Let me start off by saying: this trip to Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia was probably the most fully successful trip Jannah and I have ever had. We’ve been to Davis, WV / Tucker County before. Back in 2018 we went to Blackwater Falls. While breathtakingly beautiful, it was a very Jannah-and-Rachel trip in that we probably went about it in the most ass-backwards of ways, got snow instead of fall leaves and had no idea where to go or what trails to hike after seeing the main falls area.

This time, we still had no idea where to go (lol), but in general, navigating Dolly Sods seemed to be a bit easier than the Blackwater Falls situation. (WV State Parks really need to make better maps / signage / marketing materials, but I digress.) As much as we all like to visit new places rather than return to places we’ve already been, the whole experience is better when you’ve been to an area once already. You know how to better manage your time and expectations.

We made it a weekend trip – no days off and just one overnight stay. I pulled the trigger on a hotel at the last minute. I’ve always been a Priceline girl, but I’ve been loving Booking.com lately. The interface of the app is simple, and when one of my trips got canceled during the early days of COVID, they were proactive, straightforward, and I had to do literally nothing on my end. Booking.com also typically doesn’t charge your card in the upfront, which I like, because I can reserve trips far in advance, without needing the funds for it immediately, or charging my credit card (yuck!).

It’s about a 3.5 hour drive to Dolly Sods from where I am in Pittsburgh. Plus, we have a breakfast sandwich problem so we needed to make a pit stop in Morgantown, WV, for Tudor’s Biscuit World….and I also needed to drop my cat off at my mom’s. We made plans to get up and get going early. I think we said we’d leave the house at 7 a.m. Designated times, however, are always arbitrary because we know we’ll be at least one hour behind schedule at all times. At least we’re self-aware.

When Jannah and I make plans, one of us is always a late, hot mess. Whomever ends up being designated as that individual is always a crap shoot. This time, it was me. Not so much because I didn’t wake up on time, but because I apparently couldn’t find anything I left for grabbing in the morning. These items were pretty necessary because they were my glasses and my tennis shoes. (My cat picks things up with her mouth and moves them to places that are almost impossible to find.) Jannah was of course on time this morning and grabbed us Starbucks around the corner from my apartment while I was having this crisis. I eventually and begrudgingly retired to using my back-up glasses and back-up tennis shoes and we were on our way.

I dropped the cat off with what I recall to be minimal issue, but somehow, I don’t even think we got to Morgantown until around 10 or 11 a.m. Then, we stopped at my friend Sage’s place to eat our biscuits on his porch and patronize him for various things before heading to the next destination of our voyage.

Ah yes, we were finally on our way. We had our carefully curated WV playlist filled with Chris Stapleton and John Denver. The weather was sunny and beautiful. The leaves were already turning. Great signs. Oh yes, this should be–oh shit, I just missed THE FIRST TURN I NEEDED TO TAKE OFF OF ROUTE 7. No prob, I’m not going to turn around. I’ll just keep going and it will reroute me.

Ha. Ha ha. I forgot how West Virginia’s infrastructure works. This was a time I was very thankful to be driving a Jeep. I managed to get us on a literal dirt and rock one-way road that I’m pretty sure was just a glorified driveway. I got to use Mud Mode and cross over a stream, so at least that was cool. That made me feel pretty bad ass. Then some of the neighbors waved at us as we drove by. I waved back. I’m a country girl now.

Some slow drivers who have never been in the WV mountains aside, the rest of the drive was pretty relaxing. For those of you who haven’t been: WV roads are windy, typically only one lane on each side, and STEEP. Know that going into it. Maintain a speed that’s manageable and won’t have you braking around every bend.

Before entering Dolly Sods, we drove past a little town area with some breweries and boutiques that would have been a cool pit stop if COVID wasn’t a thing. Also lots of stands on the side of the road – local honey, pepperoni rolls, moonshine, etc.

I’m not sure if we entered Dolly Sods some kind of back way, but let me warn all of you because everyone failed to mention this on TripAdvisor: there is no parking. You have to pull off into the grass amongst trees and rocks and parallel park, hoping you’re not going to get towed around copious “No Parking” signs. Now, we weren’t the only people in this situation, so it’s not really like we screwed up. Tons of people were doing this. As others entered, they asked us if it was OK to park here. We kind of shrugged and said it seemed like it so we did it. Moral of the story: we were all fine but it was weird.

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Being how we are, we wanted to make sure we were getting the best views and the best photos. We took a risk, because other people with walking sticks who seemed vastly more experienced than us were going this way, and it seemed like they had been here before, so we went that way, too. We were kind of confused at first as to why so many people had walking sticks, but if you have them, you should absolutely bring them. The terrain quickly turns rocky and can do a number on your ankles, especially in hiking boots. This trip had me looking on Amazon for walking sticks as soon as I returned home.

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All in all, the photos turned out great, but Dolly Sods is definitely one of those places you can go back again and again to experience in different ways. There were plenty of trails to choose from, and judging by others posts of Dolly Sods, a ton of different views to see.

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After successfully hiking without encountering any coyotes (although we did hear some), or getting lost, or doing something generally displeasing, we made our way to the Davis location of Mountain State Brewing Company. It was a very different vibe from the Morgantown location – a little hole-in-the-wall pub with a wooden interior, reminiscent of a lodge or a log cabin. It had been quite awhile since I had been to a good, old-fashioned, unpretentious, WV bar. I actually really missed it. I wished I wasn’t starving for food so I could have posted up there a bit longer for the night. Another neighboring brewery, Stumptown Ales, was only available for takeout. If it was open, I would have liked to check that out as well. It was in the opposite direction of Mountain State, so we couldn’t really pick up a six pack and take it back to the hotel.

Next, we were on our way to the Hampton Inn in Davis, which was about 45 minutes to an hour away, but was one of the closest to Dolly Sods. The interior was newly renovated and it sat on a hill right next to a Sheetz. Being that it was 9 p.m. before we got to the hotel, we were starving from a day of hiking and had no idea what was open during covid, so drive-thru MTO Sheetz was perfect.

The hotel was spotlessly clean and the service was good, but the only gripe I would have about it was they seemed to place everyone near each other on the same floor, even though there were hardly any guests. Jannah and I had a guest very near to us who was coughing…and I mean COUGHING…a lot, which was kind of disconcerting, because, well, covid. But again, we made it out alive with no horror stories to tell. In non-covid times, it would get a 5 star review from me, and I would stay there next time I’m in Davis.

I enlisted the advice of our native WV expert Sage for food/brewery/bar advice. He suggested Smoke on the Water. According to Sage, ~we had to try the DIPA~, so we made time for it after checking out of the hotel Sunday afternoon. For the area, I was surprised at the square footage of the restaurant–big, contemporary and lots of TVs for Sunday afternoon sports while we were there. Our waitress was very friendly. It was pretty obvious we weren’t from there so she asked where we were traveling from and how long we were staying. The Bloody Mary I ordered was pretty good. I don’t really remember the DIPA, so on the record for me, the DIPA was forgettable. The barbecue food was okay. It wasn’t bad but I’ve had better. (Plug: Fourth Street BBQ in Charleroi, PA!)

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During our travels north, we decided a coffee pit stop would certainly be necessary after the boozy barbecue situation we had on our hands. This is when a good copilot comes in handy. And I can’t stress this enough, a copilot who is willing to share responsibility with you is vital for excursions into the unknown. Stone Tower Brews was a cute little cafe right in the heart of Buckhannon, WV, that sold both coffee and craft beer. Nice baristas, good coffee and atmosphere, A+ rest stop.

Short Story Brewery in Rivesville was the final stop on our journey. They had a nice outdoor area to serve us during covid. Short Story has A LOT of IPA, bitter ones, especially, so if that’s your bag, you’ll like it. It wasn’t my favorite brewery, personally.

Do:

Dolly Sods hiking

Bring walking sticks

If you’re headed out of Dolly Sods near golden hour, try to catch the sunset by swinging over to Blackwater Falls. If we weren’t jonesing for a beer, I would have done so.

Local breweries and eateries

Bring cash for moonshine and local goods

Stay at the Hampton Inn

Make a pitstop in Buckhannon if you are headed north. The town is cute and Stone Tower Brews was great for a coffee pick-me-up.

Have a navigation system in your car, or an external map of some sort if you lose cell service

Skip:

Smoke on the Water

Ignoring your GPS when it tells you to turn around

Bringing a car that can’t handle a rougher terrain