FULL 2 nights backpacking Dolly Sods Wilderness West Virginia - (~24 miles)

FULL

You'll want to read all the details below, even if you did this last year with us

Meeting at the Bear Rocks Trailhead in the Dolly Sods Wilderness

Plan for about 5 1/2 hours from Philly
If you are interested in doing the Via Ferrata at Nelson Rocks WV Friday morning, it's about an hour from the NROCKS adventure base camp

You'll need to be at the parking lot as noted in the event map by 4:30pm - so whether you take the whole day off of work or take a half day, or "work from home" on the road or in WV, is up to you.
RAIN OR SHINE hehe

DEPOSIT NEEDED TO COME:
Deposit: $20 - you need to send $ to RSVP, you get this back if you show up
Why? Because I don't want 40 people signing up for this and canceling the day before
Deposits are refundable if cancelled before August 11, if you cancel after August 11, you lose your deposit - so be serious about coming and make sure your plans are set (no bailing last minute because of weather)
send to: Venmo: @Gary-Kiefer; Paypal: gwk122@yahoo.com
for either, make sure to chose 'send to friends/family' do NOT chose 'pay for goods/services'
to get the refund, you'll have to venmo request it from me, or email me
I really don't want to keep your money, I just want to make sure you're committed to coming - it takes a lot of time to plan this kind of thing so please respect that time and effort

Feet WILL get wet
whether you wear footwear that you will just walk in wet, or bring water shoes to change into for the stream crossings, or attempt the crossings barefoot, is up to you; there is also usually a good amount of muddy spots, most we can avoid, some we can't

ITINERARY:
4:30pm - meet in the parking lot, and get packs ready
(Bear Rocks Trailhead - make sure you look at the map pic I posted and that your GPS is taking you to the right spot - you could use physical address 4944 Brushy Ridge Rd, Maysville, WV or use coordinates: 39.06361345022194, -79.30323878793821)
5pm - hiking - don't be late or you'll have to catch up to us
We need to get 2-3 miles in Friday afternoon so please don't be late and be ready to hike at a good pace - not much elevation though

Saturday - plan for about 14 miles of hiking - but this won't have crazy elevation, it's just distance. And we'll plan on a few breaks.

Sunday - plan for about 7 miles of hiking - this won't have tons of elevation either, it's just distance. And we'll plan on a break.

Distances on Sat and Sun depend on the exact distance to the first campsite and then subsequently, where we actually end up camping Sat night - please be flexible, the distance may be long but the elevation shouldn't be too bad (last year our stats were: 26miles, 2500ft of elevation, so not too bad. This year will be less.)

Sunday after we get back to the cars we'll pick a place to go get some food and drinks at (TBD)
hopefully we'll be back at the cars by 2pm so we can spend an hour eating and then start the long drive home and be back in Philly like 10pm
but the time we get done also depends on what time we get started Sunday morning too

*better to plan for Friday to be a later night than Saturday night, we can start a little later Saturday morning with less consequence than Sunday

Water: both nights camping should be near water so you'll need filtration but we won't need to carry a lot of water very far

The backpacking part:
this is not a great event for a beginner but they are welcome to try
because of that, I'm not going to post what you need to bring
you should be familiar enough with backpacking that you know how to pack for 2 nights on the trail in the wild
If you have specific questions, email me

I will send the map of the hike to the YES's ahead of time because if you are late to the meeting spot, we'll have to start without you and you can find us on the trail