MO: Tour de Sods (~36 miles)

Time to go eat blueberries and such in Dolly Sods. I got Brightside's permission to plagiarize this entire trip, so we're going to run it the same as in recent years. The nature conservancy recently acquired the parcel of land just north of Dolly Sods as well which we can check out on Saturday if anyone is inclined to do some extra miles. This loop features some bushwhacking and lots of mud and rocks, and depending on recent rains the crossing of Red Creek can be very wet – make sure you're up for a tough hike!

We'll meet up at Vienna Metro North Kiss & Ride and drive to the Flatrock Run trailhead (https://bit.ly/3D5Rvwj). We can run a quick shuttle to drop one car at Red Creek trailhead and avoid a 2 mile roadwalk. From the road we'll climb over 2000 vertical feet in 5 miles up Mt Porte Crayon, the fourth highest peak in the state. Be prepared to hike through stinging nettles, and make sure to fill your bottles at the last stream on the way up. Our campsite up on the plateau will be dry.

On Saturday morning we'll hike the entirety of the Canyon Rim Trail, which starts right at our campsite. This trail involves a bit of bushwhacking and talus scrambling, and it probably won't be on your map – occasional stone cairns mark the way. We'll walk along the Allegheny Front, taking in superb views of the valley below, and eventually come to the Dolly Sods Wilderness boundary. A brief gravel roadwalk along FR 19 will lead us to the Rohrbaugh Plains trail. From here we'll make our way north, past Rohrbaugh Cliffs and the confluence of Red Creek and then into the northern meadows of the Sods. At the northwest corner of the wilderness we'll turn south along the Rocky Ridge trail and look for a suitable campsite for the night.

On Sunday we'll hike down Big Stonecoal, take Dunkenbarger to Little Stonecoal, and walk along Red Creek back to the cars.

We'll try our best to get to Davis in time for breakfast at Milo's; but if that doesn't happen we'll grab lunch at Hellbender (which reopened yay!).

Splits: 6/22/8 with little elevation change other than the first big climb
CalTopo: https://caltopo.com/m/QFKMB
Weather: https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=39.045402328831074&lon=-79.35729671864084&site=all&smap=1
Map: https://www.purplelizard.com/products/dolly-sods-seneca-rocks-map
‎
‏‏‎ ‎
By RSVPing to this trip or any other DC UL trip, you agree to these guidelines and to DC UL's waiver liability terms (https://www.meetup.com/DC-UL-Backpacking/pages/Liability_Waiver/)

Dues: Members and above, don't forget to pay your annual dues. You can check if you need to pay dues by seeing if the current year is listed next to your name in your DC UL profile. Applicants do not need to pay dues for their first trip. To pay your dues via PayPal, use this link: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/JenniferAdach/15 (10 annual dues plus a 5 suggested donation to City Kids Wilderness Project.)

Carpool: As per our carpool policy, riders should pay drivers $0.10/mile.