Final ascent to haystack knob, there is no trail to the top so don’t look for one. Follow the railroad grade until you hit one of the two plastic signs or see a red marker on the left. One you hit these go straight up the mountain until you hit a meadow, follow the trail there u til you hit the road, then follow road until you see a shale hillside, ascend this shale section to the top of haystack knob, a gorgeous campsite and 360 views is well worth it.
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Beautiful hike. Took us about 5.5hrs with a dog. We had a stop at the top for lunch with a view!
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First solo backpacking trip. Couldn’t have asked for better weather in the Sods. The dregs of the hurricane made things extra muddy but that’s par for the course. Everyone starts at Bear Rocks but I began at Red Creek. This means more gnarly climbing right away but less of a mass of people to content with. The cherry on top is jumping in the creek right before the end!
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There's a couple of 3ft deep river crossings at the back end of the loop. Plenty of places to resupply water along the trail. Lots of elevation gain. Beautiful views.
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The best 360 degree view when you get to the top. They say it’s Almost Heaven but up there it is Heaven.
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Mostly through the woods on decent but not terribly exciting trails. Breathed Mt trails has some small meadows that are nice. Totally in the woods on Red Creek trail (the creek itself is a few hundred feet below and audible but rarely visible. Rocky Point trail is named appropriately; not one you d ever hike for itself but just to get access to Lions Head. Several informal access trails to get up to Lions Head; take one of the ones closer to Big Stonecoal intersection. the eastern most one is a boulder scramble. Very good views on LH but i prefer the views across the valley from Rohrbaugh Cliffs. Very nice waterfall on Big Stonecoal just west of intersection with Rocky Point trail. Big Stonecoal trail is nicer woods trail with an unexpected beaver pond enveloping the trail near the summmit. Accessed via former FS80 on the west side in canaan valley wildlife refuge.
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Views were incredible off of hidden passage trail. Two campsites off that trail. I’d suggest that you just do an in and out using South Prong to Hidden Passage (visit Hiking Upward for a map and info) and don’t do this loop. While the Canyon Rim Trail has a few visas, the entire trail is basically either a grove of rhododendrons overgrown or large boulders. It is very slow going and difficult. Tee Pee, the connector between Canyon Rim and Roaring Plains Trail, is either overgrown rhododendrons, large boulders, or bogs. I’d hate to see this entire loop if it had rained in the past two weeks. Boars Nest is a very rough descent, a lot of elevation very quickly. Total mileage is 16.3 miles, my phone died at 15.51 miles so there’s a gap missing at the end of this trek.
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Views were incredible off of hidden passage trail. Two campsites off that trail. I’d suggest that you just do an in and out using South Prong to Hidden Passage (visit Hiking Upward for a map and info) and don’t do this loop. While the Canyon Rim Trail has a few visas, the entire trail is basically either a grove of rhododendrons overgrown or large boulders. It is very slow going and difficult. Tee Pee, the connector between Canyon Rim and Roaring Plains Trail, is either overgrown rhododendrons, large boulders, or bogs. I’d hate to see this entire loop if it had rained in the past two weeks. More importantly, out of everything, this loop was a total of 16.3 miles, not 12 miles.
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Dolly Sods never fails to amaze. We hiked Red Creek Trail from the SW trailhead with a loop that included Big and Little Stonecoal in mind. It was a little bit too early in the season for the loop. When we saw the creek crossing we decided to proceed upstream on Red Creek Trail to its intersection with Fisher Spring Creek trail. Beautiful views and nobody on the trail all day! We had lunch near the confluence of Red and Fisher creeks and returned via the same route. The dogs got a bit wet crossing the tributaries, but we stayed mostly dry. A wonderful 7-ish miler.
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Muddy and beautiful! The view on the west side over Red Creek is amazing.
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Awesome!!! So much different terrain, perfect overnight length. Plenty of water and minimal to no bugs. What more can you ask for?
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Difficult hike with no apparent fresh water source. Amazing views and light traffic make the steep climbs and sketchy overgrown sections of the trail worth it. I did this as an out and back so total distance would have been a little over 15 miles in two days.
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Great day hike sandwiched between backpacking into Judy Springs camping area at Spruce Knob National Recreation Area. Hike up to highest point in the state of WV for lunch and then down to Seneca Falls before returning to the campsite.
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Really hard! Really muddy! If it’s rainy bring rain gear and expect high water. Camp sites are amazing, especially near the river. You go through >10 different and distinct ecosystems which could truly exist in multiple counties giving you the feeing of transporting to different places.
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Beautiful run - very technical though mostly flat. Very wet!
From valley view trail:
Harmon 525 -> left on blackbird knob 511-> left upper red creek trail 509 -> left dobbin grade trail 526 -> left rocky ridge trail 524 path to valley view trail
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Overall a really fun hike. Some parts are a bit overgrown and muddy.
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Beautiful area for hiking and backpacking. We did the 20 mile loop starting from bear rock and back. I had an amazing experience. Picturesque landscape, well marked trails. Perfect camp spots mostly along the creeks. Will go back again to explore more.
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Dobbin grade is deep mud. It cannot be hiked fast and the mud can get 2+ feet deep. The mud is consistent throughout the eastern 3 miles and tapers off toward the northern end.
I believe the USFS has written this trail off as there is almost no way to maintain it.
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Harmon is a narrow watershed that is mostly creek stones. It’s not a path you can hike fast. There are no views and it’s mostly just brush. It’s a connector to blackbird knob trail.
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Wonderful hike, puddles beware. Waterproof shoes will make life easier, other than that get ready for a beauty of a hike deep in the mountains of West Virginia
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We hiled this backward according to this listing, as we started our trip at the top of the mountain. Pretty nice hike for our final leg of a 3 day trip. Not too difficult, mostly downhill (again, because we came from the opposite direction), and still enough beautiful scenery to keep you happy along the way. Soggy, muddy, and wet in a lot of places. But that is to be expected this time of year. Take your time hopping from rock to rick and you'll be fine. Trekking poles definitely help.
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