7 Attachment(s)
Dolly Sods WV Aug 28,29,30
I got to join RockRat, JD and Skydog for a great weekend at Dolly Sods, WV. I hitched a ride with RockRat Friday after work and as we were getting close to Red Creek Campground to meet up with JD we got a good long look at a bobcat crossing FR 75. It was the coolest thing I’ve seen.
The forecast was for rain and thunderstorms and the sky was quite overcast when we got there. JD had gotten us the last campsite at Red Creek. We hung our hammocks for the night, told a few stories around the campfire and then went to bed early with only a few sprinkles through the night.
Next morning (Saturday) RockRat and I headed for Bear Rocks Trail to start our 9 mile hike. We hiked to Raven Ridge Trail and then followed Rocky Ridge which connected to Harman Trail and then finally to Blackbird Trail which we followed to the Left Fork to our campsite right next to the creek.
JD had a broken wrist which was in a cast and his hand was in a compression glove to keep the swelling down. So he started later in the day and was hiking in from the campground on the Blackbird Knob Trail, a shorter route which was just a few miles. JD, you are one tough bird to hike in with one arm in a cast with only Skydog by your side! :cool:
Saturday was a great day for hiking -- cool, overcast, a cool breeze most of the day. Great views, wildflowers, blackberries every where and bear scat along the trail. There were college kids from Maryland out with their orienteering leaders in various groups and quite a few other hikers out hiking and camping. We were the only hammockers. Quite a few tarp tents out there.
JD had a Speer hammock with webbing and JRB Tri-Glides. His large winter Speer tarp was set up porch style. He used the Speer Top Blanket and the Speer SPE and supplemented his legs with my OWARE pad.
RockRat had the Speer Winter Tarp in a nice A-frame over his ENO hammock with the JRB No Sniv as the UQ and his JRB Old Rag Mt. for a top quilt. With that setup he said he was roasting both nights. :laugh:
I had my Blackbird hammock with my NEW DUTCH CLIPS on the webbing (which I love thank you very much!) with the No Sniv as underquilt and my Western Mountaineering Summerlite unzipped as topquilt. Used JRB large tarp with minibiner on cord at tree end and mini cordlocks attached to ridgeline loops for super easy adjustment. This was first time out with DutchClips on webbing and cordlocks and biners on tarp. My fastest setup ever. I love it! Blackbird had plenty of webbing to go around the large sticky pine trees where we camped. I was comfy and warm. Temps were very mild at night for the Sods. Low 60’s I think.
Easy hike out on Sunday, went out the way JD and Sky came in. A few pictures attached.
Dolly Sods itinerary, Boy Scout Troop 440, Silver Spring, MD
Argh, I missed you, HappyCamper! Four Scouts ages 11-14, myself, and another leader were at the Sods, too! After some horrendous traffic from DC, we hit the trail Fri @ 8pm w/headlamps ablaze. We ran into the Garrett College group on Sat; nice crew w/a ginormous :boggle: laminated map that almost caused me to soil myself.
Did we pass on the trail? Itinerary:
Fri 8/28/2009:
Park at Bear Rocks parking lot.
TR522 Bear Rocks West.
Camp at Red Creek Right Fork, just past Dobbin Grade.
Sat 8/29/2009:
TR522 Bear Rocks West
TR521 Raven Ridge West
TR524 Rocky Ridge South
TR525 Harman East
TR511 Blackbird Knob West
TR514 Red Creek South.
Camp at Red Creek Forks.
Sun 8/30/2009:
TR514 Red Creek North.
TR511 Blackbird Knob East.
TR509 Upper Red Creek North.
TR526 Dobbin Grade East short distance.
TR521 Raven Ridge North.
Unofficial Raven Ridge shortcut - Dobbin Grade bypass East.
TR522 Bear Rocks East.
My 12 y.o. son (Patrol Leader) found the "Unofficial Raven Ridge shortcut - Dobbin Grade bypass", using only a map, compass, and the vague paragraph on midatlantichikes.com, without an adult's assistance. He found the "trailhead" by approximating mileage by time (young Scouts hike around 1mph w/breaks), correlating map contour lines with terrain, and recognizing two stumps from photos (um, turns out one encounters lots of stumps in a forest :rolleyes:). He lost the trail in a featureless meadow, meandered a bit, took another compass bearing, headed toward a landmark in a NE direction, and found the trail again. The euphoria (and relief) that I felt cannot be described.
None of us had ever bypassed Dobbin Grade (notorious for mud and muck, anti-fun on the hike out). He found it without guidance and lead his patrol out.
Now that made ME one HAPPY CAMPER!