Dolly Sods Wilderness – Dry Fork WV

City:
Dry Fork, WV

Site Type:
Parks and Recreation, Paths and Trails

New Deal Agencies:
Work Relief Programs, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

Started:
1933

Completed:
1939

Description

The Dolly Sods Wilderness is 17,371 acres of natural area, located in Grant, Randolph, and Tucker counties, West Virginia. Visitors to the area can enjoy hiking, hunting, camping, and picnic areas. Dolly Sods Wilderness has regulations intended to preserve its natural appearance as much as possible. For example, no camping is allowed within 300 feet of the roads.

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, logging activities damaged the Dolly Sods area in the late 1800s / early 1900s and “The U.S. Forest Service purchased the land, and during the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps planted red pine and other conifers, and aided in the construction of Forest Service Road 75 (FR 75) (USACE, 1995)” (source note 2 below).

The Dolly Sods area was used for military training during World War II, and visitors are encouraged to stay on existing trails and use existing camp sites (areas that have been checked for unexploded ordnance). “In recent years, 45,000 to 76,000 people have visited the Dolly Sods region annually. The remoteness, natural experience and limited human influences attract adventurous hikers, mountain bikers, anglers, hunters and berry pickers” (source note 2 below).

The Dolly Sods Wilderness also provides refuge for wildlife.

Amazing photographs of the Dolly Sods area can be found at https://www.americanbyways.com/nature/dolly-sods/ (accessed April 29, 2014).

Source notes

(1) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, “Dolly Sods Wilderness,” https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/mnf/recreation/hiking/recarea/?recid=12366&actid=50, accessed April 29, 2014. (2) U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,”Dolly Sods Region Project,” https://www.lrh.usace.army.mil/Missions/CurrentProjects/DERPFUDS%28WVOW,PBOW,WVMA%29/WestVirginiaManeuverArea/8DollySodsRegionProject.aspx, accessed April 29, 2014.

Site originally submitted by Brent McKee on May 3, 2014.

Location Info


Dolly Sods
Dry Fork, WV 26260

Location notes: Grant, Randolph, and Tucker counties, West Virginia. Google Earth shows an address of “Dolly Sods, Monongahela National Forest, Dry Fork, WV, 26260.”

Coordinates: 39.044896, -79.34348

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