Dolly Sods Wilderness, WV

A window of time opened up last minute today, but I've had my ruck packed and ready all winter long waiting for it. After hiking in and crossing lower Red Creek, I'm going to continue on up to spend the night atop Breathed Mtn, and catch the Sunday morning sunrise at the Lion's Head.
38.994807527055876, -79.36461133710215
Window in the weather opened up last minute too. It's freezing rain right now through tomorrow early afternoon, so the hike in will be wet and slick, then a dreary evening with a low of 19F. Radar looks like the sky should clear out well before sunrise, but this place can be pretty unpredictable.

I'll see you all on the other side of the weekend, hopefully with some good pictures of the sunrise.

EDIT: Oops. I should include something milsurp related to follow the rules :) - I'll carry a 1943 Ithaca 1911a1 in an M7 holster.

The short headline is...I didn't make it to the top.
It was pretty rough going on the way in. What trail there is consists of constant steep ups and downs. Follow red creek a bit, then up to a crossing of one of its many feeder streams, then back, down to red creek, rinse and repeat. On the way in, the rain was steady but not quite freezing except in a few places. Every step was on wet tangled roots, sharp rocks, or soft mud.
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I was by myself, so I took it very slow. Lots of places overgrown with wild rhododendron and only the narrowest of paths through...if you can find it. That peak off in the distance above is my target, breathed mountain. It has rocky overhang called the lion's head.

There are two ways up, both require crossing red creek which was very swollen from all the rain. The first, up a trail following stonecoal, would have only been about 4 miles total. The second is 2 miles longer, crossing red creek a mile further up. When I got to the first crossing, it was gushing. I could get 3/4 across, but then would need to leap across a waist deep pool onto a rock now a few inches under water. Everything was slippery, and the landing likely more so. After scouting for an hour up and down for a better crossing, finding none, and being alone, I chose to press on and try the longer route.

I've crossed here before. It was ankle deep water most of the way, plenty of rocks out of water at the deeper spots, and a memorable large, almost perfectly square, rock in the middle marking the spot. Well, the marker was just underwater, making it waist deep next to it. As I scouted for another crossing up and down, and started thinking about getting wet, the rain lifted and an afternoon fog rolled in. It got thicker and stayed the rest of the day.
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I'm not opposed to getting wet. I had plenty of dry layers with me for the cold night ahead, but only one pair of boots and with everything soaked around me, I would have no way to get dry once I made it to the top - not to mention the risk of slipping. Being alone, I made the safe call to stay on my side and make camp. Lion's head would have to wait. I found quietly loud waterfall to camp next to. Oh...and I hadn't seen or heard a soul all day, nor would I until I was almost back to the truck.
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The temperature started to drop as I put on a pot of coffee. I ordered a weather report to see what was I was in for.
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At about midnight the skies cleared in what seemed like an instant, and the inside of the tent lit up, then dark, then bright again like a spot light. I went out to pee and was greeted by the brightest full moon I had every seen, dimmed only by the occasional low fog clouds moving through the valley just overhead. The picture I snapped does not to reflect more than 1% of the beautiful reality taking place.
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I got out at what my notes said would be sunrise and put on a pot of coffee and further enjoy the solitude, but it was dark where I was, nestled 1000 ft. down in the valley. As I sat and sipped, developing numbness in my hands and feet made me easily decide to wait until the sun shone over the peak to break camp and hike out. Boy was it worth the wait!
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The hike out was much easier. All the slippery rocks were dry, and mud was frozen over hard giving plenty of grip. At the last decent back down to red creek, I turned around take a good look at what I missed, if only to fuel my desire to get back here.
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You can just see lions head off in the distance. Here it is from the same spot, with some zoom.
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Almost forgot...my companion for the trip (yes I know the holster is a repro)
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That's my attempt at travel writing. Don't worry - I won't be quitting my day job anytime soon!

Even though it was illegal in Canada to carry a handgun I always carried an S&W Model 29 whenever I was backpacking in Bear or Cougar country. It fit nicely in my armpit in a shoulder holster and was invisible under the layers of clothing. Thank God I now live in a country with common sense gun laws and can carry everyday.

There are plenty of blackbears in the sods. Never seen one though, but come across plenty of scat and prints. I always open carry on trails, especially when going out alone, more to protect against any two-legged animals than anything else. Usually I carry a repro SAA 45 colt. Fits in the same m7 holster and any passers bye's eyes are immediately drawn to it. Mountain lions have been long gone. There is a persistent argument about about whether there are any. Every few years a local will report seeing one. Forest service swears there aren't any. "Sightings" notwithstanding, everyone's best guess is that if there ever were any, they were wiped out on or before the end of the logging era. 1910-1930 there were many severe wildfires that cleaned out the whole area. These fires killed off all the native grasses in the high meadows on the northern end, and then washed out the rich soils to the point where the mosses took over and now it's all a large peat bog up there. It's like walking on a waterbed. Took my daughter there last summer. We found not less than a dozen turkey feathers in the one mile of bog we skirted around. Further north there are plenty of pools and ponds formed by beaver dams. Any trail on a map can vary half mile or more in reality from month to month as the beavers make lakes and ponds at the otherwise hop-over stream crossings. I have unfortunately not seen any ducks, geese or other waterfowl. Maybe they don't like the altitude of these otherwise perfect pools? (3500-4000ft)

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Originally Posted by Sapper740

Even though it was illegal in Canada to carry a handgun I always carried an S&W Model 29

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I'm with you there...but would rather carry something a bit longer. I'd want to make sure I didn't flinch it off the rails when time came.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

I'm with you there...but would rather carry something a bit longer. I'd want to make sure I didn't flinch it off the rails when time came.

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I heard that. Backpacking in the off season with a long arm always presented the problem of an over officious CO accusing one of hunting out of season which was my main reason for carrying the revolver although I still carried the revolver during hunting season since my two favorite areas to hunt were the Shulaps mountain range in M.U. 3-17 (prime Cougar habitat) and the Flathead Valley in M.U. 4-1 (prime Grizzly habitat). Something was always within reach, even when dropping a deuce.

I was sorting through picture files. Here is a good one from last October's trip. It was supposed to last 2 weeks, but got cut short with a satellite text that my son would be starting in his first football game. I broke myself covering all the distance in order to get out in time before snow and freezing rain slowed me down enough to risk missing the game. I planned to go back after the game the next morning. As the sun came up I myself pacing around the truck barely making 3inch steps trying to loosen up. Nope. It was 2 weeks before I felt like I wasn't hobbling anymore. But the game was priceless!

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This is the high plateau in the far north of the sods, about 4100ft I think. Down the slope in the foreground is a spring and stream, pocked by small (and some large) ponds made by the beavers.

Curious vegetation for a park: scrub with small conifers here and here, so I did a little reading:

The 14 Best Places To Travel In The U.S. In May

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The high plateau of Dolly Sods was once covered in a dense forest of ancient spruce and hemlock trees. Early explorers were amazed and intimidated by the wilderness and wildlife within. David Hunter Strother wrote of the area in 1852: "In Randolph County, Virginia, is a tract of country containing from seven to nine hundred square miles, entirely uninhabited, and so savage and inaccessible that it has rarely been penetrated even by the most adventurous. The settlers on its borders speak of it with a sort of dread, and regard it as an ill-omened region, filled with bears, panthers, impassable laurel-brakes, and dangerous precipices. Stories are told of hunters having ventured too far, becoming entangled, and perishing in its intricate labyrinths."

In 1884, railroads were built to the area so that loggers could make use of the trees.
Most of the trees were cut down, and the change in landscape caused the area to become a desert. Several wildfires burned through the remains of the trees and other plant life.

In 1943-1944, the U.S. Army used Dolly Sods as a place for target practice and explosives testing. It's quite possible that live explosives still remain in the area, so hikers today are encouraged to stick to the known trails and report any strange objects. With the forests gone from the plateau, strong winds carved into the rocks and stunted the growth of new trees. The result is a very surreal landscape. However, some trees and ferns are starting to return.

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Presumably the reference is to wind and rain erosion of the thin(?) soils. In other words a man-made desert.

Old logging rail-beds make for nice easy trails usually; I guess they're not being used for that though?

Using lots of permethrin? Looks like a good place to find some ticks.:ugh:

.45 was a nice touch considering all the large predators reportedly in the area.

Dolly Sods/Lions Head Hike

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Originally Posted by Surpmil

Old logging rail-beds make for nice easy trails usually;

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Some of them are nice in stretches. They are not maintained though - only by the passers through.
The quickest route to lion's head is nice and wide at the bottom, but is overgrown with roots and rhododendron up on the slopes as you head in. The upper stretches I was on hadn't been frequented enough through the winter to clean it up, and I found myself on hands and knees in a couple spots to get through the tangle.

The fall trip last October I did a night hike in to Blackbird Knob. My 3/4 moon vanished almost as soon as it came up. There are 2 stream crossings. First one went fine, second one the "trail" had shifted from the map at the crossing. I found myself in an overgrown boulder field on the other side on my hands and knees, in the dark, trying to regain it.

Ticks are indeed really bad right now. I find myself planning the next trip on the hike out, no matter how beat I am. It really is a special place.