HIKING VIRGINIA

As an introduction to Virginia, it’s hard to top Mount Rogers National Recreation Area. The Appalachian Trail passes near the tallest mountains in the state. Close to the summit of Mount Rogers, wild ponies graze in the high-country meadows. There are steep climbs up Iron Mountain, past small waterfalls and tunnels of rhododendron. The hike seems over too soon. Longer lasting are memories of wide-open sky, jagged rock outcrops, and a refreshing dip below the falls on Comers Creek.

THE RUNDOWN

Start: Damascus Town Hall

Distance: 63.8 miles point to point

Difficulty: Difficult

Trail surface: Using dirt footpaths and abandoned dirt roads, hike along rocky peaks, cliffs, and steep ridges; through deep valley hollows; and across high-altitude meadows.

Nearest towns: Damascus, VA (south access); Marion, VA (north access)

Canine compatibility: Dogs permitted (must be on a leash in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area)

Trail contacts: Appalachian Trail Conference, Harpers Ferry, WV, (304) 535-6331, www.appalachiantrail.org; Piedmont Appalachian Trail Hikers, www.path-at.org; Mount Rogers Appalachian Trail Club, Abingdon, http://mratc.pbworks.com

Maps/Guides: AT Guide Set #9 covers the AT from the Virginia/Tennessee state line to Pearisburg, VA. www.atctrailstore.org

To the Damascus Trailhead: In Damascus, locate the Damascus Town Hall, 208 W. Laurel Ave., between Smith Street and Reynolds Avenue. You can use onstreet parking or park at Mount Rogers Outfitters, 110 West Laurel Ave. Begin walking east on Laurel Avenue (US 58). DeLorme: Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer: Page 22, C2. To Marion Trailhead: See Segment 2: Marion to Roanoke.

A few miles north of the Tennessee-Virginia border, the Appalachian Trail (AT) wraps around Holston Mountain, part of the Iron Mountain range, and descends into Damascus. The small town, first visible from an overlook high atop the ridge, bills itself as the “friendliest town on the AT.” Its downtown strip, Laurel Avenue, doubles as the trail route. Shopkeepers and restaurants welcome AT hikers as friends. The hospitality really shows itself each May during the Appalachian Trail Days festival, when hundreds of hikers converge on Damascus and swap stories about the 2,173-mile trail.

Surrounding Damascus is scenery unlike any you’ve seen in Virginia. In Mount Rogers National Recreation Area (NRA), herds of wild ponies roam expansive mountain meadows. A strong spruce-fir scent lingers around the tree-capped Mount Rogers (5,729 feet), Virginia’s tallest peak. Colorful mushrooms and large patches of wild berries brighten the slope and crest of Iron Mountain. Rhododendron’s pink and purple blooms seem ever-present in June. Turk’s cap lily, orange and delicate, is one of an array of wildflowers seen spring through fall.

The route north from Damascus begins with a 1,000-foot ascent of Feathercamp Ridge. The next 14 miles of AT bring two more steep climbs up Straight Mountain and Lost Mountain. Between each ridge, rhododendrons choke stream valleys cut by Straight Branch and Whitetop Laurel Creek. As the AT climbs and descends each ridge, flashes of yellow and red amid the drab-colored leaf rot signal mushroom colonies. Chanterelles, waxy caps, and a host of other types grow along the trail. Occasionally, a view of the rooftop of Virginia, as the high country is nicknamed, breaks out through the heavy oak forest atop the ridges.

From Elk Garden, the AT begins an ascent past Virginia’s three tallest mountains—Mount Rogers, Whitetop, and Pine. All three peaks exceed 5,000 feet, and the AT slips past without actually crossing any of them. Whitetop Mountain (5,520 feet) has a road leading to its top. When the Virginia Creeper Railroad operated 100 years ago, the Whitetop station had the distinction of being the highest railroad depot east of the Rockies. Past Whitetop, the AT enters Lewis Fork Wilderness, which surrounds and covers Mount Rogers. Elevation is above 5,000 feet, and the forested summit of Mount Rogers appears a mere bulge in the high ridge. A spur trail leads 0.5 mile from the AT up to Rogers’s summit area. It’s a cool, moist woodland that covers Mount Rogers, with dangling bunches of moss and rotted logs everywhere. Many of the trees, plants, and animals at the summit are vestiges of a northern forest environment that developed here during the last glacial period in North America some 10,000 years ago.

Pine Mountain, the third in Mount Rogers NRA’s triumvirate of 5,000-foot peaks, is a series of rocky promontories rising sharply from the sweeping meadows. This gray-purplish rock is rhyolite, formed 800 million years ago when the Blue Ridge was volcanically active. The trail passes several jagged piles of rock on Wilburn Ridge, then disappears into tunnels of rhododendron. When the AT reenters meadows, stunted hawthorn trees offer shade and a rest spot for watching wild horses graze. Meadow grass grows knee-high. Wildflowers wash the fields with orange and red. The meadows are burned regularly by the Forest Service in order to hold back total reforestation, creating conditions ideal for fireweed. Were it not for the fires, a new forest of hardwoods would reclaim the meadows.

AT SHELTERS/HUTS (MILEAGE ON THE AT NORTH FROM DAMASCUS TO VA 16)

Mile 9.4 - Saunders Shelter

Mile 15.8 - Lost Mountain Shelter

Mile 28.0 - Thomas Knob Shelter

Mile 33.1 - Wise Shelter

Mile 39.0 - Old Orchard Shelter

Mile 50.7 - Raccoon Branch Shelter

Mile 53.2 - Trimpi Shelter

Mile 63.7 - Partnership Shelter

A descent from Scales (an old cattle-weighing station dating back 100 years) to Fox Creek signals the end of the Mount Rogers high country. From Fox Creek, the AT climbs again to the crest of Iron Mountain (4,200 feet). Yellow blossoms of the Indian cucumber root put on a spring show along streams. Absent its blooms, which appear in May and June, the cucumber root is identified by a distinct double-decker whorl of leaves. The tuber is edible, but should only be collected if they’re found in abundance. As it crosses Iron Mountain Trail (which used to be the AT until it was relocated), the AT follows sections of old logging roads. There’s little in the way of forest canopy, but the constant exposure to sunlight makes the blackberries that grow along the trail especially plump and juicy, much like the huckleberries that grow off the trail in the high-country meadows.

The route north from Iron Mountain might seem anticlimactic when compared with the high country; that is, until the AT crosses Comers Creek. As it runs down Hurricane Mountain, the stream forms a 10-foot waterfall. There’s a small swimming hole here that is popular with hikers. It’s a nice spot to tarry, dip your feet in cool water, and contemplate the remaining 483 miles of Virginia’s AT.

Many Damascus residents and organizations have turned their homes and facilities into bed-and-breakfasts to accommodate the hikers and bikers who frequent the small town. www.visitdamascus.org.

SEGMENT 1.DAMASCUS TO MARION

SEGMENT 1.
DAMASCUS TO MARION