Sharp Top Mountain Trail is labelled - appropriately - as strenuous. The trail does flatten out a little bit at points along the way but it is a steep upward climb, gaining over 1300 feet in elevation in 1.5 miles. Large segments are basically carved rock stairs. One way to think about this in a different scale: this is basically like climbing 130 flights of stairs over a 1.5 mile distance.
Read MoreThe Smith Mountain Lake Dam is one of the largest dams in the United States, and the process to build it required extensive engineering and time. Six years passed between the start of construction and the first generation of electricity (1959-1965), though the lake itself didn’t fully fill until the following year. The dam itself is over 800 feet long and 235 feet long. It’s tall enough to have a 17-story elevator built into the dam itself!
Read MoreBurkes Garden is an unexpected find.
A couple of years ago, Dustin was looking online at a map of our greater region - Southwestern Virginia - and spotted a place on the map that looked geologically interesting. And that is how Burkes Garden came to be on our radar.
Read MoreHaving exhausted most of the trails in Breaks Interstate Park, we considered finding a new place to hike on our last full day and found a few trails that piqued our interest in Pikeville, KY, at Bob Amos Park. I already knew that Pikeville was having its annual festival (none other than Hillbilly Days) but figured a hike nearby would be okay and also allow us an opportunity to check out Pikeville. When we looked online for park info in the morning and - thanks to Google - saw that the park was exponentially busier at that moment (at 8am) than normal, we realized the entire area was probably tied up with the festival. So, change of plans.
Read MoreWith temperatures set to soar to the mid-to-upper 80s (yes, in Virginia and Kentucky in mid-April!), we planned a morning hike and an afternoon drive in Breaks Interstate Park. Like the prior day, we looked at the trail map and concocted our own version of a multi-trail loop: Tower Tunnel Overlook (0.2 miles) to Prospector Trail (1.5 miles) to Ridge Trail (0.5 miles), and 0.8 miles back along the road to our car for a total of a 3-mile hike over the course of 2 hours 15 minutes.
Read MoreWe decided to start the morning off with our own created loop trail route, which we became quite good at during our time at Breaks Interstate Park! This loop-of-our-own-creation was a combination of four park trails, totaling 3 miles.
Read MoreWe decided to check out a bunch of the scenic overlooks to enjoy them and also identify good spots for sunrise and sunset trips in the future. We started first at Towers Overlook, inside the park entrance, and got our first real look at the huge massive rock formation that is left as softer rocks eroded away over time. The Towers, as it is called, jets out from nearby mountains and is almost entirely encircled by the Russell Fork River. The general formation looks a lot like the more well-known Horseshoe Bend in Utah. In fact, both of these canyons are about 1,000 feet deep.
Read MoreWhen you embark on a trip with three dogs to a state park where you need to bring your own linens and food, packing the car is a noteworthy activity. A successful car loading looks like this: all of us in the SUV with the ability to see out the back window. That, of course, is the finished product.
Read MoreBreaks Interstate Park, located in a rural section of the mid-Atlantic on the border of Virginia and Kentucky is smack dab in a beautiful, mountainous region with undulating mountains and hills spanning out across the two states, and a 1,000 foot deeply cut gorge called Breaks Canyon. The river that runs through the canyon is one of the deepest east of the Mississippi, one of several places colloquially called The Grand Canyon of the East.
Read MoreSmith Mountain Lake State Park is in Bedford County, Virginia, about halfway between Roanoke and Lynchburg. The park is situated on the north end of the large body of Smith Mountain Lake, which itself spans both Bedford and Franklin Counties with a small bit in the southeast falling in Pittsylvania County. We live on the east side of Roanoke, closer to the lake, and the drive is roughly 45 minutes, so it is a very doable trip to get some hiking in or otherwise enjoy the amenities on a beautiful day.
Read MoreHorsepen Trail is part of the large Carvins Cove Natural Reserve in Roanoke, Virginia. The cove is comprised of over 12,000 acres and includes a 630-acre reservoir. It is nestled in the Roanoke Valley near Tinker Mountain and has pretty mountain and water views, depending on your exact spot. The Reserve is half in Roanoke County, half in neighboring Botetourt County (pronounced bot-uh-tot).
Read MoreBooker T. Washington was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1856, into the so-called Peculiar Institution of American slavery. At the tender age of 9, Booker and other slaves on the Burroughs family plantation were freed, and Booker began a journey that would make him a well-known and important figure during the Reconstruction Era.
Read MoreApple Orchard Falls is located in the Buchanan area of Botetourt County, Virginia, about an hour-long drive from downtown Roanoke along the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway. Based on our reading, it appears the waterfalls are accessible from two locations: uphill and downhill from the falls. We personally accessed the trail from the higher elevation entry point along the Blue Ridge Parkway. That trailhead is easily visible from a scenic overlook spot, about 7 miles north from Peaks of Otter, a well-known spot in the area.
Read MoreRead Mountain Preserve is a 243-acre forested area of land placed in a conservation easement to be enjoyed by the public. On our first visit, we hiked a 3.5 mile loop trail up to Buzzards Rock. On our return trip described in this post, we hiked a 4.6 mile loop. We've now hiked nearly all the paths in this park, except the green trail, which is a cutover between a couple of others.
Read MoreRead Mountain Preserve is a 243-acre forested area of land placed in a conservation easement to be enjoyed by the public. The Preserve is surprisingly tucked away in a subdivision in Roanoke, Virginia. Literally between two houses is a small county park sign with a paved road that looks little different from the neighboring driveways.
Read MoreWe are lucky to live in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountain city of Roanoke, Virginia, a valley with endless outdoor activities and amazing vistas. In this post, we capture many of the area hikes and waterfalls we have explored more in depth.
Read MoreLife is all about perspective.
We went camping for a couple of nights earlier this summer at Loft Mountain Campground, a short drive up Skyline Drive, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains about an hour northwest of Charlottesville.
Our SUV was packed to the gills with all matter of perishable and non-perishable human and dog supplies. Also humans and dogs. We had to dig our camping box out of the basement and dust it off. Somehow we hadn’t gone camping in 8 years. This is one of those unnerving moments of adulthood where something that feels familiar and recent hasn’t occurred in many years.
Read MoreBorn Booker Taliaferro in 1856, the infant’s lot in life was pre-determined: Booker was born to an enslaved mother on the farm of James Burroughs in Virginia’s Piedmont region. From an early age, Booker, along with all enslaved children, was put to work on and near the 200-acre farm.
Read MoreRoaring Run Furnace is the site of a former iron furnace that operated in and around the 1840s, and this site is the only spot within the massive George Washington and Jefferson National Forest’s jurisdiction that is registered as a historical place, making it unique and an interesting spot to visit!
Read MoreThe silver lining of this year of Covid is, for us, more incentive to explore our local area besides the standard, well-known spots. Because of the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Roanoke, Virginia, vicinity, there are a lot of very popular hiking spots, particularly during the shoulder seasons and especially for the fall colors. A few weeks ago, we headed to one such spot and ended up simply eating our picnic lunch in the car before heading home. Being on a crowded trail right now? No thank you!
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