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$Dolly Sods Wilderness occupies the lower half of the drainage of the north fork of Red Creek. Red Creek begins on the high plateau of Allegheny Mountain, a flat, poorly drained area. As the stream crosses into what is now wilderness, it begins to cut down through the plateau, creating a steep-sided canyon. As it leaves the wilderness, it joins with the south fork of Red Creek and continues on to the Dry Fork River. Because of this, the northern section of the wilderness is high-elevation plateau, wind-swept and boggy. Patches of native red spruce, alder, maple, and mountain ash mingle with plantations of pine, upland heath, and sphagnum bogs. The area is generally open, with wide-spreading vistas. Huckleberries and cranberries are common in the heath and bog areas. As Red Creek and its tributaries, Big Stonecoal and Little Stonecoal Runs, leave the plateau; they become more forested, with a number of hardwood trees including maple, birch, and black cherry. Hemlock is a common conifer along the drains as well. Underneath the trees are thickets of rhododendron and mountain laurel. Red Creek itself changes from a pleasant meandering stream to a dynamic, tumbling watercourse, with several small waterfalls and swirling pothole areas. Red Creek is well known to flash flood because the high ridge of Allegheny Mountain, the eastern continental divide, catches storms. When enough rain has fallen to lighten the clouds, they finally sail on east. Interestingly enough, Allegheny Mountain also catches storms coming from the east, most notably those associated with hurricanes, which also dump water into Red Creek.\n\nHistory:\n\nThe Dolly Sods area was first explored by Thomas Lewis during a survey in 1746 to find the limits of Lord Fairfax’s land grant from the British Crown. The area was generally avoided as too impenetrable until the late 1800’s. The exploitation of West Virginia’s coal and timber resources got under way in the 1870’s and by the late 1890’s, the ra$

Copyright © 2007, Steve Shaluta Photography

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