My MeetUp backpacking group went to Dolly Sods Wilderness the last weekend in June. Last year we went to the central portion of the wilderness and this summer we moved to the northern half. It was a good choice. We hiked in Friday setting up base camp on the left branch of Red Creek which drains Dolly Sods and day hiked about 16 miles on Saturday. It rained heavily Saturday night but we weathered the storm well in our hemlock stand camp site. But Sunday proved to have unexpected challenges given the rain. Red Creek which had been ankle deep on Friday was well over waist deep and flowing rapidly. We found a blow down about 100 yards upstream of the creek crossing and straddled the log one by one to cross.
Despite Saturday's rain the weather was ideal. Here are several pictures taken through the day Friday and Saturday. The last picture is my favorite of the trip.
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And here is one of Red Creek Sunday morning. Have to admit that I was concerned about the violence of the flow but we partnered up pretty well to protect everyone crossing. One fellow got across first and waded in downstream as a life guard and another remained on the group's side of the creek waiting downstream just in case. There is video of our crossings in the trip video link further below.
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I produce a trip video for most of our hikes. This one includes a description of the hike routes we took because others in our Forum might want to give Dolly Sods a try. The Sods offers a variety of options from single night trips to multi-day trips. For my money, using base camp offers the best itinerary. Hiking 16 miles Saturday with a full pack would have been tough, but with a light daypack it was possible.
https://youtu.be/1UFRuqy4tuY
This trip there were two hammockers among the 11 hikers. I've been pleased to see a steady increase in hammockers in our group. Three weeks ago on a hike to The Priest in Nelson County, Va there were four hammockers out of 8 people.
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