Thanks for the intel on the TH you used. Will all eight in your party be interested in making the Summer Sods trip July 12-14? Keep me posted. Thanks, and sorry your last trip to the Sods was shortened due to a turn of bad luck. Winter camping is definitely more challenging than summer camping!Originally Posted by TxAggie
I prefer to stage somewhere, but worst case, RC campground is a fallback. I'll wait to hear back from country roads as to the best place to use as a staging area. If anyone can recommend a safe place to stage our vehicles, I'd much appreciate it. This is crucial so we can get a headcount of all members of our groups. I drive an Odyssey minivan, so have room for 3 others to carpool with me.
Last edited by Tyroler Holzhacker; 01-15-2018 at 12:35.
Sounds good, any thoughts on itinerary? not like we don't have plenty of time to plan up.
Nec Aspera Terrent
Lightfighter
Little bit of confusion here: I just got back from DS for a winter hike with 5 others. If I make it to this one it will be just me.
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Most likely not, the ones I went with specifically said they go there in the winter to avoid the summer crowds. They tend to do higher mileage hiking.
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Understandable. I don't think any of us like to deal with crowds. I edited the spreadsheet to include just you added to the group.
Let me give you the report from Country Roads...
Re: Help with locating a safe place to stage our group's vehicles at the sods
Quote Originally Posted by Tyroler Holzhacker
Hi CR:
I could use your expertise in selecting a staging area for an upcoming summer trip to Dolly Sods. We seek any safe place to stage our vehicles within easy drive of the southern trail heads to Dolly Sods WMA. We will of course treat the Sods with care and respect for the gem that it is to the hiking world, being one of the most sought after locations to visit in the mid atlantic. Thanks in advance for your suggestions and advice.
Good cold winter morning! By southern, I will assume you mean forest service road 75, as it is pretty much the south-eastern border to the entire upper and lower Dolly Sods area. The least crowded trail head in the north/upper Sods area, is the Beaver Dam Trail head. It leads you to the Dobbin Grade trail, which most people avoid because it can be quite muddy/boggy on the part between Bear Rocks Trail and Beaver View Trail (notice that beaver view and beaver dam are different trails). For the lower Dolly Sods, the Red Creek trail head is decent, with mostly adequate parking. All of the trails are reasonably secure. I have never had an issue and have even had people roll up my windows and leave me a note. Most of the time, I don't even lock my Jeep; of course, I don't have much in it worth anything, since it is all on my back. Depending on where you are coming in from, FS75 from Jordon Run Road is a decent road that takes you the fastest way to Bear Rocks area. If going to trail heads near the FS19/FS75 road junction, then FS19, which also has one end starting on Jordon Run road and goes all the way through to the Laneville Road. Most of the trail heads have adequate parking, with areas that you can also pull off of the road. Most generally, the road is in pretty good shape and is passable to passenger vehicles, except maybe really low, sports cars. The road is very dusty, and is rather narrow in spots with it becoming one lane only on some parts of the uphill approaches. The views from several places along the road are pretty much second to none with some views all the way across to the north peaks of Shenandoah NP. All of the land west of FS75 is wilderness, even though the signs have not been updated as of last fall. Red Creek itself can rise to dangerous levels very quickly, since it does drain about 30,000 acres, so be careful if it starts to rain hard and doesn't let up; people get stranded by high water every year. The weather also has a tendency to take unexpected turns. I have seen temperature swings go from upper 80's in the day to upper 30's in the night. Bears are not a problem, you may not even see one. Coyotes might be a problem at night if you have a dog; I keep mine either tied or in the hammock with me. There is no poison Ivy (yippee) or stinging nettles, ticks are there, but are rarely an issue, mosquitoes are bad around the boggy areas, but no worse than anyplace else. Most trail junctions are marked with wooden signs. Sometimes in the lower wilderness, they get knocked over by the bears. Most likely place to have an issue as where the trails cross major creeks as there are trails leading up and down stream to campsites. Most generally, the trail on the other side is almost directly across from where you start and are usually marked with cairns. Expect wind during the day that often calms to nearly still at night.
If you need any specific information on any trails, trail heads or possible campsites; just ask. If I can't answer, then I will mine my sources for an answer.
Oh, prepare to be awed, no matter when you go or what the weather is. It may be foggy once in a while, but that too has an amazing beauty.
So it looks like the northern part of the sods is the least crowded. The lower part is more scenic, and no bogs to deal with llike on the dobbin grade trail near bear rocks. I prefer to avoid the boggy areas. Creek crossings are not that simple with high water, so we will need to follow the weather to see where we will be hiking. Water is more abundant in the southern part as per Country Roads. Let's discuss how many miles we want to do each day. I am open to your suggestions.
Holzhacker
Last edited by Tyroler Holzhacker; 01-16-2018 at 09:56.
The northern sods are mostly crowded at the trailheads and within 1/2 mile of the trail head. Staging at the campground is doable, but you must have at least one campsite paid for ($11.00 per night was last years cost, no reserved sites, some are doable for hammocks), since you cannot park in the campground. Blackbird Knob trail head parking is somewhat large, but does fill up fast and you would need to park along the road. There is another place to park about 1/2 mile north of Blackbird knob trail head; it is on the left when heading towards Bear Rocks. It would hold probably 6 to 8 vehicles. It is not an official trail head, so few people park there. There is a "trail" there, but it can be hard to follow in places and hard to find.
For horizon to horizon views the northern sods (aka Dolly Sods high plains, Upper sods, etc) is great. The lower sods has beautiful waterfalls along the creeks, and some pretty awesome rocky outcropping (the Lions Head and Rohrbaugh Plains overlook). The campsite in the upper sods are a bit larger; the ones in the lower sods can be small, with some being extremely popular (the Forks of red creek, the right fork of red creek at Blackbird knob trail crossing and the left fork at blackbird knob crossing) and privacy is difficult to come by.
There is a nice area of hardwoods along Beaver View Trail (connecting Dobbin Grade and Raven Ridge Trails) if other sites in spruce thickets are occupied. These would be good for hammocks and there is a nice overlook along Beaver View Trail. If you can get on the trail by Friday afternoon, you will have most sites to yourself.
You could park a vehicle or two at Red Creek Trailhead in Laneville and another one (or more) at Blackbird Knob Trailhead and then you can work your way back to the vehicle at Laneville (pretty much down all the way). This would give you a lot of options on the trails you might want to hike. Mostly, water is plentiful, but along the top of Cabin Mtn (Rocky Ridge Trail), there is not much.
The trails are most generally muddy, and there are numerous smaller stream crossings on Red Creek Trail. THere are a few boggy areas on Big Stonecoal Trail and Breathed Mtn trail, but they are short-lived. You may want to avoid Dunkenbarger Run trail; it is even more famous than Dobbin Grade for bogs. You should not have any issues with finding places to hang a hammock, and I can guarantee that you will be planning your next trip there.
Thanks again, CR for the great info about the Sods. So far we have 9 hikers signed up for this trip, including my family of 3.
You are welcome. Never know what I will be up to; so heck, you may see me up that way too. I rarely plan that far ahead.
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