Dolly Sods Wilderness

The plateau sits above twelve hundred metres and carries plant communities normally found much further north - sphagnum bog, cranberry, heath barrens and wind-flagged red spruce with branches only on the leeward side. Some of that is climate and some is damage: the original spruce forest was clear-cut around 1900, and the exposed peat then burned repeatedly down to bedrock in places, so the soil never recovered. From 1943 the army used the area as an artillery and mortar training range, and unexploded ordnance is still occasionally found - the Forest Service warns against digging or handling metal objects. Trails are unblazed by wilderness policy and stream crossings are unbridged.

What you actually see

• Subarctic-looking bog and heath - at over twelve hundred metres.
• Wind-flagged spruce - branches only on the sheltered side.
• Ground burned to bedrock - after logging around 1900.
• A former artillery range - with ordnance still occasionally found.

When to go

June to October; the roads are impassable in winter. A full day or overnight.

Honest expectations

Access roads are rough gravel and hard on ordinary cars. Trails are unmarked - navigation is on you. Unexploded ordnance is a genuine if low residual risk; do not dig. Weather on the plateau turns fast and there is no shelter.

Nearby

Blackwater Falls is west; Seneca Rocks is south.