Camping at Dolly Sods

Joe reports on his camping trip with friends Adam & Giuseppe:
We drove out to Hawk on Thursday night, got there around 8pm and it was rainy and foggy, but not cold. We sat around my camp candle for a fire and drank Giuseppe's wine and some beer.

Friday we got going, drove out rte 55, raining the whole way to a trailhead about halfway up the H. Sky road section. Dripping muddy and cold. I wore my Vasque Velocity out, which worked wonderfully on my summer hike on the AT, so I wanted to see how they'd do in other conditions. My feet were wet within minutes and I immediately started to worry that the next few days would be cold and wet. I was not much wrong. Aside from the water, the Vasque worked great. Goretex Vasque are going on my Xmas list.

As Friday continued, we reached the Red Creek, far upstream from where Lorrin and I forded when we were out. I figured it would be easier there, but not so. After 1/2 hour of seeking a suitable ford, we just had to plunge in, each using Giuseppe's Tevas, then tossing them back to the next person. In that way my shoes stayed dry, but I lost all my heat from waist down. My rolled up pants were soaked to the hips. Joy. It was fun, no sarcasm.

We continued on up a big hill, through mud, and found a nice riverside site filled with the noise of many cascading rocky falls in the river. All lined with hemlock and rhodendron, it was beautiful. We were happy to stop. We made camp, did dinner, sat by a fire (Adam managed to build it with his paraphin egg cup things), sipped a little bourbon, then off to bed.

Saturday showed promise of sun. A wonderful golden light inched its way down our side of the ravine till it reached our camp. The temps rose, so did our spirits. We started out up the high hill and soon came out in the first of the many amazing "sods." The colors in the sunlight were phenomenal. Throughout the day as we passed through these fields with wild cranberry and strawberry and shrubs, bushes, grasses, lined with beach and fir, spruce, hemlock all around, I
thought back to the how similar clearing made for the toughest parts of the HS race. Now I could appreciate the beauty. We hiked on and on through the sunshine and camped early, before 3pm, in a sod transected by a creek. Pitching the tents on the sunny banks, and spreading out the wet clothes from Friday, everything was renewed. We all agreed that this spot was the reason we came out there. We sat and read, relaxed.

As it got darker we made a nice dinner, built a nice fire and enjoyed more bourbon. The stars were brilliant, it froze, but it was lovely.

I didn't sleep well that night. The dinner didn't agree with me. And I'm sure I heard something walking near the tent. I stuck my head out and shined my light but saw nothing. I always suspect a bear, but who knows. In looking out of the tent, however, I saw one of the clearest starry skies ever. I didn't even mind getting up to take a "natural break" so I could take the sky in a little more. All over the tent and field you could see the frost glistening in the starlight.

But alas, upon waking, the clouds rolled in and threatened an end to the easy-going sunshine. We hiked to a trailhead on the road Sunday, about three miles from where we camped, and about three or four miles north of the trailhead where we left the car on Friday. The weather changed from rain to sun and back. Calm and warm one minute, windy and cold the next. When we got to camp we pitched tents and made tea, and headed down to get the car (3-4 miles south). Along the way Giuseppe finally succeeded in hitching a ride in the back of a pickup, saving us a mile or two. By unanimous decision, we agreed that, since we were in the car, and it was cold and wet, we may as well drive into town and get some hot food and beer. This we did, eating someplace in Canaan Valley, then driving back with more drink than we could use.

Back at the camp, we built a fire, drank till 9pm or so, watched the weather fill the whole spectrum of possibility, with the exception of thunderstorms or hail. It went from partly cloudy to starry, to light rain, to heavy rain, to partly cloudy again. The coup de grace finally came around 3am when I got up for another natural break and, looking over at a nice patch of stars in one part of the sky, I noticed little white specks falling through my headlamp beam. Yes, once back in my tent, unable to sleep, I enjoyed the noise of snow falling on the tent for about an hour. Through all the changing weather, the only constant was wind. You could hear the wind starting like a deep bellow somewhere way off in the valley, then creep closer and change tone till it was a thundery alto just over our heads. All the while you hear each intonation of wind at different speeds in different points along its path. We were happily sheltered from the worst of it by a grove of hemlocks above us.

This morning, with frost and light snow all around, we were all pretty happy to have the car right there. We packed up fast (too fast for me, really, the scene was sooo beautiful). We were on the road and heading toward a nice hot breakfast in Davis by 8AM.