Howdy, friends! We're deep into the fleeting beauty of fall with peak color spreading throughout various elevations of the Mountain State. Here in our home of Canaan Valley, the brilliant reds of the maples and striking yellows of the birches have already started to fade, meaning only one thing - winter is coming! According to the Fearless Canaan Weatherman, conditions are looking favorable for the first snowflakes to fly sometime in the third or fourth week of October, and we couldn't be more excited.

Foggy Sods

Fall, aka photography season, has been quite fruitful with regular outings in the WV high country to Gandy Creek, Seneca Creek, Spruce Knob, and areas around Tucker County.

A beautiful hike in the Seneca Creek Backcountry.

Peak foliage looking west from the 4,863-foot summit of Spruce Knob.

However, one particularly finicky region has continued to elude my lens since our last newsletter. Dolly Sods, aka Foggy Sods, was shrouded yet again in a perpetual, low-hanging cloud due to orographic lift from a stalled high pressure system. This caused warmer air from the Potomac Valley to move west and climb up the 3,000-foot eastern face of the Allegheny Front, condensing to ground-level clouds so thick that visibility was limited to around 100 feet.

The windswept and stunted landscape of the Sods, the highest plateau east of the Mississippi (which, of course, you know if you read our fall issue!), is stunning regardless of the view (or lack thereof). The fog enveloped us in a thick blanket, and the space-time continuum ceased to exist as we lost any reference to said spatial and temporal dimensions.

Flagged spruce and crimson blueberry and huckleberry bushes create one of the most iconic landscapes in the WV high country.

Nikki frolicking (more like slicing up her shins) through fields of stubbornly stiff shrubs on the eastern edge of the Allegheny Front. A uniquely shaped outcropping of Pottsville sandstone stands watch over the front. Geology nerd alert: The Allegheny Front marks the eastern edge of the Pottsville formation, which extends throughout the Appalachian Plateau, including the famous sandstone boulders of Coopers Rock.

Fortunately, there's plenty of fall beauty left, regardless of peak color. We plan to explore some new-to-us trails in the Cranberry Wilderness next weekend to immerse ourselves in the vivid color that remains.

Where are you heading to catch the remainder of fall? Respond to this email with photos of your fall travels for a chance to be featured in our next newsletter. Chosen photographers get a free sticker pack in the mail, so send 'em in!

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Digital publishing spree!

We've been busy getting all kinds of tasty new articles up on the website. So, the question remains...

Have you seen these yet?

Green Bank Observatory: Wild, Wonderful, and Radio Quiet

Did you know the world's largest fully-steerable radio telescope resides among the rolling mountains of Pocahontas County? Read on for science!

New Love: The Story of the Lost New

In September 2020, the murky waters of Hawks Nest Lake were drained, revealing unseen -- and unpaddled -- rapids on a lost stretch of the ancient New River.

The Great Migration

The astounding avian event known as the fall bird migration is well underway in West Virginia, home to the Allegheny Front Migratory Observatory -- North America's longest running bird banding station.

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Stay tuned for our next spooky installment, witch will be coming straight to your in-BOO-x (sorry, I had to) on Halloween.

Enjoy, and thanks for reading #westvirginiasoutdoormagazine!

Dylan Jones

Editor-in-Chief

Highland-Outdoors.com