NOVA Outdoors Project

From the Forest Services' website: "The 17,371 acre Dolly Sods Wilderness in the Monongahela National Forest is part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. It is located in Grant, Randolph, and Tucker Counties, West Virginia. The Dolly Sods Wilderness contains much of the Red Creek drainage and contains bog and heath eco-types, more commonly typical to southern Canada. Elevations range from 2,500 to over 4,700 feet."

"Practice Leave No Trace outdoor ethics: do not build a camp within 200 feet of roads, streams and trails. Dolly Sods Wilderness has 47 miles of trails, many of which follow old railroad grades and logging roads. There are fords on some of the trails that may be a problem to cross during high water events. There may be additional small stream crossings as well."

From the website: "Beginning in August of 1943, the military used the area for maneuvers and mountain training for World War II. Many of the artillery and mortar shells shot into the area for practice still exist. In 1997, a highly trained crew surveyed the trail locations and known campsites for shells. They found 15, some of which were still live. All were exploded on site. Many more may exist and they are dangerous."

"Since it is impossible to survey every acre of wilderness, we ask that you follow these recommendations; do not touch, move, or dig near or around the suspected ordinance, identify the area on a map or by terrain feature. On the ground, from a distance away, you can point out the location by making an arrow using rocks or sticks, or hanging a bandanna, walk away in the direction you came, and immediately call the Forest Service."

Flame Azalea

May 25 - June 5 "Flame azalea time in our southern mountains, especially in Pocahontas County. You'll see the plants in a bewildering display of yellow, orange, and brick red along almost any of the side roads off West Virginia Route 28 south of Bartow. A particularly good one is on the "back" road from Cass to near the summit of Back Allegheny Mountain at a junction with U.S. Route 250 west of Durbin. The Wesley Chapel Road near Green Bank is also excellent. Most of these roads are blacktop, and all are worth exploring."

Indian Paintbrush

"At this season wet mountain meadows in upland areas may have colorful growths of Indian paintbrush, "painted cup." Like poinsettias, the brilliant scarlet floral bracts are not really petals, but modified calyx lobes. Where the plants grow in numbers they provide one of the brightest displays of late spring. The best areas I know are along U.S. Route 220 south of Franklin, Pendleton County. If you can, continue on southward into Monterey, Virginia, and on toward Hot Springs. This is scenic country at all seasons, and has a wealth of wild flowers. About June 5 a meadow twelve miles south of Monterey may be filled with delicate blue wild hyacinths, tall, slender and attractive."

Mountain Laurel

"At higher elevations mountain laurel, one of our finest heaths, should be at its best. The shrubs growing at high elevations are much deeper pink (sometimes rosy red) than are lowland specimens. They are found along the Forest Service road to Gaudineer Lookout (Randolph and Pocahontas Counties), along U.S. Route 250 from the summit of Cheat Mountain southeastward into Virginia, and atop North Fork Mountain, just off U.S. Route 33, in Pendleton County (Germany Valley and Spruce Knob overlooks). Near this summit, on the eastern slope toward Franklin, the only known growth along a West Virginia highway of native white birches occurs."