Dolly Sods - Can you get there on a motorcycle?

[Buckybuck]

I'm planning a motorcycle trip around the Monongahela National Forest area of West Virginia in a few weeks. Soooo, this really isn't a hammock question (the reason I'm asking here is because I use a hammock when touring and you guys do know your stuff about great places to hang).

Any suggestions on places to hang there? I'd really like to spend some time at Dolly Sods, possibly hanging my hammock at Red Creek Campground, but I've heard that getting there on a bike might not be possible because the forest roads are too rutted. Any insight on these roads?

[VegaMike]

Forest Service Road 75 (in the north) and 19 (in the south) were in fairly good shape a few weeks ago. There are potholes and washboards so you have to be alert in the day and paranoid at night. After hitting either a rock or pothole and getting a flat at 20mph on FR75, I don't go over 10-15mph. I was in a Subaru Legacy wagon (read: 1" lower than an Outback, like a typical sedan).

Search "motorcycle" in the post by Rehingd 6/30/08-7/3/08:
http://www.midatlantichikes.com/dst-mod1.htm

I found this trip report:
http://66.39.76.105/forums/viewtopic.php?p=419185

Enjoy!

[DavidWa]

Not ridden there my self but you might gain some insight from the below links.
In particular read the comments by Rehingd , next to last post at the bottom.
http://www.midatlantichikes.com/dst-mod1.htm

map, linked from above website.
http://mrhyker.tripod.com/mnf-dst-mod.jpg


About half way down in the first post of this next thread are a couple of youtube links of the road that the poster said runs about 25 miles in the Dolly Sods area.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...ght=dolly+sods

or a direct link to the youtube videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDBgq...layer_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kskt...layer_embedded

Some other threads from Advrider about riding Dolly Sods:

Nice pics of sites, sights , along the roads
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...ght=dolly+sods

A couple of gpx tracks files
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...ght=dolly+sods

Doing a search on Advrier, top right corner, for 'Dolly Sods' turns up about 3 pages of links, some threads more direct to DSods riding than others.

[Hogg Tyed]

The wife and I drove through on the southern side of Dolly Sods. The roads were not that bad, typical dirt roads. At the Seneca rocks visitor center they did have a increased bear activity warning out for Dolly Sods. We saw one cross the road near there.

[rock_rat]

I've not taken a bike to Dolly Sods but I have road on some similar roads and spent a good bit of time on the sods. My advice take it very slowly. There are lose rocks and even worse are the small bolders that seem to stick up every where on those forest roads. There are pot holes that could almost swallow the front end of your bike. The road up to Dolly Sods is passable on a bike for a rider with common since and some experience. I've seen goldwings at bear rocks numerous times. Some people can really fly though. Trucks especially seem to be prone to coming off that mountain far too fast and swerve all over the road to avoid the bumps so keep a careful eye out for other traffic.