Grayson Highlands State Park and Mount Rogers (Mouth of Wilson, VA)

ABOUT THE PARK:
Grayson Highlands State Park: Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
Mount Rogers: Wikipedia

TRAIL MAP:
Grayson Highlands State Park Trails: Online Map
National Geographic Map Covering Entire Hike: Purchase


DIRECTIONS:
From Hungry Mother State Park - 40 miles, a little over an hour on scenic hilly, winding country roads
Highway 16 south through Marion for about 25 miles, right on Route 58 to right on Route 362 into Grayson Highlands State Park.
GPS coordinates to visitors center: 36 37.4950 -81 30.0349
Follow Route 362 until you reach the Massie Gap Parking area on the right.


HIKE DISTANCE: To the summit of Mount Rogers and back, 10 miles. You can turn around at any point to shorten the distance.

SOME THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND ABOUT THIS HIKE: This is a hugely popular hike and is supposedly very crowded on weekends. I did this hike on a Monday and there were a lot of hikers for a weekday. There will be no shade for about 95% of this hike. Plan on bringing twice as much water as you normally would or a pump and filter to get water from the spring about 4 miles out at the end of the blue-blazed trail behind the Thomas Knob shelter. Bring a high SPF sunblock and plan on reapplying.

HIKE DIRECTIONS:
As you drive in on Route 362, you will pass Sugarlands Overlook on the right which is worth stopping at.



From the Massie Gap parking lot, follow the blue-blazed Rhododendron Trail for 1/2 mile to the white-blazed Appalachian Trail towards Mount Rogers. Intersections are well marked with signs heading you in the right direction.

Before leaving the gated park boundary you should see some of the wild ponies that live in the park. You will later pass another herd in Jefferson National Forest.

My dog is exceptionally good with other animals so I allowed this adult male pony to approach her as he was showing an interest. He wanted nothing to do with me, only my dog and they ended up licking each other's faces.







You will come to a fork where the blue-blazed Wilburn Ridge Trail splits off from the white-blazed Appalachian Trail. These trails run parallel and meet back up so it's your choice which one to take. The Wilburn Ridge Trail is less heavily traveled but it has some steep rock scrambles. The payoff is incredible 360 degree views. For this hike I took the Wilburn Ridge Trail out and the Appalachian Trail back.

Heading out on the Wilburn Ridge Trail:








I tried to capture the 360 degree views in a movie. Sorry it's a little shaky. I was perched up high on a rock trying to slowly pivot in a circle with a dog leaning into my legs...


Meet back up with the white-blazed Appalachian Trail and continue towards Mount Rogers passing the Thomas Knob shelter.


Note the items hanging from the roof of the shelter. These are called "mouse hangers" where Appalachian Trail thru hikers hang their backpacks so mice cannot climb down the ropes beyond the obstacles to get into the backpacks.


To the left behind the shelter you will find a blue-blazed trail leading to the fenced area where the spring is. You will need a pump and filter to refill water bottles from the spring.


Continue on the white-blazed Appalachian Trail turning right on the blue-blazed Mount Rogers spur trail. You will soon enter a dark, cool, mossy, fragrant spruce-fir forest that feels like you have stepped into another world.


When the blue blazes end, start looking around for the summit benchmarks. There are supposed to be 4, I only found 1. You will be at the summit of Mount Rogers at 5,729 feet. There are no views but the forest you are standing in is worth experiencing.


From this point simply retrace your steps back to the parking lot following the white-blazed Appalachian Trail.





Another herd of ponies with some adorable babies:

Jefferson National Forest - Crawfish Valley (Rural Retreat, VA)

ABOUT THE PARK:
I can't quite remember how I came across this hike but information was very sketchy and I almost took it off of my list of hikes to do when I stumbled upon this article by "The Late Sam Slemp". His words compelled me to do the hike. Maybe it was the "Think you're tough?" part he started his article off with. I was up for the challenge. And he left sufficient information that I felt comfortable proceeding with the hike.

TRAIL MAP:
I could find no trail map and as far as I am concerned, no map, no hike, but I was able to piece together what I thought the trail was on the topo map and it was good enough for me to feel comfortable doing the hike. I did find that the trail no longer uses part of the Appalachian Trail like it once apparently did so it must have been rerouted to cross over the A.T. Keep in mind that my map is not completely accurate but is a pretty good representation of the trail.


DIRECTIONS:
From Hungry Mother State Park 26.5 miles (35 minutes)
I-81 North to exit 60 (Rural Retreat); north on Blacklick Road for 2.5 miles, left on Crawfish Road for 4 miles, left on Strawberry Road for 2 miles to circular parking lot at dead end.


HIKE DISTANCE:
Some places I read 10 miles, another place 11.7 miles, my pedometer said 13.5 miles.

HIKE DIRECTIONS:
I did this hike on a Sunday. My car was the only one in the parking lot when I arrived at 7 am and it was the only car in the lot when I finished in the early afternoon. A group of horseback riders passed me in the valley towards the end of the hike - those were the only other people I saw on the entire trail. This is a very remote wilderness hike. The hike starts on the Crawfish Valley Trail which is beyond the gate that blocks the end of Strawberry Road. There are no trail blazes for the first mile - simply head straight out the old valley road.


To the left behind the trees you will catch a glimpse of the ridge you will be climbing:


At 1 mile, turn left where the trail markers start and you will be on Channel Rock Hollow.


From this point on you will be following orange diamonds:


As soon as you turn left you will need to cross Reed Creek. The morning we were there the concrete bridge was a good 6 inches under water.

I certainly did not want to get my shoes and socks wet 1 mile into the hike so I had no choice but to take them off and walk across barefooted. Thank goodness I always keep a People Towel in my backpack - that tiny, almost weightless towel did a great job drying off my feet so I could put my shoes and socks back on.

After crossing Reed Creek you will feel like you are walking through the woods in the dark. The leaf cover is so thick it blocks out most of the light. As you near the top of the ridge, the sunlight will start coming through.



Coming up on the ridge the trail markers will take you to the right along the ridge which goes up and down like a roller coaster - it is quite the workout! The views are minimal because of foliage but I can imagine they are spectacular if hiked when the leaves are down.




At about 8 miles you will reach the Appalachian Trail:


From this point the trail continues across the A.T. to Bear Creek. If I were to do this hike again, I would hang a right on the A.T. and meet back up with the orange trail when it crosses back over, turning right on the orange trail to head back to the parking lot.

If you opt to stay on the orange trail which is called the Bear Creek Trail on the other side of the A.T., you will soon descend into the valley where things become very overgrown, muddy, buggy and swampy. A good portion of the trail looked like this and I almost stepped on this poor frog:


By the time we got through the Bear Creek Trail, my hiking shoes were caked with mud:


Trails were sometimes so overgrown I was wading through waist high weeds in hopes I was not stepping on snakes because I certainly could not see anything.


At about 10 miles you cross back over the A.T. So like I said before, if you skip the Bear Creek Trail and take the A.T. instead and it will be much more pleasant. Now back on this side of the A.T. the orange trail eventually turns back into the road through the valley. There will not be much shade through this part.




For as remote of a hike as this was, we obviously were not the only ones to have ever used the trail based on the litter we packed out. There was the intentional litter on the left, and the unintentional litter on the right - a water bottle, a horseshoe and a bungee cord that I first mistook for a snake!