Dolly Sods Wilderness

Hike a high, windswept plateau of heath barrens, sphagnum bogs and flagged red spruce in the Monongahela National Forest.

Off Forest Road 19, Monongahela National Forest · Davis, WV

About Dolly Sods Wilderness

This 17,371-acre wilderness covers much of the Red Creek drainage, with elevations from 2,500 to over 4,700 feet and bog and heath plant life more typical of southern Canada. You can explore 47 miles of trails, many on old railroad grades and logging roads, with Forest Road 19 as the main way in. Military training here in the 1940s left unexploded ordnance, so leave anything suspicious alone and report it, and bring your own treated water.

#wilderness
#backpacking
#hiking
#national forest
#bogs

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What's around here?

The closest stops to Dolly Sods Wilderness, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

Attractions
Family Favorite
Smoke Hole Caverns
Check prices
Take a guided tour of under an hour past stalactites, helictites and a long ribbon stalactite in a West Virginia show cave, then pan for gems.
5.5 mi awaySwitch it up: Attractions
Sports & Outdoors
Outdoor Adventure
Canaan Valley Resort State Park
Check prices
Ski or snow-tube in winter and golf, hike or ride the scenic chairlift in summer at a state-run mountain resort in the highest valley east of the Mississippi.
5.6 mi awayMore like this
Sports & Outdoors
Outdoor Adventure
Blackwater Falls State Park
No admission fee
Walk a boardwalk down to amber-colored Blackwater Falls, then hike to canyon overlooks like Lindy Point in the Allegheny Mountains.
10 mi awayMore like this
Sports & Outdoors
Outdoor Adventure
Seneca Rocks
No admission fee
Watch climbers on the sheer quartzite walls of Seneca Rocks, rising nearly 900 feet above the creek, from the Discovery Center below.
11 mi awayMore like this
Sightseeing
Fairfax Stone State Park
No admission fee
A small West Virginia state park built around a colonial-era boundary marker that helped settle a land dispute.
15 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing
Attractions
Family Favorite
Shenandoah Caverns
$25–$50
Ride an elevator down into a lit show cave and follow a guide through 17 chambers of formations, including the 'bacon' stones once shown in National Geographic.
42 mi awaySwitch it up: Attractions