10/14/13
Dolly Sods Wilderness Area (North), WV

Today I had the opportunity to hike and camp Dolly Sods with my SMSC crew. The wilderness area had a good two days to soak up all the rain from this weekend and was a boggy, mist covered trail by the time we got there. The sprawling plains had turned into a sea of fog trapped in a valley. As we hiked deeper, ghostly pine trees began to emerge like specters leading us towards the forest. As the fog lifted the already obscure trail markers and trail signs became easier to find and we began picking up speed. Initially we planned on finding campsites off of Bear Rocks Trail but our pickiness kept us moving forward. Eventually we found ourselves 5 miles in along the beautiful left fork of Red Creek in a forest of pines. The mist held off long enough for us to set up camp but as we began to look for firewood it crept back in and added a eerie calm to the red-colored creek. Thanks to our amazing wilderness-survival-bushwacking-aint-no-thang dream team we had a ridiculous amount of firewood and a big fire going in no time. We all began desperately warming our feet and drying our soaked boots and socks. As the night drew closer and we prepared to camp down for the night we began setting up dinner. We roasted peppers on Elliot’s make shift grill (what a disgusting vegetable), pan roasted onions, grilled up some meat sticks and topped it all off with freshly boiled rice. I don’t know what we would have done without Tyler’s whisperlite. The night was a peaceful, cold night made perfect by our warm sleeping bags. Tent #1 was knocked out and ready to sleep but Tent #2 would not stop laughing and singing - and truth be told I didn’t mind that much at all. It’s the camp vibes and the good people that we do these things for. 

The next morning we awoke to a rekindled fire and the best soupy pancakes one could imagine - all thanks to Mr. Tyler Robic and Stubey Poopy. After eating through an entire bag of pancake mix we suited up for the wet hike out. The plan was to head east on Blackbird Knob Trail, north on Upper Red Creek Trail and then east on Doblin Grade back to Bear Rocks and the parking. True to my record thus far, Dolly Sods didn’t fail to utterly confuse me and we found ourselves standing in an open field without a trail facing a dense pine forest quickly being overtaken by fog. It was both beautiful and frightening how fast fog can move. In retrospect, I realized we needed to stay left after crossing Red Creek and to follow the path hugging the creek (one of two trails flanking a trail sign that simply said, “Doblin Grade”). Honestly, all I ask for are arrows, West Virginia. We knew that we needed to head northeast to intersect Beaver View Trail or the fire road so we hugged the ridgeline following game trails until we emerged into a pristine field of moss, pines and rocks. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. One could look out into the horizon and see the foggy vista stretch on forever. Ever conservationists, we made sure to stop and flip rocks and search streams whenever possible (I didn’t, ain’t no one got time for that with my big ass pack) and we were able to find a number of Red-Spotted Newts. We eventually approached a climb leading to a second pine forest but we hesitated to enter, hoping instead to find a way around it. Lucky for us, Laurie was able to use her animal-like game trail identification skills to zig zag our way across what felt like random directions back onto Beaver View Trail. From there it was smooth sailing back to the fire road and to the cars. We decided to end the trip with a quick drive south to a bird banding overlook we visited during class but the fog was so thick that the sprawling mountains had turned into a sea of mist. In a way it was the perfect way to end the trip. It was the first time adventuring with this new group of friends and despite all the rain and fog and swamp we all stayed positive. In fact, we had an amazing time just simply being with one another and being lost in the outdoors we are all fighting to save. In a way, the cold, crisp air and endless fog was a perfect ending to a perfect trip. 

Here’s to my rough and tumble friends.

And never saying no to adventure.

Chris

     Yesterday I had the opportunity to adventure through the northern area of Dolly Sods, WV with my brother in adventure, Sean Lacey. The 13 mile hike was part of a plan of ours to slowly expand our adventures westward, and let me tell you, it was a hell of a first experience. The beautiful wilderness area was nested in the Allegheny mountains and had a variety of terrain and began as a beautiful westward descent towards the center of the valley. We hiked through sprawling fields of low grasses, sporadic conifers, clusters of boulders and fields of blueberries. In the distance we could see a dense forest of evergreens awaiting us. The valley has had a history of war and logging which could be easily seen in the lush forest floors which were densely covered in ferns and new growth. It was as if we were walking through prehistoric times. The cool forest gave way to bright, rocky fields (I deduce this is when we obtained the majority of our sunburn). For a few miles there was no cover but we could tell we were quickly approaching Rocky Knob by the increasing number of boulders as well as the occasional trail maker (Dolly Sods didn’t have a blazed trail leaving us to the mercy of hikers past). Upon reaching the first large rock face (which we presumed to be Rocky Knob) we could see other, larger rock faces in the distance. Fast-forward two more knobs and we reached what we believed to be THE Rocky Knob mentioned in the literature. Throughout the hike we recorded time and elevation at each trail intersection and made sure to note the first two knobs as Tallywacker Knob #1 and #2 respectively. At the base of the peak we set up shop and rehydrated. Once our food had cooked we took our meals up to the top and enjoyed a well-earned lunch and a breathtaking view. I took the opportunity to photograph the surrounding landscape as well as some candids of Sean. Lately I’ve found that I am relying on my iPhone 4s more and more as my primary camera (I can see all of my photography professors cringing). With these hikes getting more technical/beautiful the opportunity is starting to outweigh the quality and I am reaching for my phone rather than unpacking my bulky DSLR. In my opinion, the app VSCOCAM (http://vsco.co/vscocam) is an invaluable partner on these hikes. It’s photo quality is much higher than the stock camera app and its editing capabilities are everything that I need (except I could use a brightness/fill light option) to take quality images. The only photos in this entry taken with my DSLR are the ones watermarked. Anyways, photographic aside aside, I really owe a lot to Sean Lacey. Over the past months he has become a close friend, a valued teacher and a irreplaceable  adventure companion. Aside from basic survival and navigation, he has shown me how to truly live a simple and honest life. He has helped me gain so much experience with the outdoors and has made me a much more capable and confident hiker. Once we finished our meals we prepared for the stretch back home. To do this we essentially needed to complete the second half of the rectangular hike which included more than 4 different intersecting trails, all of which weren’t marked. We had roughly 5 or so hours of sunlight left. The trouble really began with finding our way back to the main trail from the knob. What we took as the main trail was actually the first of many bushwacked trails we would accidentally follow and it took us almost 30 minutes to navigate the confusing terrain. Once we were on the main trail we hiked until we found ourselves in a earthy, red forest. Our biggest error happened when we miscalculated the distance between two intersections on our map and mistakenly thought we were much further ahead then we were. We crossed the river and met a man setting up camp with his dog. We knew that we needed to hike north and cross a second river but the trail and map weren’t lining up. The terrain features quickly became ambiguous and the trail completely disappeared into campground. We eventually came across a woman filtering water and crossed the river there. We completely lost the trail at this point and only had 2.5 hours of sunlight left with well over 6 miles to go - it was going to turn into a night hike. We gave up on the trail and began bushwacking northward until we found yet another stream - this was the giveaway that we were terribly off course. As it would turn out we were surrounded by the stream and needed to u-turn. Crossing the stream again and hiking through thick trees we found the man setting up his tent again and he happily shouted out, “Deja-vu!” which is the last thing any hiker wants to hear when they are lost. He helped us get back on track and we eventually found the trail indicator we needed. With less than an hour of sunlight left and 5 or so miles to go we rehydrated and prepared our headlamps. We would be approaching the bog part of our hike, in which there were of course 2 very crucial intersections, in the dark. To my luck we had a mile worth of bog before the sun set so I was able to figure out the best way to step through them - there is no best way to step through them. By 21:00 we were hiking in complete darkness across the center of the massive valley through swamp grass, thick mud and invisible streams - I was pretty damn scared and completely out of water. The only thing letting us know we were going the right direction was the fact that the mud we were walking through didn’t have grass and the notion that it and must have been formed by hikers. By 22:00 we were on dry land again and ascending up a cool rocky path. I knew we were close to home. Call me over dramatic but I shouted for joy when I shined my PD22 up the trail and a license plate and 2 rear lights reflected back - we had found the damn parking lot. 

Here’s to strapping up your boots and going for it.

Trek On,

Chris