SWEET VIRGINIA
Dave sent me an email
because he wanted to go hiking. I knew
as soon as I saw the email what he would want to do. First, he’d want to go to Virginia. Dave loves Virginia.
Second, he’d want to hike in the snow.
Fortunately, there tends to be plenty of snow in the Virginia mountains
in January. Now, I have nothing against
Virginia, except that it’s a rather long drive from Charlotte to the best
hiking destinations. That rarely stops
me though. That left only one
question. Where in Virginia? It is a pretty big state, after all.
I backpacked up at Mount
Rogers in November (in the snow), so I was inclined to try something
different. We ended up going to the
Mount Rogers area, but we decided to explore some trails I’d never hiked. The route I planned out was a loop that
would take us along the lightly traveled Iron Mountain Trail. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but figured
that any trail is worth a try once.
We arrived at the AT
trailhead on highway 603, north of Grayson Highlands, at 11AM. The parking lot was covered in a layer of
ice as smooth as glass. I waddled
around carefully as I gathered my gear, while Dave invented a new sport. His dog, Sasha, was overflowing with
energy. He put her on leash and off
they went, with Sasha bounding across the ice and Dave sliding along behind
her. For Dave it was like dog sledding,
without the sled. I followed in their
wake, crossed the road, and picked up the trail towards Iron Mountain.
We crossed a sturdy bridge
over Lewis Fork before beginning the climb out of the valley. We curved around a ridge, which quickly
blocked the road from view. It also
meant that we were no longer on a south-facing slope. As a result, we quickly found ourselves in the shade, hiking in
the snow. The snow wasn’t exactly
fresh, but there was still enough of it to make the forest pretty. It didn’t last very long, but it was nice
for a while. By the time we reached the
crest of the ridge, we were back in the sun.
A few minutes beyond the
crest we reached a 4-way junction with the Iron Mountain Trail. We turned west on the new trail, and soon
found ourselves negotiating a rocky yet muddy old road. This trail was rather tedious. Despite being on top of the ridge, views
were limited to glimpses of the Mount Rogers high country through the
trees. During the warm half of the year
there would be no view at all.
We stopped on one of several
summits we crossed to have lunch in a sunny spot. It was fairly warm for January, but still cool enough to seek out
the sun. After lunch we continued west
and met a forest road a few minutes later.
This was our route out, but it was still early. We decided to extend the hike, and continued
west on the trail. A few minutes later
we reached a shelter in the middle of a small but pretty clearing. Just as we arrived, several wild turkeys
dashed off into the woods. Sasha gave
chase, but she returned without bringing us dinner.
We stopped for a break at
the shelter and flipped through the register.
As I suspected, the shelter is lightly used. The last entry was from early December. Oddly, the entry was made by someone from Knoxville, Iowa. This was a funny coincidence, since I had
actually worked in Knoxville, Iowa, a couple of months earlier.
We extended our hike further
after our break. We continued west on
the trail, which now followed a more prominent road. We followed it to the crest of the ridge, where we spotted more
turkeys. We then descended the north
side of the crest, and found ourselves back in the snow. The road led down to another forest road
that is open to traffic. Originally I
had planned on following this road back for variety. Unfortunately the road was very icy, and Dave had neglected to
bring ice cleats. We decided not to
chance it, and returned the same way.
Along the way, Dave entertained me with a story about how he had once
endured –20 degree temperatures while camping in Yellowstone in December. He also gave me a very detailed account of
his recent trip to Italy.
We passed the shelter and
descended to the road again. We
followed the dry roadbed down to some nice primitive car camping spots before
following it up a small hill. As soon
as we started up we found the road covered in ice once again. We proceeded cautiously along the shoulder. The northern exposure ended at the crest of
the hill, and so did the ice. We
descended quickly, but left the road for the unmarked but blue blazed Flat Top
Trail. We followed this trail down
gradual switchbacks. Just before
reaching the Mount Rogers trailhead at highway 603 we turned east on a horse
trail. This horse trail parallels the
road, eliminating the need to walk on the road to close the loop.
We followed the horse trail
down to a creek crossing, which we rock hopped. A few minutes later we reached Lewis Fork, which is a much larger
stream. There was no bridge, and we
weren’t real interested in wading. We
backtracked to a side path, and hiked out to the road. We used the highway bridge to cross the
creek, and then returned to the trail. Another ˝ mile or so of hiking brought us to the AT and the
trailhead. From there we only faced the
long drive back to Charlotte. The hike
hadn’t given us any exciting views, but it still had provided a nice
opportunity to get out of the house and play in the snow. I think I will return to the Iron Mountain
Trail, but next time I will hike one of the sections further to the west. The area near Beartree Campground looks interesting.
Back to Virginia
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!