Dolly Sods Wilderness
Encyclopedia
The Dolly Sods Wilderness — originally simply Dolly Sods — is a U.S. Wilderness Area in the Allegheny Mountains
of eastern West Virginia
, USA, and is part of the Monongahela National Forest
(MNF) of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).
Dolly Sods is a rocky, high-altitude plateau with sweeping vistas and lifeforms normally found much farther north in Canada
. The distinctive landscape of "the Sods" is characterized by stunted (“flagged”) trees
, wind-carved boulders
, heath barrens, grassy meadow
s created in the last century by logging and fires, and sphagnum bogs that are much older.
The name derives from an 18th century German homesteading
family — the Dahles
— and a local term for an open mountaintop meadow — a "sods
".
of its type east of the Mississippi River
with altitude ranging from around 4,000 feet (1,200 m) at the top of a mountain ridge on the Allegheny Front
to about 2,700 feet (820 m) at the outlet of Red Creek. Prominent summits within the Wilderness are Coal Knob, Breathed Mountain and Blackbird Knob (3,960 feet). The highest point in the immediate area (just outside the Dolly Sods Wilderness area in the Roaring Plains West Wilderness
) is Mount Porte Crayon
at 4,770 feet (1,454 m).
. Most of its area is drained by the North Fork of Red Creek, which is a tributary
of the Dry Fork River. Via the Dry Fork, Black Fork, Cheat
, Monongahela
and Ohio
Rivers, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed
. South of Forest Service Route 19 is the adjoining Red Creek/Flatrock/Roaring Plains area, which is drained by the South Fork of Red Creek. Drainage on the east side of the ridge crest flows into the headwaters of the South Branch of the Potomac River
, which is part of the Chesapeake Bay
watershed.
To the northeast, DSW is bordered by the Bear Rocks Nature Preserve
, owned by The Nature Conservancy
. The surrounding area was recently added to the Wilderness and is known as Dolly Sods North (the "High Sods"). North of Dolly Sods North (and just outside the present DSW) is an area known as Dobbins Slashings — a sub-arctic bog forming the headwaters of Red Creek on Cabin Mountain. Dobbins Slashings has also been proposed for wilderness preservation. In the Canaan Valley
to the west, the Wilderness is adjoined by the 16000 acres (64.7 km²) Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge
.
Almost all of DSW is in the southeast corner of Tucker County
with only very small sections extending into Randolph
and Grant
Counties.
and conglomerate
. The Northland Loop Trail is a 0.3 mile interpretive trail just south of Red Creek Campground on FS Rt 75 which accesses Alder Run Bog a typical, and much studied, "northern bog" or "southern muskeg
".
, Thomas Lewis
and others surveyed in 1746 to find the limits of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
’s land grant from the British Crown. The famous Fairfax Line
grazes the northern margin of the Wilderness near Bear Rocks. This area was generally avoided as too impenetrable to easily traverse until the late 19th century. David Hunter Strother
wrote an early description of the area, published in Harper's Monthly
magazine in 1852:
The extensive high areas in Dolly Sods and Flatrock-Roaring Plains were once mostly covered by dense, ancient red spruce
and eastern hemlock forest. The trees were 60 to 90 feet (27 m) tall (18–27 m) and some measured at least 12 feet (370 cm) in diameter. The greatest stand of red spruce in the world, in terms of size and quality, could be found along the upper Red Creek. The largest recorded tree ever cut in West Virginia was a white oak
, harvested in this region. Nearly as large as a Giant Sequoia, it was probably well over 1,000 years old and measured 13 feet (4 m) in diameter at a height of 16 feet (5 m), and 10 feet (3 m) in diameter 31 feet (9.4 m) above the base. We will probably never know how large the biggest trees in West Virginia were because most cuttings were not documented. Centuries of accumulated needles from these trees created a blanket of humus (soil) seven to nine feet deep.
The name Dolly Sods derives from the family name of Johann Dahle (1749-1847), a German immigrant who homesteaded nearby. Such early settlers utilized the natural open fields on mountainsides known as "sods
". Logged out and burned over areas produced additional good grass cover for grazing
sheep and cattle. (Repeated burning, however, killed the grass and left only bracken fern, which was useless as fodder.) Locals changed the spelling of Dahle to "Dolly" and thus one such area became known as Dolly Sods. The Dahle family eventually moved on, leaving behind only the Americanized version of their name.
Local historian Hu Maxwell
described the Dolly Sods area in the Wheeling
Intelligencer
in 1886: "The top of the mountain is flat, except here and there rugged ridges and huge promontories of rocks rising above the level of the plains, and giving the scene an appearance of distance and mystery that must be witnessed before it can be understood".
-hemlock
-black cherry
forest in the world, with some enormous trees up to 12 feet in diameter. The huge spruce and hemlock became accessible in 1884 when the B & O Railroad first arrived at nearby Davis
. In 1899, the Parsons Pulp and Lumber Company (PPLC) established a sawmill
at Dobbin
on the North Branch Potomac River in Grant County
. This was the mill into which most of the magnificent forest of the northern half of the watershed of the North Fork Red Creek disappeared. In 1902, the PPLC installed a new band saw
mill on the main stem of Red Creek. The lumber boom town of Laneville
soon sprang up around it with a population that peaked at over 300 people.Shay locomotive
s climbed the temporary railroads into the mountains and backcountry logging
camps sprang up throughout the Sods, clearing away the virgin forest to feed the hungry mills. Teams of draft horse
s dragged all the commercial timber to the nearest tracks. When the timber was exhausted in the sector around one camp, the rails were taken up and reused elsewhere. It was into the mill at Laneville that most of the timber of the southern two thirds of the Sods disappeared.
Unfortunately, however, the humus covering the ground dried up when the protective tree cover was removed. Sparks from the locomotives, saw mills and logger's warming fires easily ignited this humus layer and the extensive slash
— wood too small to be marketable, such as branches and tree crowns — left behind by loggers. Fires repeatedly ravaged the area in the 1910s, scorching everything right down to the underlying rocks. All insects, worms, salamander
s, mice and other burrowing forms of life perished and the area became a desert. The destruction was extraordinary. The complete clearcut of this ecologically fragile area, followed by extensive wildfires and overgrazing, exacerbated by the ecological stresses of the elevation, have prevented quick regeneration of the forest which has taken decades to recover. The Monongahela National Forest
was created in 1915, largely motivated by a desire to mitigate the sort of wholesale destruction that had swept over the Sods. In 1916 most of Dolly Sods was purchased by the federal government for the MNF from the Bridges Estate. Mineral rights remained in private ownership.
The Laneville mill closed in 1920 after almost all the timber had been cut and the local population dwindled. The last timber was felled in the Dolly Sods area in 1924. A particularly ferocious fire raged in late July 1930 in the northernmost Red Creek and southernmost Stony River
watersheds (along the Grant/Tucker County line). This conflagration — known as the Dobbin Slashings Fire — consumed 24,800 acres and killed many trees left alone as non-commercial by the loggers. An eerie landscape persisted here for years, with the stumps of these trees perched high upon jumbles of boulders.
In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps
made some modest attempts to remediate the damage to Dolly Sods by re-planting stands of red spruce
there.
, the U.S. Army used the area as a practice artillery
and mortar
range and maneuver area before troops were sent to Europe
to fight in World War II
. Cabin Mountain and Blackbird Knob served as designated targets. Some of the artillery and mortar shells (60 mm and 81 mm rounds) shot into the area still exist there. (In 1997, a work crew extensively surveyed trail locations and known campsites for shells. Workers made 32,594 excavations along the trails and discovered and detonated 14 live mortar shells, most along the Fisher Spring Run Trail. All were exploded on site. Two others were inert. They also found numerous railroad spikes, iron tools and horseshoes left over from logging days. Off-trail searches proved to be impossible. See this link for a photo of two shells found in July 2006.)
Dolly Sods became popular with recreationalists and conservationists in the mid-1960s at which time political agitation began to set it aside as a preserve. The area was threatened by at least four potential developments: (1) sub-divisions for summer homes on Cabin Mountain, (2) as a route for a proposed federal expressway (Corridor H) linking Washington, DC with the highlands, (3) strip-mining of as many as six coal seams, which was already occurring within 3.5 miles of the Sods in the north and (4) flooding by a huge reservoir as part of the proposed Davis Power Project just to the west. An ad hoc
committee of stakeholders was convened by the MNF in Spring 1969. It advised that a scenic or botanical area should be set aside in the North Fork Red Creek area. In October 1970, the Forest superintendent announced the creation of a 10,200 acre "Dolly Sods Scenic Area".
The Nature Conservancy
played a major role in preserving the area. By 1972, it had purchased the coal rights under the future federal wilderness (15,558 acres of the Sods and Roaring Plains, itself now a designated Wilderness) for $15 million. Dolly Sods finally became a federally-designated wilderness area in 1975 which resulted in greatly increased numbers of visitors. The area had only an estimated 500 visitors in 1965; by 1997 there were 7,499 registered (and many more unregistered) users annually.
In the 1970s and '80s, it was not possible to propose Dolly Sods North for wilderness classification as it was all privately owned — by the Western Maryland Railway Company and the Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO) — and was largely outside the Proclamation Boundary of the MNF. Public acquisition could not go forward as the companies long refused to consider selling. In the 1990s, however, the Nature Conservancy paid another $6 million to acquire 6,100 acres in Dolly Sods North (of the total of 7,215 acres) from the then-owner, the Texas-based Quintana Corporation. This land was then donated to the Forest Service. Most recently, the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 added 7156 acres (29 km²) of Dolly Sods North to the original 10215 acres (41 km²) of the Wilderness to make the present total of 17371 acres (70 km²).
higher, frost is possible at any time of the year in higher elevations (above 4,000 feet) and winter temperatures can dip below zero. Yearly precipitation is more than 55 inches. Precipitation is heavy because rising air masses cool as they hit the higher mountains and deposit moisture. Snowfall is impressive and may reach 150 inches in a year. This heavy snow breaks down trees and shrubs. Heavy glazes of ice and deposits of rime frost also break down trees and shrubs, giving them their characteristic forms and gnarled appearance
. Prevailing winds are from the west and blow almost constantly. The effect of these winds can be seen in the flag-form red spruce trees; their branches grow on one side, away from the wind. Frost and snow effects also contribute to the flag-form shape of the trees.
Because of the drying influence of the wind, no branches are produced on the west side of the tree above the protective shrub layer. Stunted branches on the east side give the trees a twisted appearance. Where spruce are
protected by a shrub layer, luxuriant webs of branches extend for a radius of a dozen feet, giving a mat-like look to vegetation.
The explosive collision of air masses attendant upon the Allegheny Front dumps many tons of snow on Dolly Sods each winter. During the winter of 2003, 290 inches (7.3 m) of snow fell in the area. Humid and warmer air from the Potomac River Valley to the east and south meets colder Canadian air blowing off the Great Lakes
. This churns and produces the locally severe weather that can sometimes rival that of Mount Washington
in New Hampshire
.
This section of the Allegheny Front is one of the windiest spots east of the Mississippi, a fact responsible for the wind farming that is now so highly visible just north of Bear Rocks. Wind recorders in the Wilderness have been known to blow away in the gusts that can exceed 100 miles per hour. Just to the west in Canaan Valley
temperatures of 40 degrees below zero have been recorded.
s within the Sods are remarkably varied. In recent decades, the many stages of ecologic succession throughout the Sods have made the region one of enduring interest to botanists.
Sods (Grass balds)
The local term "sods
" is a traditional name referring to several high-elevation meadows in the High Alleghenies. The term is virtually synonymous with the "grass bald" of the southern Appalachians. These grassy areas on mountain slopes or summits apparently existed by the scores in the mid-Appalachian region when whites first intruded there. According to botanist Earl L. Core, "The silvery sheen of the grass, against the dark green background of the spruce, attracted the attention of the early settlers.... The dominant grass is Allegheny flyback (Danthonia compressa)
, a grass so light in weight that it would "fly back" against the scythe of the mower". The origin of these grassy tracts has been the subject of wide-ranging speculation. Core favored a multi-factorial explanation involving a "bald-susceptible zone" present at mountain summits where various causes (extreme weather, fires, etc.) initially wiped out trees followed by succession by grasses that was so competitive with the new tree seedlings that the cleared areas persist for a much longer period than at lower elevations.
Heath barrens (Huckleberry plains)
The extensive views across the tundra
-like windswept open meadows in the northern section of Dolly Sods are reminiscent of Alaska
n landscapes. "Heath barrens" is a botanical term, but the traditional local name for these unusual expanses was "huckleberry plains". These upper reaches have been extensively colonized by various Ericaceae
(heaths): blueberry
and cranberry
(Vaccinium), huckleberry
(Gaylussacia), rose azalea (Rhododendron prinophyllum) and rosebay rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum), mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), and teaberry (or wintergreen, Gaultheria
). Members of Rosaceae (the rose family)
also abound: Allegheny menziesia (Menziesia pilosa)
, chokeberry
, mountain ash
, serviceberry
, and pin cherry (Prunus pensylvanica). Boulder fields left by the denuding topsoil fires of 80 years ago are extensive here.
Sphagnum glades (Cranberry bogs)
These spruce-edged sphagnum bogs are found in the upper sections of Red Creek and its tributaries, often in association with thickets of speckled alder. There are similar areas throughout the High Alleghenies, most famously the Cranberry Glades. The largest one at Dolly Sods is about a mile long and half a mile wide. The thick carpet of sphagnum moss and the polytrichum moss
hummocks also sustain cotton grass, sundew
and the lichen
known as reindeer moss. In addition to the spruce, the bog margins are frequented by fern
s, sedges and the occasional balsam fir
. The three-toothed cinquefoil (Sibbaldiopsis tridentate) is often abundant and orchids — for example the pink lady's slipper — are sometimes seen.
Hardwood forests
The more southerly section of the Dolly Sods Wilderness includes maturing spruce copses, rhododendron thickets, northern hardwoods on the ridges and cove hardwoods in the deep tributaries of Red Creek. All of the original old-growth forest was removed a century ago, followed by fires that burned, then smoldered, for months. Much of the deep topsoil was lost forever. Today, there are patches of recovering native red spruce
forest plus twisted yellow birch
, sugar
and red maple
, eastern hemlock
, and black cherry
. American beech
, pine and hickory can also be found. The wild onion
known as the ramp (Allium tricoccum) is also present in the deeper forests.
which once inhabited the High Alleghenies — elk
, bison
, mountain lion — were all exterminated during the 19th century. They survived longer in this area, however, than in other parts of the eastern United States. Because of the high altitude the climate is cool and some animals are more similar to ones found about 1600 miles (2,574.9 km) farther north in Canada
. Many species found here are near their southernmost range. For example, the snowshoe hare
found in Dolly Sods is usually found in Canada and Alaska and is adapted to snow conditions, with its large, hairy feet which allow it to run on the snow surface.
Beaver
— which were restored to the state after a period of extirpation — continually create and refurbish their beaver ponds in these high elevation watersheds. Other animals that may be encountered include red
and gray foxes, bobcat
s, black bears
, groundhog
, timber rattler
s, wild turkey
, grouse
, and white-tailed deer
. The Cheat Mountain salamander
, listed since 1989 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as threatened, is also present.
There is an extensive network of hiking trail
s in the Wilderness totalling 47 miles. Some follow old logging railroad grades, and occasionally you see some remnants of railroad ties and metal equipment. Until a 2004 remapping, the USGS and USFS maps of the trails were inaccurate so a mapping site provides good maps with GPS data. Trails include:
The Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area
is adjacent to Dolly Sods-Flatrock-Roaring Plains on the east and the south.
Allegheny Mountains
The Allegheny Mountain Range , also spelled Alleghany, Allegany and, informally, the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada...
of eastern West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
, USA, and is part of the Monongahela National Forest
Monongahela National Forest
The Monongahela National Forest is a national forest located in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It protects over of federally-owned land within a proclamation boundary that includes much of the Potomac Highlands Region and portions of 10 counties.The MNF includes some...
(MNF) of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).
Dolly Sods is a rocky, high-altitude plateau with sweeping vistas and lifeforms normally found much farther north in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The distinctive landscape of "the Sods" is characterized by stunted (“flagged”) trees
Krummholz
Krummholz or Krumholtz formation — also called Knieholz — is a particular feature of subarctic and subalpine tree line landscapes. Continual exposure to fierce, freezing winds causes vegetation to become stunted and deformed...
, wind-carved boulders
Ventifact
Ventifacts are rocks that have been abraded, pitted, etched, grooved, or polished by wind-driven sand or ice crystals. These geomorphic features are most typically found in arid environments where there is little vegetation to interfere with aeolian particle transport, where there are frequently...
, heath barrens, grassy meadow
Meadow
A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants . The term is from Old English mædwe. In agriculture a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make hay...
s created in the last century by logging and fires, and sphagnum bogs that are much older.
The name derives from an 18th century German homesteading
Homesteading
Broadly defined, homesteading is a lifestyle of simple self-sufficiency.-Current practice:The term may apply to anyone who follows the back-to-the-land movement by adopting a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle. While land is no longer freely available in most areas of the world, homesteading...
family — the Dahles
Dahl (surname)
Dahl or Dahle is a surname of Germanic origin. Dahl, which means valley in the North Germanic languages , is common in Norway, Denmark and Sweden...
— and a local term for an open mountaintop meadow — a "sods
Sods
Sods is a term used in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia for a mountain top meadow or bog, in an area that is otherwise generally forested...
".
Geography
Topography
Dolly Sods is the highest plateauPlateau
In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...
of its type east of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
with altitude ranging from around 4,000 feet (1,200 m) at the top of a mountain ridge on the Allegheny Front
Allegheny Front
The Allegheny Front is the major southeast- or east-facing escarpment in the Allegheny Mountains in southern Pennsylvania, western Maryland, and eastern West Virginia, USA. The Allegheny Front delineates the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians to its east from the Appalachian Plateau to its west...
to about 2,700 feet (820 m) at the outlet of Red Creek. Prominent summits within the Wilderness are Coal Knob, Breathed Mountain and Blackbird Knob (3,960 feet). The highest point in the immediate area (just outside the Dolly Sods Wilderness area in the Roaring Plains West Wilderness
Roaring Plains West Wilderness
The Roaring Plains West Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It is part of the Monongahela National Forest and includes Mount Porte Crayon, the sixth highest point in the state....
) is Mount Porte Crayon
Mount Porte Crayon
Mount Porte Crayon is a mountain in the Roaring Plains Wilderness of the Monongahela National Forest. It is situated in the extreme northeastern corner of Randolph County, West Virginia, USA, and rises to an elevation of , the elevational climax of the Allegheny Front...
at 4,770 feet (1,454 m).
Drainage
Dolly Sods is on a ridge crest that forms part of the Eastern Continental DivideEastern Continental Divide
The Eastern Continental Divide, in conjunction with other continental divides of North America, demarcates two watersheds of the Atlantic Ocean: the Gulf of Mexico watershed and the Atlantic Seaboard watershed. Prior to 1760, the divide represented the boundary between British and French colonial...
. Most of its area is drained by the North Fork of Red Creek, which is a tributary
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
of the Dry Fork River. Via the Dry Fork, Black Fork, Cheat
Cheat River
The Cheat River is a tributary of the Monongahela River in eastern West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Via the Monongahela and Ohio rivers, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed, ultimately draining into the Gulf of Mexico.-Geography:The Cheat is formed at...
, Monongahela
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
and Ohio
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
Rivers, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
. South of Forest Service Route 19 is the adjoining Red Creek/Flatrock/Roaring Plains area, which is drained by the South Fork of Red Creek. Drainage on the east side of the ridge crest flows into the headwaters of the South Branch of the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
, which is part of the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
watershed.
Boundaries
The original "Dolly Sods" was a mountaintop meadow of about 650 acres (3 km²) at the southern end of Rohrbaugh Plains, near the present Dolly Sods Picnic Area. The present-day Dolly Sods Wilderness (DSW) encompasses some 17371 acres (70 km²) of USFS land and is itself only part of a larger 32000 acres (129 km²) area now known as "Dolly Sods". The DSW is bordered by Forest Service Routes 75 and 19 on the east and south sides, respectively. (Since the early 1970s it has been common practice to include the Red Creek Plains, Flatrock Plains and Roaring Plains areas to the south as part of the "greater" Dolly Sods area. Formerly, the area encompassed by these three mountaintop flats — all south of FS Rt 19 — was known locally and collectively as "Huckleberry Plains".)To the northeast, DSW is bordered by the Bear Rocks Nature Preserve
Bear Rocks Nature Preserve
Bear Rocks are a widely recognized symbol of West Virginia wilderness and among the most frequently photographed places in the state. They are a well-known landmark on the eastern edge of the plateau that includes the Dolly Sods Wilderness. They sit in a high-elevation heathland punctuated with...
, owned by The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a US charitable environmental organization that works to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive....
. The surrounding area was recently added to the Wilderness and is known as Dolly Sods North (the "High Sods"). North of Dolly Sods North (and just outside the present DSW) is an area known as Dobbins Slashings — a sub-arctic bog forming the headwaters of Red Creek on Cabin Mountain. Dobbins Slashings has also been proposed for wilderness preservation. In the Canaan Valley
Canaan Valley
Canaan Valley is an oval, bowl-like upland valley in northeastern Tucker County, West Virginia, USA. Within it are extensive wetlands and the headwaters of the Blackwater River which spills out of the valley at Blackwater Falls...
to the west, the Wilderness is adjoined by the 16000 acres (64.7 km²) Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge
Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge
The Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Tucker County, West Virginia is the 500th National Wildlife Refuge to be established in the USA. The refuge preserves a moist valley with unique wetlands and uplands at a relatively high elevation in the Allegheny Mountains. It is administered by the...
.
Almost all of DSW is in the southeast corner of Tucker County
Tucker County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 7,321 people, 3,052 households, and 2,121 families residing in the county. The population density was 18 people per square mile . There were 4,634 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile...
with only very small sections extending into Randolph
Randolph County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 28,262 people, 11,072 households, and 7,661 families residing in the county. The population density was 27 people per square mile . There were 13,478 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile...
and Grant
Grant County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 11,299 people, 4,591 households, and 3,273 families residing in the county. The population density was 24 people per square mile . There were 6,105 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile...
Counties.
Trails
There are some 47 miles of hiking trials within the DSW, many situated along the courses of abandoned railroad grades and logging roads. The premier viewpoint within the Wilderness, affording a vista of the entire Red Creek drainage, is at a set of rocky crags known as Lion’s Head Rock. It is reached by an almost three mile climb from the nearest road. The last quarter mile is an eight foot wide bench (an old railroad grade) in the side of an otherwise steep slope. Like the cliffs constituting the eastern edge of the Sods at Rohrbaugh Plains, Lion's Head Rock consists of a mixture of sandstoneSandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
and conglomerate
Conglomerate (geology)
A conglomerate is a rock consisting of individual clasts within a finer-grained matrix that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts...
. The Northland Loop Trail is a 0.3 mile interpretive trail just south of Red Creek Campground on FS Rt 75 which accesses Alder Run Bog a typical, and much studied, "northern bog" or "southern muskeg
Muskeg
Muskeg is an acidic soil type common in Arctic and boreal areas, although it is found in other northern climates as well. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bogland but muskeg is the standard term in Western Canada and Alaska, while 'bog' is common elsewhere. The term is of Cree origin, maskek...
".
Pre-logging
The Dolly Sods area was first encountered by whites when Peter JeffersonPeter Jefferson
Peter Jefferson was the father of American President Thomas Jefferson . A surveyor and cartographer, his Fry-Jefferson Map of 1751 accurately depicted the Allegheny Mountains for the first time and showed the route of "The Great Road from the Yadkin River thro Virginia to Philadelphia distant 455...
, Thomas Lewis
Thomas Lewis (Virginia)
Thomas Lewis was an Irish-American surveyor, lawyer, and a pioneer of early Virginia. He was a signatory to the Fairfax Resolves preceding the American War for Independence, and after the conflict, contributed to the settlement of western Virginia in an area that would one day become part of West...
and others surveyed in 1746 to find the limits of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron was the son of Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron and of Catherine, daughter of Thomas Culpeper, 2nd Baron Culpeper of Thoresway....
’s land grant from the British Crown. The famous Fairfax Line
Fairfax Line
The Fairfax Line was a surveyor's line run in 1746 to establish the limits of the "Northern Neck land grant" in colonial Virginia....
grazes the northern margin of the Wilderness near Bear Rocks. This area was generally avoided as too impenetrable to easily traverse until the late 19th century. David Hunter Strother
David Hunter Strother
David Hunter Strother was a successful 19th century American magazine illustrator and writer, popularly known by his pseudonym, "Porte Crayon" .-Early life:...
wrote an early description of the area, published in Harper's Monthly
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
magazine in 1852:
- "In Randolph County, Virginia, is a tract of country containing from seven to nine hundred square miles, entirely uninhabited, and so savage and inaccessible that it has rarely been penetrated even by the most adventurous. The settlers on its borders speak of it with a sort of dread, and regard it as an ill-omened region, filled with bears, panthers, impassable laurel-brakes, and dangerous precipices. Stories are told of hunters having ventured too far, becoming entangled, and perishing in its intricate labyrinths. The desire of daring the unknown dangers of this mysterious region, stimulated a party of gentlemen . . . to undertake it in June, 1851. They did actually penetrate the country as far as the Falls of the BlackwaterBlackwater Falls State ParkBlackwater Falls State Park is located in the Allegheny Mountains of Tucker County, West Virginia, USA. The centerpiece of the Park is Blackwater Falls, a cascade where the Blackwater River leaves its leisurely course in Canaan Valley and enters rugged Blackwater Canyon...
, and returned with marvelous accounts of its savage grandeur, and the quantities of game and fish to be found there."
The extensive high areas in Dolly Sods and Flatrock-Roaring Plains were once mostly covered by dense, ancient red spruce
Red Spruce
Picea rubens is a species of spruce native to eastern North America, ranging from eastern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and from New England south in the Adirondack Mountains and Appalachians to western North Carolina.-Physical description:...
and eastern hemlock forest. The trees were 60 to 90 feet (27 m) tall (18–27 m) and some measured at least 12 feet (370 cm) in diameter. The greatest stand of red spruce in the world, in terms of size and quality, could be found along the upper Red Creek. The largest recorded tree ever cut in West Virginia was a white oak
White oak
Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak of the Fagaceae family, native to eastern North America and found from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been...
, harvested in this region. Nearly as large as a Giant Sequoia, it was probably well over 1,000 years old and measured 13 feet (4 m) in diameter at a height of 16 feet (5 m), and 10 feet (3 m) in diameter 31 feet (9.4 m) above the base. We will probably never know how large the biggest trees in West Virginia were because most cuttings were not documented. Centuries of accumulated needles from these trees created a blanket of humus (soil) seven to nine feet deep.
The name Dolly Sods derives from the family name of Johann Dahle (1749-1847), a German immigrant who homesteaded nearby. Such early settlers utilized the natural open fields on mountainsides known as "sods
Sods
Sods is a term used in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia for a mountain top meadow or bog, in an area that is otherwise generally forested...
". Logged out and burned over areas produced additional good grass cover for grazing
Grazing
Grazing generally describes a type of feeding, in which a herbivore feeds on plants , and also on other multicellular autotrophs...
sheep and cattle. (Repeated burning, however, killed the grass and left only bracken fern, which was useless as fodder.) Locals changed the spelling of Dahle to "Dolly" and thus one such area became known as Dolly Sods. The Dahle family eventually moved on, leaving behind only the Americanized version of their name.
Local historian Hu Maxwell
Hu Maxwell
Hu Maxwell was a local historian, novelist, editor, poet, and author of several histories of West Virginia counties.-Biography:...
described the Dolly Sods area in the Wheeling
Wheeling
-Places in the United States of America:*Wheeling, Illinois*Wheeling, Carroll County, Indiana*Wheeling, Delaware County, Indiana*Wheeling, Gibson County, Indiana*Wheeling, Missouri*Wheeling, West Virginia...
Intelligencer
The Intelligencer & Wheeling News Register
The Intelligencer and Wheeling News Register are combined daily newspapers under common ownership in Wheeling, West Virginia owned by Ogden Newspapers. The Intelligencer is published weekday mornings and Saturdays, while the News-Register is published weekday afternoons and Sundays.-References:...
in 1886: "The top of the mountain is flat, except here and there rugged ridges and huge promontories of rocks rising above the level of the plains, and giving the scene an appearance of distance and mystery that must be witnessed before it can be understood".
The logging era
The area surrounding Dolly Sods was formerly described as the best spruceRed Spruce
Picea rubens is a species of spruce native to eastern North America, ranging from eastern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and from New England south in the Adirondack Mountains and Appalachians to western North Carolina.-Physical description:...
-hemlock
Eastern Hemlock
Tsuga canadensis, also known as eastern or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as pruche du Canada, is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It ranges from northeastern Minnesota eastward through southern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and south in the Appalachian...
-black cherry
Black Cherry
Prunus serotina, commonly called black cherry, wild black cherry, rum cherry, or mountain black cherry, is a woody plant species belonging to the genus Prunus...
forest in the world, with some enormous trees up to 12 feet in diameter. The huge spruce and hemlock became accessible in 1884 when the B & O Railroad first arrived at nearby Davis
Davis, West Virginia
Davis is a town in Tucker County, West Virginia, along the Blackwater River. The population was 624 at the 2000 census.-History:Davis was named either for Henry Gassaway Davis, or for his family generally....
. In 1899, the Parsons Pulp and Lumber Company (PPLC) established a sawmill
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
at Dobbin
Dobbin, West Virginia
Dobbin is an unincorporated community on the North Branch Potomac River in Grant County, West Virginia, USA. Dobbin is located southwest of Bayard on West Virginia Route 90....
on the North Branch Potomac River in Grant County
Grant County, West Virginia
As of the census of 2000, there were 11,299 people, 4,591 households, and 3,273 families residing in the county. The population density was 24 people per square mile . There were 6,105 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile...
. This was the mill into which most of the magnificent forest of the northern half of the watershed of the North Fork Red Creek disappeared. In 1902, the PPLC installed a new band saw
Band saw
A bandsaw is a power tool which uses a blade consisting of a continuous band of metal with teeth along one edge to cut various workpieces. The band usually rides on two wheels rotating in the same plane, although some small bandsaws have three wheels. Bandsawing produces uniform cutting action as a...
mill on the main stem of Red Creek. The lumber boom town of Laneville
Laneville, West Virginia
Laneville is an unincorporated community in Tucker County, West Virginia, USA. It lies on Red Creek along the southern border of the Dolly Sods Wilderness in the Monongahela National Forest.-History:...
soon sprang up around it with a population that peaked at over 300 people.Shay locomotive
Shay locomotive
The Shay locomotive was the most widely used geared steam locomotive. The locomotives were built to the patents of Ephraim Shay, who has been credited with the popularization of the concept of a geared steam locomotive...
s climbed the temporary railroads into the mountains and backcountry logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
camps sprang up throughout the Sods, clearing away the virgin forest to feed the hungry mills. Teams of draft horse
Draft horse
A draft horse , draught horse or dray horse , less often called a work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred for hard, heavy tasks such as ploughing and farm labour...
s dragged all the commercial timber to the nearest tracks. When the timber was exhausted in the sector around one camp, the rails were taken up and reused elsewhere. It was into the mill at Laneville that most of the timber of the southern two thirds of the Sods disappeared.
Unfortunately, however, the humus covering the ground dried up when the protective tree cover was removed. Sparks from the locomotives, saw mills and logger's warming fires easily ignited this humus layer and the extensive slash
Slash (logging)
Slash, or slashings, is a forestry term that refers to coarse and fine woody debris generated during logging operations or through wind, snow or other natural forest disturbances. Slash generated during logging operations may increase fire hazard and some North American states have passed laws...
— wood too small to be marketable, such as branches and tree crowns — left behind by loggers. Fires repeatedly ravaged the area in the 1910s, scorching everything right down to the underlying rocks. All insects, worms, salamander
Salamander
Salamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...
s, mice and other burrowing forms of life perished and the area became a desert. The destruction was extraordinary. The complete clearcut of this ecologically fragile area, followed by extensive wildfires and overgrazing, exacerbated by the ecological stresses of the elevation, have prevented quick regeneration of the forest which has taken decades to recover. The Monongahela National Forest
Monongahela National Forest
The Monongahela National Forest is a national forest located in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It protects over of federally-owned land within a proclamation boundary that includes much of the Potomac Highlands Region and portions of 10 counties.The MNF includes some...
was created in 1915, largely motivated by a desire to mitigate the sort of wholesale destruction that had swept over the Sods. In 1916 most of Dolly Sods was purchased by the federal government for the MNF from the Bridges Estate. Mineral rights remained in private ownership.
The Laneville mill closed in 1920 after almost all the timber had been cut and the local population dwindled. The last timber was felled in the Dolly Sods area in 1924. A particularly ferocious fire raged in late July 1930 in the northernmost Red Creek and southernmost Stony River
Stony River (North Branch Potomac River)
The Stony River is a tributary of the North Branch Potomac River in Grant County in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. The Stony River joins with the North Branch at the Mineral County border...
watersheds (along the Grant/Tucker County line). This conflagration — known as the Dobbin Slashings Fire — consumed 24,800 acres and killed many trees left alone as non-commercial by the loggers. An eerie landscape persisted here for years, with the stumps of these trees perched high upon jumbles of boulders.
In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
made some modest attempts to remediate the damage to Dolly Sods by re-planting stands of red spruce
Red Spruce
Picea rubens is a species of spruce native to eastern North America, ranging from eastern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and from New England south in the Adirondack Mountains and Appalachians to western North Carolina.-Physical description:...
there.
Neglect, threat, and recovery
In 1943 and '44, as part of the West Virginia Maneuver AreaWest Virginia Maneuver Area
The West Virginia Maneuver Area was a vast, five-county training ground in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia used by the U.S. Army during World War II to train soldiers in low-altitude mountain operations...
, the U.S. Army used the area as a practice artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
and mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
range and maneuver area before troops were sent to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to fight in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Cabin Mountain and Blackbird Knob served as designated targets. Some of the artillery and mortar shells (60 mm and 81 mm rounds) shot into the area still exist there. (In 1997, a work crew extensively surveyed trail locations and known campsites for shells. Workers made 32,594 excavations along the trails and discovered and detonated 14 live mortar shells, most along the Fisher Spring Run Trail. All were exploded on site. Two others were inert. They also found numerous railroad spikes, iron tools and horseshoes left over from logging days. Off-trail searches proved to be impossible. See this link for a photo of two shells found in July 2006.)
Dolly Sods became popular with recreationalists and conservationists in the mid-1960s at which time political agitation began to set it aside as a preserve. The area was threatened by at least four potential developments: (1) sub-divisions for summer homes on Cabin Mountain, (2) as a route for a proposed federal expressway (Corridor H) linking Washington, DC with the highlands, (3) strip-mining of as many as six coal seams, which was already occurring within 3.5 miles of the Sods in the north and (4) flooding by a huge reservoir as part of the proposed Davis Power Project just to the west. An ad hoc
Ad hoc
Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning "for this". It generally signifies a solution designed for a specific problem or task, non-generalizable, and not intended to be able to be adapted to other purposes. Compare A priori....
committee of stakeholders was convened by the MNF in Spring 1969. It advised that a scenic or botanical area should be set aside in the North Fork Red Creek area. In October 1970, the Forest superintendent announced the creation of a 10,200 acre "Dolly Sods Scenic Area".
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is a US charitable environmental organization that works to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive....
played a major role in preserving the area. By 1972, it had purchased the coal rights under the future federal wilderness (15,558 acres of the Sods and Roaring Plains, itself now a designated Wilderness) for $15 million. Dolly Sods finally became a federally-designated wilderness area in 1975 which resulted in greatly increased numbers of visitors. The area had only an estimated 500 visitors in 1965; by 1997 there were 7,499 registered (and many more unregistered) users annually.
In the 1970s and '80s, it was not possible to propose Dolly Sods North for wilderness classification as it was all privately owned — by the Western Maryland Railway Company and the Virginia Electric and Power Company (VEPCO) — and was largely outside the Proclamation Boundary of the MNF. Public acquisition could not go forward as the companies long refused to consider selling. In the 1990s, however, the Nature Conservancy paid another $6 million to acquire 6,100 acres in Dolly Sods North (of the total of 7,215 acres) from the then-owner, the Texas-based Quintana Corporation. This land was then donated to the Forest Service. Most recently, the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 added 7156 acres (29 km²) of Dolly Sods North to the original 10215 acres (41 km²) of the Wilderness to make the present total of 17371 acres (70 km²).
Climate and weather
Dolly Sods is well known for its often extreme and mercurial climate. Sun, rain, snow, and fog are all possible within an hour. Cool, wet weather prevails throughout the year. Although summer temperatures can reach the 80s orhigher, frost is possible at any time of the year in higher elevations (above 4,000 feet) and winter temperatures can dip below zero. Yearly precipitation is more than 55 inches. Precipitation is heavy because rising air masses cool as they hit the higher mountains and deposit moisture. Snowfall is impressive and may reach 150 inches in a year. This heavy snow breaks down trees and shrubs. Heavy glazes of ice and deposits of rime frost also break down trees and shrubs, giving them their characteristic forms and gnarled appearance
Krummholz
Krummholz or Krumholtz formation — also called Knieholz — is a particular feature of subarctic and subalpine tree line landscapes. Continual exposure to fierce, freezing winds causes vegetation to become stunted and deformed...
. Prevailing winds are from the west and blow almost constantly. The effect of these winds can be seen in the flag-form red spruce trees; their branches grow on one side, away from the wind. Frost and snow effects also contribute to the flag-form shape of the trees.
Because of the drying influence of the wind, no branches are produced on the west side of the tree above the protective shrub layer. Stunted branches on the east side give the trees a twisted appearance. Where spruce are
protected by a shrub layer, luxuriant webs of branches extend for a radius of a dozen feet, giving a mat-like look to vegetation.
The explosive collision of air masses attendant upon the Allegheny Front dumps many tons of snow on Dolly Sods each winter. During the winter of 2003, 290 inches (7.3 m) of snow fell in the area. Humid and warmer air from the Potomac River Valley to the east and south meets colder Canadian air blowing off the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
. This churns and produces the locally severe weather that can sometimes rival that of Mount Washington
Mount Washington (New Hampshire)
Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at , famous for dangerously erratic weather. For 76 years, a weather observatory on the summit held the record for the highest wind gust directly measured at the Earth's surface, , on the afternoon of April 12, 1934...
in New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
.
This section of the Allegheny Front is one of the windiest spots east of the Mississippi, a fact responsible for the wind farming that is now so highly visible just north of Bear Rocks. Wind recorders in the Wilderness have been known to blow away in the gusts that can exceed 100 miles per hour. Just to the west in Canaan Valley
Canaan Valley
Canaan Valley is an oval, bowl-like upland valley in northeastern Tucker County, West Virginia, USA. Within it are extensive wetlands and the headwaters of the Blackwater River which spills out of the valley at Blackwater Falls...
temperatures of 40 degrees below zero have been recorded.
Flora
Dolly Sods is well known for its open expanses of sphagnum bog, heath shrubs and scattered and stunted red spruce — all creating impressions of areas much farther north. Many plant communities are indeed similar to those of sea-level eastern Canada. But the ecosystemEcosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s within the Sods are remarkably varied. In recent decades, the many stages of ecologic succession throughout the Sods have made the region one of enduring interest to botanists.
Sods (Grass balds)
The local term "sods
Sods
Sods is a term used in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia for a mountain top meadow or bog, in an area that is otherwise generally forested...
" is a traditional name referring to several high-elevation meadows in the High Alleghenies. The term is virtually synonymous with the "grass bald" of the southern Appalachians. These grassy areas on mountain slopes or summits apparently existed by the scores in the mid-Appalachian region when whites first intruded there. According to botanist Earl L. Core, "The silvery sheen of the grass, against the dark green background of the spruce, attracted the attention of the early settlers.... The dominant grass is Allegheny flyback (Danthonia compressa)
Danthonia
Danthonia is a genus of grass species. Grasses of this genus are sometimes referred to as oatgrass, but that common name is not restricted to this genus.Species include:*Danthonia alpina Vest*Danthonia cachemyriana Jaub. & Spach...
, a grass so light in weight that it would "fly back" against the scythe of the mower". The origin of these grassy tracts has been the subject of wide-ranging speculation. Core favored a multi-factorial explanation involving a "bald-susceptible zone" present at mountain summits where various causes (extreme weather, fires, etc.) initially wiped out trees followed by succession by grasses that was so competitive with the new tree seedlings that the cleared areas persist for a much longer period than at lower elevations.
Heath barrens (Huckleberry plains)
The extensive views across the tundra
Taiga
Taiga , also known as the boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests.Taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome. In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States and is known as the Northwoods...
-like windswept open meadows in the northern section of Dolly Sods are reminiscent of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
n landscapes. "Heath barrens" is a botanical term, but the traditional local name for these unusual expanses was "huckleberry plains". These upper reaches have been extensively colonized by various Ericaceae
Ericaceae
The Ericaceae, commonly known as the heath or heather family, is a group of mostly calcifuge flowering plants. The family is large, with roughly 4000 species spread across 126 genera, making it the 14th most speciose family of flowering plants...
(heaths): blueberry
Blueberry
Blueberries are flowering plants of the genus Vaccinium with dark-blue berries and are perennial...
and cranberry
Cranberry
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...
(Vaccinium), huckleberry
Huckleberry
Huckleberry is a common name used in North America for several species of plants in two closely related genera in the family Ericaceae:* Vaccinium* GaylussaciaHuckleberry may also refer to:-Plants:...
(Gaylussacia), rose azalea (Rhododendron prinophyllum) and rosebay rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum), mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), and teaberry (or wintergreen, Gaultheria
Gaultheria
Gaultheria is a genus of about 170-180 species of shrubs in the family Ericaceae. The name memorializes Jean François Gauthier of Quebec, a mis-spelt honour bestowed by the Scandinavian Pehr Kalm in 1748. These plants are native to Asia, North and South America, and Australasia...
). Members of Rosaceae (the rose family)
Rosaceae
Rosaceae are a medium-sized family of flowering plants, including about 2830 species in 95 genera. The name is derived from the type genus Rosa. Among the largest genera are Alchemilla , Sorbus , Crataegus , Cotoneaster , and Rubus...
also abound: Allegheny menziesia (Menziesia pilosa)
Menziesia
Menziesia is a genus of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae.Species include:* Menziesia ciliicalyx* Menziesia ferruginea - False azalea or Fool's huckleberry* Menziesia multiflora...
, chokeberry
Chokeberry
Aronia, the chokeberries, are two to three species of deciduous shrubs in the family Rosaceae, native to eastern North America. They are most commonly found in wet woods and swamps. Chokeberries are cultivated as ornamental plants and also because they are very high in antioxidant pigment...
, mountain ash
Sorbus
Sorbus is a genus of about 100–200 species of trees and shrubs in the subfamily Maloideae of the Rose family Rosaceae. Species of Sorbus are commonly known as whitebeam, rowan, service tree, and mountain ash...
, serviceberry
Serviceberry
Amelanchier , also known as shadbush, shadwood or shadblow, serviceberry or sarvisberry, wild pear, juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum or wild-plum, and chuckley pear is a genus of about 20 species of deciduous-leaved shrubs and small trees in the Rose family .Amelanchier is native to temperate regions...
, and pin cherry (Prunus pensylvanica). Boulder fields left by the denuding topsoil fires of 80 years ago are extensive here.
Sphagnum glades (Cranberry bogs)
These spruce-edged sphagnum bogs are found in the upper sections of Red Creek and its tributaries, often in association with thickets of speckled alder. There are similar areas throughout the High Alleghenies, most famously the Cranberry Glades. The largest one at Dolly Sods is about a mile long and half a mile wide. The thick carpet of sphagnum moss and the polytrichum moss
Polytrichum
Polytrichum is a genus of mosses — commonly called haircap moss or hair moss — which contains approximately 70 species that cover a cosmopolitan distribution....
hummocks also sustain cotton grass, sundew
Sundew
Drosera, commonly known as the sundews, comprise one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous glands covering their leaf surface. The insects are used to supplement...
and the lichen
Lichen
Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic organism composed of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...
known as reindeer moss. In addition to the spruce, the bog margins are frequented by fern
Fern
A fern is any one of a group of about 12,000 species of plants belonging to the botanical group known as Pteridophyta. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem . They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants...
s, sedges and the occasional balsam fir
Balsam Fir
The balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada and the northeastern United States .-Growth:It is a small to medium-size evergreen tree typically tall, rarely to tall, with a narrow conic crown...
. The three-toothed cinquefoil (Sibbaldiopsis tridentate) is often abundant and orchids — for example the pink lady's slipper — are sometimes seen.
Hardwood forests
The more southerly section of the Dolly Sods Wilderness includes maturing spruce copses, rhododendron thickets, northern hardwoods on the ridges and cove hardwoods in the deep tributaries of Red Creek. All of the original old-growth forest was removed a century ago, followed by fires that burned, then smoldered, for months. Much of the deep topsoil was lost forever. Today, there are patches of recovering native red spruce
Red Spruce
Picea rubens is a species of spruce native to eastern North America, ranging from eastern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and from New England south in the Adirondack Mountains and Appalachians to western North Carolina.-Physical description:...
forest plus twisted yellow birch
Yellow Birch
Betula alleghaniensis , is a species of birch native to eastern North America, from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, southern Quebec and Ontario, and the southeast corner of Manitoba in Canada, west to Minnesota, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia.It is a...
, sugar
Sugar Maple
Acer saccharum is a species of maple native to the hardwood forests of northeastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario, and south to Georgia and Texas...
and red maple
Red Maple
Acer rubrum , is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern North America. It ranges from the Lake of the Woods on the border between Ontario and Minnesota, east to Newfoundland, south to near Miami, Florida, and southwest to east Texas...
, eastern hemlock
Eastern Hemlock
Tsuga canadensis, also known as eastern or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as pruche du Canada, is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It ranges from northeastern Minnesota eastward through southern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and south in the Appalachian...
, and black cherry
Black Cherry
Prunus serotina, commonly called black cherry, wild black cherry, rum cherry, or mountain black cherry, is a woody plant species belonging to the genus Prunus...
. American beech
American Beech
Fagus grandifolia, also known as American Beech or North american beech, is a species of beech native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario in southeastern Canada, west to Wisconsin and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida in the United States. Trees in the...
, pine and hickory can also be found. The wild onion
Wild onion
Wild onion can refer to* any uncultivated species in the genus Allium, especially:**Allium bisceptrum** Allium canadense** Allium validum** Allium vineale* Cyperus bulbosus* Bulbine semibarbata...
known as the ramp (Allium tricoccum) is also present in the deeper forests.
Fauna
The larger megafaunaMegafauna
In terrestrial zoology, megafauna are "giant", "very large" or "large" animals. The most common thresholds used are or...
which once inhabited the High Alleghenies — elk
Elk
The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
, bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
, mountain lion — were all exterminated during the 19th century. They survived longer in this area, however, than in other parts of the eastern United States. Because of the high altitude the climate is cool and some animals are more similar to ones found about 1600 miles (2,574.9 km) farther north in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Many species found here are near their southernmost range. For example, the snowshoe hare
Snowshoe Hare
The Snowshoe Hare , also called the Varying Hare, or Snowshoe Rabbit, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because of the large size of its hind feet and the marks its tail leaves. The animal's feet prevent it from sinking into the snow when it hops and walks...
found in Dolly Sods is usually found in Canada and Alaska and is adapted to snow conditions, with its large, hairy feet which allow it to run on the snow surface.
Beaver
Beaver
The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...
— which were restored to the state after a period of extirpation — continually create and refurbish their beaver ponds in these high elevation watersheds. Other animals that may be encountered include red
Red Fox
The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
and gray foxes, bobcat
Bobcat
The bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...
s, black bears
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
, groundhog
Groundhog
The groundhog , also known as a woodchuck, whistle-pig, or in some areas as a land-beaver, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. Other marmots, such as the yellow-bellied and hoary marmots, live in rocky and mountainous areas, but...
, timber rattler
Timber rattler
Timber rattler may refer to:* Crotalus horridus, a.k.a. the timber rattlesnake, a venomous pitviper species found in the eastern United States....
s, wild turkey
Turkey (bird)
A turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America. The domestic turkey is a descendant of this species...
, grouse
Grouse
Grouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are sometimes considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...
, and white-tailed deer
White-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
. The Cheat Mountain salamander
Cheat Mountain salamander
The Cheat Mountain salamander is a small, threatened woodland salamander found only on Cheat Mountain, and a few nearby mountains, in the eastern highlands of West Virginia...
, listed since 1989 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as threatened, is also present.
Recreation
Camping is allowed in Dolly Sods, but visitors are cautioned to "leave no trace". All off-road motorized vehicles and any cutting of live vegetation or camping near roads (aside from Red Creek Campground) are forbidden. Hunting and fishing within state law are permitted. Dolly Sods is particularly popular during mid-summer with people who go there to pick blueberries and huckleberries. From May through late June, extensive and spectacular displays of mountain laurel in flower may be viewed. Due to severe winter weather, FS Rt 75, flanking the eastern side of Dolly Sods, is typically closed to vehicles from January 1 to April 15.There is an extensive network of hiking trail
Trail
A trail is a path with a rough beaten or dirt/stone surface used for travel. Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements...
s in the Wilderness totalling 47 miles. Some follow old logging railroad grades, and occasionally you see some remnants of railroad ties and metal equipment. Until a 2004 remapping, the USGS and USFS maps of the trails were inaccurate so a mapping site provides good maps with GPS data. Trails include:
- Dolly Sods
- Wildlife Trail
- Rohrbaugh Plains Trail
- Red Creek Trail
- Fisher Spring Run Trail
- Big Stonecoal Trail
- Little Stonecoal Trail
- Dunkebarger Trail
- Rocky Ridge Trail
- Breathed Mountain Trail
- Dolly Sods North
- Beaver View Trail
- Blackbird Knob Trail
- Bear Rocks Trail
- Raven Ridge Trail
- Dobbin Grade Trail
- Upper Red Creek Trail
- Flatrock-Roaring Plains
- South Prong Trail
- Boars Nest Trail
- Roaring Plains Trail
- Flatrock Run Trail
The Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area
Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area
Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area located within the Monongahela National Forest of eastern West Virginia, USA.The National Recreation Area protects three prominent West Virginia landmarks:...
is adjacent to Dolly Sods-Flatrock-Roaring Plains on the east and the south.
Other sources
- Brooks, MauriceMaurice BrooksMaurice Graham Brooks was an American educator and naturalist whose name became synonymous with the natural history of Appalachia.-Biography:...
, "Remarkable Dolly Sods" (1969–70), Outdoor West Virginia [Title changed to Wonderful West Virginia, 1970]; Nov 1969, pp 10–13; Jan 1970, pp 10–13; Feb 1970, pp 10–13. - Hall, George A. (1985), "The Birds of the Dolly Sods Area Sortie, 1984", The Redstart, Wheeling, West Virginia, October issue.
- Hutton, Eugene E. (1988), "Periglacial Features of Dolly Sods,", The Redstart, Wheeling, West Virginia, July issue.
- Hutton, Eugene E. (1985), "Plant Description of Dolly Sods,", The Redstart, Wheeling, West Virginia, October issue.
- Pyle, Ann H. (1985), "Ferns and Fern Allies at Dolly Sods,", The Redstart, Wheeling, West Virginia, October issue.
- Venable, Norma Jean (1996), Dolly Sods, West Virginia Renewable Resources Unique Areas Series 813, West Virginia University Extension Service, Morgantown, West Virginia.
- U.S. Forest Service (1988), Dolly Sods Wilderness and Surrounding Area, pamphlet.
External links
- Monongahela National Forest Web site
- West Virginia Wilderness Coalition
- Potomac Appalachian Trail Club page
- Wilderness.net
- Dolly Sods Forest Walk at Forests of the Central Appalachian Project