. I kept throwing rocks at them hoping to scare them away, but they were very unconcerned by more poor aim through the trees.

There was a little clearing near by where I watched the stars come out and I tried a little bit of astro-photography. I'm pretty pleased for first attempts.

That is Mars at the bottom.

This is looking towards the east and more towards the Milky Way (I think the bright star is Altair.)

In the morning, I headed back out to the Lion's Head to see the sunrise...

... and then had breakfast and decided what I was going to do for the day. I had deliberately planned only the first night's campsite and then was going to play it by ear. The weather looked like it was going to be nice, so I decided to head up the Big Stone Coal Trail to the Rocky Ridge Trail so I could enjoy the views into Canaan Valley.

I enjoyed the waterfall again and had a chance to play with shutter speeds since I had brought my Gorilla Pod.

The upper part of Big Stone Coal is pretty flat and is an interesting mix of forest and open areas. The trail parallels the creek, so I filled up with water since I knew that the Rocky Ridge Trail was dry.

I had lunch overlooking Canaan Valley and got a cell signal to call my wife. While I was talking to her, a military jet (I think a F-15) flew right up the valley at an altitude that was lower than where I was sitting. It was pretty cool to see, but I could not get my camera out quick enough to get a picture.

As I moved up the Rocky Ridge Trail I began to regret my decision, the sun was beating down and it was hot again (upper 80s) and there was not a lot of breeze. In retrospect, I should have headed down the Dobbin Grade Trail and filled up with more water, but instead, I kept heading north away from water. By the time I got the the Raven Ridge Trail at the NW part of the sods, I was almost out of water. I decided to aim for the Bear Rocks Trail where it crosses the upper part of Red Creek. It was a pretty hike, but really hot and I was having a hard time enjoying myself. I did eat a number of wild blueberries and that helped keep me going.

I got to Red Creek and filled up on water. At this point, it was about 3pm and I had a decision to make. I could hike on and see some more of the area or I could just call it a day and enjoy the creek and the shade. I decided to relax and read my book.

The next day I got up and decided to slackpack over to see Bear Rocks. The short road walk was lined with flowers, these were the most unusual/pretty (I think it might be a "Wood Lily").

The rocks were a lot of fun to climb on and the view was pretty good.

Then back to camp for lunch. I packed up and then decided to head south on the Raven Ridge Trail towards the Forks of Red Creek. It was a lot more cloudy today and cooler, a more enjoyable day to hike.

Got to the forks area and there was one couple arriving about the same time. I was happy to see that there was not a lot of people since the last time I was here, there were probably 10 different groups for a total of 50ish people.

This is probably the best view I have had from my hammock

I stripped down and sat in the creek for a bit and then wandered around taking pictures and hoping that the clouds would break so I could see stars again.

But, it ended up sprinkling a little bit and the clouds never went away. I read my book for a bit and then laid in the hammock watching the fireflies before falling asleep.

Woke up to clearer skies and had a decision to make. I was still feeling pretty beat from the dehydration two days ago and the battery in my SLR had died. My phone battery was really low. I had been thinking of checking out the Roaring Plains area for the last two nights, but I decided that it would be better to save it for another day.

I decided I would take the Red Creek Trail to the Fisher Spring Trail and then head south on the Rohrbaugh Trail to the forest road and then road walk the three miles back to my car. This also left open the possibility of checking out the Roaring Plains if I was feeling good at that point.

The Rohrbaugh trail is an old railroad bed, not the best walking surface, but this did not last long.

Because I had not done much research for this trip, I was surprised to come across an awesome overlook with views up and down Red Creek. I could see where I hiked the first day and then this morning as well. It made a great lunch stop.

The rocks in the middle of the picture are the Lion's Head.

I got to the road about 2 and decided that I would rather be done versus another night, so I headed down the road to my car. The road is lightly traveled and was all downhill, so it was an easy way to finish off the trip.

The road was lined with wildflowers

I got back to the car and cracked a beer and then walked up the trail to Red Creek for a "bath" and then headed to Davis, WV for a burrito and a beer at Hellbender Burritos. Then all that remained was a 5.5 hour drive back home.

A great trip, but I really wish the weather report had been accurate. A couple of days in the high 80's drained the gas tank and made the hiking a lot harder than expected. 

Creation Falls

Rock Bridge and Creation Falls
6/27/16

Took the kids on an "adventure", had a great time, nobody cried :)

Dad and Daughter (and bugs) go camping

6/20 - 6/22/16
Great Smoky Mountains
Abrams Creek Trailhead
2016 bag nights: 9

My oldest (7 years) did not have any activities planned for the week since grandparents were coming at the end of the week. I generally like my kids more when we are outside vs. inside, so we decided we would go back to the Smokies again. I was originally planning on taking the middle one as well (5 years) so I was looking for short/flat trails with a creek to play for them to play in. This led me to the Abrams Creek part of the park where I had never been. Then the 5 year old decided he wanted to stay home. So another "dad and daughter" trip like last Labor Day.

The forecast was looking HOT, highs in the low 90s and the Brown Book mentions that this area is best appreciated in cooler months, but other sites I had thought about were closed because of bears. So, Abrams Creek it was.

We hiked in on the Cane Creek Trail (an old road) which was a nice start to the trip...

Checking out Abrams Creek

to the Little Bottoms Trail (there are some nice views of Abrams Creek) ...

and then hit Site 17 after about 2 hours of hiking.

This was about 3.5 miles total, but there is a slight ridge to climb on the Little Bottoms trail, no problem for me, but it worked the little legs a bit. Site 17 is large and spread out with 3 sets of bear cables and 6 or 7 fire rings. But, there was only one other group when we arrived (a dad and his 10 year old son).

We got water and set up camp and then poked around the creek a bit before it was time for an early dinner.

Around 6ish, the bugs got bad enough, we hung out in the tent for a bit hoping that they would disappear. We poked our heads out around 7 and the bugs were mostly gone, wandered over to say high to the dad and son. The dad mentioned that his son wanted to practice his fire starting skills even though it was still in the upper-80s. I said we would help gather firewood and would share a marshmallow if he would share his campfire, no surprise, he was willing to share. We talked for a couple hours and then it was time for bed.

We also discovered a new use for the bear cables.



The next morning we were going to hike to Abrams Falls for an easy dayhike. The dad and son were heading to Site 15 and our paths overlapped for about a mile.

There were some nice views where the tornado hit a couple years ago.


We took a break near a tiny waterfall that was just off the trail

We made it to Abrams Falls, we talked about all of the stupid things people do in places like that that ends up killing them (great lunch time conversation).  We actually overheard a guy telling his girlfriend about jumping off the rocks from the top of the falls when the water was higher (basically right over the big log above her head in the 2nd picture).

And then we headed back in the heat. By this time we had found a couple ticks on each of our legs, so we got in the habit of performing tick checks every 15-30 minutes. We found lots more ticks, but got them before they had started biting.

We got back to camp and I jumped in the creek to cool off while my hiking partner played with a couple small buckets at the water's edge.

This occupied her for a while and then it was time for dinner again. In the meantime, another dad and his 14 year old daughter had set up camp nearby. After dinner, we again retreated to the tent to escape the bugs. We then played some games and then ended up talking to the other party until it was time for bed. 

The next morning, my partner read while I packed up and then we headed towards the car.

One last look at Abrams Creek

A fun trip even with the bugs and the heat. We both enjoyed running into other dads with kids, something that had never happened before. The worst thing about the trip is we both came back with a ton of bug bites. I have no idea what they were, but we both ended up with them all over, almost like we were sleeping with a flea covered dog. In the end, not a big deal, but there was a lot of itching over the next couple of days.


Side pictures

Rhododendron Bud

An interesting looking bug.

Tickseed

 Playing with a millipede

Black Snakeroot (?)

Some kind of primrose (?)