Dolly Sods July 22-24, 2013

[Cranky Bear]

Awwwwww man...I missed another Sods hike!!!! POOP..

[Country Roads]

Next time you guys should take the unofficial trail from Bear Rocks Tr. to Raven's Ridge Tr. It's a nice change of pace and lets you see a slightly different part of the Sods. Otherwise, looks like you had a great time. I hope to get up there soon - and with the cool weather we've been having it will feel like September.

That was the original plan, but I figured it would be pretty soggy. I hiked it about a month ago and it was like a soaked sponge. I like going that way. The water from the little creek doesn't have the tannin in it like Red Creek and I usually see quite a few deer near the creek.

[Country Roads]

The berries were huge this year! I was expecting them to not be as sweet with all the rain, but they were good. We ate a lot of them. They are as pretty to look at as they are to eat.

There are still a lot of off trail places I want to explore in the Sods. I guess that gives me another good reason to keep going

[revdarryl]

Really nice. Thanks for the vid

[Tripod]

I couldn't get the video to run but the pics came out great. It's an area that I would really like to hike in. Thanks for sharing!

[Country Roads]

That's is a great backpacking journey, love the wild blueberries picture, I bet they were delicious. About how long was the entire hike? How many miles per section?

Forgot to answer your question about mileage per section:
Day 1 was about 4 1/2 miles (we were on trail around 11ish)
Day 2 was about 5 or less (on trail around 11ish; hard to get out of a hammock in the morning )
Day 3 was right at 3 miles, so everyone could get home relatively early

So, entire distance was around 11 miles of in-your-face beauty.
I try to keep miles down, because walking and gawking are a dangerous combination.

[WV]

Forgot to answer your question about mileage per section:
Day 1 was about 4 1/2 miles (we were on trail around 11ish)
Day 2 was about 5 or less (on trail around 11ish; hard to get out of a hammock in the morning )
Day 3 was right at 3 miles, so everyone could get home relatively early

So, entire distance was around 11 miles of in-your-face beauty.
I try to keep miles down, because walking and gawking are a dangerous combination.

I'll add that there are easy trails and hard trails. Parts of this trip covered ground that alternated marshy, flooded trails with rough rocks. There are some trails at DS that invite a pleasant stroll, but not these. Worse, the eye was constantly being diverted by ripe blueberries ....