est. 2017
Located in West Virginia, this area was once used the area for artillery and mortar training during World War II. In the 1970’s, with the open land being threatened, The Nature Conservancy, began purchasing the land for preservation and recreational use. Today Dolly Sods Wilderness Area consists of 17,371 acres and almost 50 miles of hiking trails.
If you’re in the Mid-Atlantic (and not afraid to get your feet wet), I highly suggest finding your way to Dolly Sods!
In order to celebrate their birthday, all National Parks sites had free entry today. I hope you all were luckier than me and had a chance to #optoutside instead of sitting behind a computer all day (regretting not playing hooky!)
Just a heads up– this loop is no walk in the park! The constant inclines and declines here are no joke (maybe 5-10% of the trail is actually level?!)! AT Thru-Hikers often include this as one of the toughest parts of the entire Appalachian Trail! Hiking Upward has the elevation gain of 3,960 feet, but I’ve read the actual change in elevation is about 7,000 feet! So I definitely recommend you be in decent shape (and bring lots of water or a water filter to fill up at the creeks!).