Camp at Red Creek Campground

Beginning your hikes from the Red Creek Campground gives you plenty of good options. For day hikers there is parking at the signed trailheads and for those who want to call the Campground home for a few days the campsites are nice and spaced out so you don't feel like you're sharing your tent space with strangers.

One of the attractions to hiking in the Sods is the scenic pay off found on trail. One of the most popular and stunning is the Lions Head rock formation at top of Rocky Ridge trail. To get there from the Red Creek Campground begin your hike on Blackbird Knob. From there you will begin to descend into the valley until you reach Red Creek trail, this trail will cross the creek of it's namesake several times throughout the hike giving you some lovely sights and sounds. From Red Creek you will turn onto Rocky Ridge trail and begin to ascend to exposed wind swept boulders and an amazing view of the Canaan Valley. Look for cairns to direct you to the top of the boulders. This way up can get a little dicey as you are basically scrambling over fallen rocks on a steep pitch, there is another route in from the top that is safer and less technical but we were pushed for day light and equipped with a lack of knowledge of the trail system.

Do yourself a favor and get a good map and a couple days to explore the area. There are plenty of primitive campsites and the option of doing a 20 plus mile loop multi day hike.