Beautiful Scenic Fall Drive in Southwestern Virginia - Craig and Botetourt Counties

Wouldn’t you like to come home to this view?

UPDATED: 2/5/2023

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Have you heard the recent (supposed) craze of flights to nowhere? There are people throughout the world who are willing to pay money to sit in an airplane for a number of hours just to experience some semblance of travel. And then there was that flight in Australia that took off from and landed at the same airport several hours later after just flying around in Australia’s friendly skies. If you haven’t seen this phenomena cross your news feed, you might think I’m joking, so here’s one (of many) article on the subject, this one from Fortune. Of course I selected an article that focuses on the psychology of this because that’s where any discussion of this topic quickly veers.

Now, for those reading this in the future, this is the era of COVID when everything is topsy turvy. Why someone would risk exposure to COVID in pursuit of a destination-less trip defies logic to me, but I suppose I’m working with different psychology than those gleefully paying up!

Fall leaves against the blue sky made this an awesome drive.

Sitting out of the car window trying to get a good shot. (We weren’t moving)

Orange pine needles make an interesting contrast against the green grass.

Mountain views in the Appalachian Mountains.

So, what does the start of this post have to do at all with a scenic fall drive? Well, as you’ll discover, this route is a loop and you start and stop in Roanoke, Virginia, our hometown, though you’re certainly welcome to carve your own version of this route off and turn it into a variety of shapes and sizes. (See map at bottom of this post.)

After nearly 11 years living in the Roanoke Valley, we have taken a number of scenic fall drives along the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is basically right down the street from where we live. The Blue Ridge Parkway is known for its picturesque beauty, especially in the peak of autumn leaf brilliance. For an overview on the Blue Ridge Parkway, read our post here.

But sometimes it is fun to explore on a road-less-traveled and see what there is to see! While leaf colors as of this writing (mid-October) in the Roanoke Valley are in the early days of coloring, we were happily pleased to discover the trees at the higher elevations surrounding the valley are at or even past their peak, depending on the species.

The winding road threaded its way through the Virginia mountains.

Everywhere we looked was another awesome view.

A cow hidden in the shadow of the barn watched us with interest as we stopped at this pull-out… sorry, buddy, no food here.

Don’t drive off the road while attempting to look at the scenery!

The goal of our journey was to go for a hike at Fenwick Mines Recreation Area (that post to come later!), nestled in Craig County’s George Washington and Jefferson National Forest. En route to the hike and then taking an extra long return trip home (No, GPS, we will not make a U-turn!), we found gorgeous rolling hills, golden fields, the protruding tops of mountains, and trees all shades of color from lemon through burnt umber. The route travels up, down, and over mountains and valleys on a winding road that is just large enough for two vehicles to comfortably pass.

Because the road was so curved and there were only a very small number of pull-offs, there was no safe way to get out of the car to take photos. So, Dustin exerted some photography athleticism. While I watched the rear view mirror for anyone coming into view, Dustin leaned out the side of our SUV or popped up through the open sun-roof in Dustin-does-Las-Vegas style. The photos you see in this post are the product of that. These are not staged or carefully positioned photos. These are truly representative of what we saw out of our window constantly.

The good news is there were very few other cars on the road, which made this questionably safe activity work out in the end. This time.

Craig Creek has to be the biggest “creek” I’ve ever seen.

For a fairly large portion of the route, the road hugs Craig Creek, which is a tributary of the James River, and honestly is the most ill-named body of water. It really looked like a river in terms of size! In this part of Virginia, most creeks seem to be seasonal and small, sometimes only trickles of water. We saw several small pedestrian suspension bridges over the river that are unlike anything we have seen before in the state.

If you are looking for a beautiful fall drive in the Blue Ridge, absolutely add this one to your list!

Pronunciation tip: This drive spans Craig County and Botetourt County. The latter is pronounced “Bot-eh-taught”.