The Dolly Sods Wilderness and Scenic Area and the Bear Rocks Preserve top my list of wild and beautiful places in the eastern United States. In this article I describe in brief the widely-varied geography and ecology found here. These areas are remarkably photogenic, and to illustrate I present a large number of selected photographs in my Dolly Sods gallery.

The Allegheny Front

	Summer Sunrise from Bear Rocks Preserve

This is remote and rugged West Virginia mountain land with an often-severe and quick-changing climate. It is atop and just west of the Allegheny Front, the predominant ridge of the Appalachians and the "eastern continental divide." This ridge has a rim of sandstone cliffs and giant rock outcropping with a 2000 to 3000 foot drop below. To the east there are breathtaking 35-mile views where seven mountain ridges are visible on a clear day. Along the rim are stunted red spruce trees with flag-formed limbs pointing to the east -- a result of the almost constant and often high-velocity winds. Photo on right: sunrise in summer, looking northeast from Bear Rocks Preserve. Pentax LX with 24mm f/2, at f/16, no filters, Kodachrome 64. #DS100.   [photos]

Sculpted Boulders and Rock Streams

Large, striking and uniquely-shaped white sandstone and quartz rocks are found throughout the Bear Rocks Preserve area. These wind- and rain-sculpted boulders rise up out of the heath barrens and tundra-like areas. Erosion has carved bowl-shaped cavities in many of the sandstone rocks and these cavities are often filled with water (or ice) and algae. In addition to the sculpted boulders are "rock streams" formed during glacial periods. The freeze-thaw cycles heaved and split rock, creating rock streams up to 50 feet wide and hundreds of feet long. Other rock patterns include polygons and circles.   [photos]

Heath Barrens and Peat Bogs

Large areas of heath barrens and tree-sheltered peat bogs -- more typical of Canada -- are scattered along the west side of the Allegheny Front. The heath barrens consist of acid-tolerant, low-growing plants such as blueberries, huckleberries, azaleas, mountain laurel, rhododendron, trailing arbutus, mountain ash, and bear oak. Bogs, referred to by Indians as "Muskegs" (trembling earth) are waterlogged areas where thick moss and other plant life grow on the surface of the water. This unusual mountain bog plant life consists of goldthread, velvetleaf, blueberry, cranberry, three-toothed cinquefoil, bog goldenrod, stiff club moss, closed gentian, chokeberry, wild raisin, and St. John's wort. Trails in the area are lined with green and gray mounds of reindeer moss.   [photos]

Grassy Balds

On the highest upland wind-swept location (above 4000 feet) are large, open, treeless areas referred to as grass balds. Covered with mountain oak grass and strewn with large boulders, these balds were once used for grazing stock by a pioneer German family named Dahle. Overtime, the entire area became known as Dolly Sods.

Climate and Vegetation

Both Bear Rocks Preserve and Dolly Sods Wilderness and Scenic Area are known for ever-changing, and frequently severe, climate. Strong prevailing winds bring clouds from the west. While rising to clear the ridge of the Allegheny Front they cool, causing mist and rain totaling over sixty inches a year. During the winter of 2003, 290 inches of snow fell in the area, although 160 inches is more typical. The trees and shrubs become broken downward and gnarled along the ridge from the drying winds, the chilling rime frost and the heavy ice glazing and snow.

One-quarter to one-half mile below the ridge lies a moist forest of red spruce and hemlock, with a floor blanketed in ferns, mountain laurel and rhododendron thickets. But on the broad ridge top where the climate is the most severe, the lush vegetation gives way to stunted, scattered trees, open heath land, and tundra plants left over from the ice ages.

On the east side of the Front the climate is dryer, and there thrive hardwood forests sheltered by the high ridge. Although cool, damp weather dominates most of the year, on warm and sunny summer days the temperatures can climb into the lower 80's. When entering this area, even in the summer, one must be prepared for frost. High winds and temperatures around 40 degrees at daybreak on the ridge can drop the wind chill to below freezing, requiring winter clothing. By afternoon of the same day, one can be comfortable in a shirt.   [photos]

Conclusion

In a single day's hike, you can traverse three different climate zones. Dolly Sods is the highest tundra valley in the USA east of the Rocky Mountains. The Roaring Plains of Dolly Sods gives way at lower elevations to a climate that is less harsh, and where hardwood forest thrives. The Red Creek drains the Sods. This is a "truly wild" wilderness presenting a great variety of topography and habitat with very distinctive features, all waiting to be photographed. For the photographer, it's an inspirational experience to be at Dolly Sods and Bear Rocks, and it is with this thought I share these images with you.

Note: for the photographic techniques I employ, please see Kent Mason Photo Notes: Mastering the Craft of Photography found in the articles section of this Web site.