Boars Nest Loop

The trailhead is located in the Monogahala National Forest opposite the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area near Caanan Valley, West Virginia. The Boars Nest Trail along with the South Prong Trail make a great 7.3 mile loop hike. Leave the trailhead on the South Prong Trail heading down to the south fork of Red Creek. This creek is prone to sudden floods from storms dumping rain on the west side of the Allegheny Mountains. We carefully crossed the creek on large rocks that stuck-up above the water. The Jack Russell Terriers refused to use our method, and they developed their own. Nitro and Buzz jumped right in, and they were surprised to be wisked down stream in cold mountain water. Bandit needed coaxed from the otherside, but finally jumped, barely getting wet. The trail headed straight up from here and travelled 2.5 miles to where we crossed the creek again, but at 4,000 feet up. After a short rest, we hiked through thick rhodedendrum till we reached a closed forest road. We followed the closed forest road for about a half of a mile. The dogs ran far ahead because this was the first level trail we had hiked on all day.

We followed a sign proclaiming Boars Nest Trail and an arrow pointed to the headwater of the south fork of the Red River. The Jack Russell Terriers liked the water flowing right up and out of the rocks. We were at about 4300 feet were the river came out of the earth as a spring. We left the headwater and entered the arctic ecosystem of the Flat Rock and Roaring Plains. This is a high elevation plateau that is a very wet bogg and consists of Red Spruce, mulberries, and blueberries. We followed a rock path, one after another for a mile through the muddy bogg. The dogs were covered in black bogg mud. The wind is constantly blowing which causes the Red Spuce to have no branches on the north side of the tree. We happened to pick a beautiful sunny day so it was very comfortable. The trail soon came to a rocky cliff as it headed down the mountain. This was the best view of the hike which looked over the Dolly Sods Wilderness to the North. We rested as the Jack Russell Terriers played on the rocks. This area is likely to have bears or snakes with the large berry supplies and sun warmed rocks. We saw neither, but caution would be advised. The trail headed straight down, and I mean straight. It was the steepest trail we ever hiked, luckily we were going down. The Jack Russell Terries followed the trail like it was in their backyard, but we struggled to keep from slipping. The trail started switchbacking and eventually came apon the south fork of the Red River. The trail then heads straight up to the trailhead where three Jack Russell Terriers waited patiently for their owners to complete the hike. This is an excellent hike for Jack Russell Terriers, and it leaves civilization far behind. This a physical hike that takes about 6 hours, and we never saw another hiker the entire day.