Dolly Sods Wilderness (West Virginia) Backpacking - May 2017

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Published on Jul 12, 2017
Following my April 2017 Appalachian Trail hike, I had the rare luxury of a second backpacking trip within a month. In mid-May 2017 the dogs and I met up with Travis, who I met via these Youtube videos, and we did a 3-day, 25-mile loop around the Dolly Sods Wilderness in northeast West Virginia.

The Dolly Sods Wilderness had long been on my 'wish list' of possible destinations, and when Travis communicated his plan to hike there in May I basically invited myself along! The Dolly Sods didn't disappoint. It sits on the unique Allegheny Plateau, and is an area of not only rapidly changing weather but also rapidly changing vegetation and geology. Within a distance of less than a mile we experienced everything from high open meadows, to dark pine groves, to rhododenron thickets, to exposed rock scrambles. In our 3 days the weather changed from clear, sunny, and hot to cloudy with thunderstorms, to overnight rain, to dense fog with 50 foot visibilities. The Dolly Sods were certainly never boring!

This was a unique trip for me in that I was simply 'along for the ride' on someone else's trip. Travis had done all the planning in advance, and I was merely a 'tourist' which proved to be very enjoyable. I still had to do a 'bit' of work to hike the trails, but that was about it. Sadly, my primary video camera (Canon Vixia G30) died halfway through the first day, and Travis selflessly loaned me his own Canon Vixia G20 for the remainder of our hike. This video wouldn't have been possible without Travis's generous act. Thank you very much, Travis!

Similar to my other recent backpacking videos, this one has about 35 minutes of video followed by a 10 minute still picture slide show with music at the end. It is meant to be an 'immersive' experience that allows you to come along with me on the trip. If you aren't interested in 'riding along on my shoulder' for a 45 minute video, just skip to the last 10 minutes of still pictures and you'll get a good overview of our trip.

Still Camera: Nikon D810 with Nikkor 20mm f1.8 lens
Video Camera 1: Canon Vixia G30 with Rode Stereo Videomic Pro
Video Camera 2: Nikon D810 video
Video Camera 3: Canon Vixia G20 - internal microphone
Video Editing Software: Sony Vegas Pro 13
HDR Software: SNS-HDR Pro 2