IN GOD’S COUNTRY
Christy and I headed up to
the mountains last weekend in search of fall colors and prime hiking. The fall foliage was mostly disappointing,
but the hiking wasn’t.
We headed up to Boone on
Saturday with some friends for Appalachian’s football game with arch-rival
Furman. After some legendary tailgating
and an even better game, we headed to Price Park to camp. We were lucky we had reservations, as the
campground was packed. We didn’t sleep
well, thanks to some rowdy college kids at a nearby site. They finally quieted down when rain began to
fall. It’s the first time I’ve ever
welcomed a shower while I was camping.
We got up early on Sunday
and drove through pockets of fog into Boone.
There was no fall foliage at all at Trout Lake, though we did see some
color in the Winkler’s Creek valley.
After a hearty breakfast at the Boone Bagelry, we headed for the Mount
Rogers high country. Not long after we
left town, we broke out of the fog and into a beautiful, sunny morning.
We took back roads to get
there, heading up route 194 through West Jefferson and Lansing in the farthest
reaches of Ashe County. A shortcut
along Helton Creek took us through a lovely valley surrounded by rolling
farmland. Helton Creek Road ends at
highway 58, only a couple of miles from Grayson Highlands State Park. We headed into the park, and met Dave at the
trailhead at Massie Gap.
A normal hike in the
southeast requires hours of hiking through the woods to reach a beautiful view
from a summit. The hike from Grayson
Highlands to Mount Rogers is rather different.
Most of the trail passes through grassy meadows and along open ridges
until it culminates at the wooded summit.
We left the crowded parking
lot behind and climbed a steep hill to join the Appalachian Trail. We followed one of the most heavily traveled
sections of the AT as it climbs up Wilburn Ridge. At the park boundary, we passed the first of several large groups
of backpackers. After we left them
behind, we bailed off the AT in favor of a rugged trail along the rocky spine
of the ridge. The scenery had been good
from the beginning, but this part of the hike was exceptional. The views south to the mountains of North Carolina
were endless as we scrambled over boulders and wandered through meadows. At one point, I caught up to Christy napping
on a rock in the sun. It was a small
miracle that I was able to get her moving again.
We reached Rhododendron Gap
at lunch time. Of course, so did
everyone else in the area. On Sunday at
least, Rhododendron Gap probably qualified as one of the largest towns in
Grayson County. We headed over to a
meadow along a horse trail, so we could enjoy lunch away from the crowds.
After lunch, we rejoined the
Appalachian Trail and followed it through a beautiful forest of rhododendron,
spruce, fir, and northern hardwoods.
The woods were short-lived though, as we emerged in another meadow on
Thomas Knob. We passed the trail
shelter there, and hiked on to a junction with the Mount Rogers Summit
Trail. From there, we climbed for less
than a mile, reaching the shade of a dark forest of spruce and fir shortly
before the summit. The trail ends at
the top in a small rocky opening in the forest. There was a crowd there, too.
I’m sure this mountaintop would hardly ever see visitors, if it wasn’t
the highest peak in Virginia. As it is,
it’s a spot I quite like. I love the
smell of a spruce fir forest.
We headed back by the same
route, but took the AT around Wilburn Ridge on the return. We did spot some fall foliage along the
way. The best colors were north of
rhododendron gap, down around an elevation of 4000’. At the higher elevations, the color was already long gone. For prospective leaf-peepers, I recommend
visiting the lower elevations in the next couple of weeks.
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