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Dolly Sods is an area of high elevation
windswept plains on the Allegheny Plateau. The area is well known
for its extensive rocky plains, upland bogs, and sweeping vistas.
With the elevations in this part of West Virginia ranging from
2,600 feet to over 4,000 feet, the climate and plant life resembles
northern Canada. It is a unique "island" of wild country surrounded
by Appalachian hardwood forests.
Unusual plant communities are one
of the attractions of the Sods. Sphagnum bogs, groves of wind-stunted,
one-sided red spruce and twisted yellow birch, heath barrens,
grassy sods, rhododendron and laurel thickets, and rocky barren
plains invite exploration and provide an endless variety of vistas.
The highest areas are covered with heath barrens, where azaleas,
mountain laurel, rhododendron and blueberries seldom grow taller
than chest high. These plants provide a fantastic floral display
from May through July. Cranberries and the insect-eating sundew
plant flourish in the bogs of floating sphagnum moss found in
shallow depressions. Northern hardwood forests and laurel thickets
are found at lower, more sheltered locations while boulder fields
are common on the high elevation plains and near the Allegheny
Front.
The Allegheny front is the eastern
continental divide. Water flowing west drains into the Ohio River,
Mississippi River and finally ends up in the Gulf of Mexico. Water
flowing east drains into the Potomac River then into the Chesapeake
Bay. This "Front" forms the eastern edge of the Allegheny Plateau
and greatly affects weather patterns in the area. Most precipitation
falls west of the Allegheny Front while the east side is in the
rain shadow and receives relatively little precipitation.
For more information contact the
Potomac Ranger District, HC 59, Petersburg WV 26847 (304) 257-4488
(voice and TTY).
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