Our expedition was a planned three day outing from leaving home Friday morning to returning home on Sunday afternoon. It took about five hours of driving to get to our campsite. We camped at the Grayson Highlands State Park campground, very near trail access for Mt. Rogers. The sites we choose after getting there were great, nice and quiet, plenty of trees, just the way a campsite should be in my opinion. A very family friendly atmosphere was what we were seeking, and that’s just what we found. Camp life is never boring. We quickly set up tents and started unpacking stoves, lanterns, and chairs, and all the other camp accessories one could possible ever need on a two night camping trip. The shadows were getting long, and the smell of campfires was in the air. We ate our dinner and told stories of our lives while the kids played, with what seemed like an unlimited supply of energy and enthusiasm. By-the-way, earlier when I mentioned that the campground was nice and quiet… that was before we arrived! With anticipation of our twelve mile round trip hike the next day we were off to bed.
Early morning at camp has always been one of my very favorite times of day. I try to be the first up, usually beating the sun, bringing the fire back to life and enjoying nature quietly and all alone. This generally doesn’t last too long as the mob of hungry and sleep deprived campers emerge from their tents and “rockin pop-ups”. After a good breakfast we wasted no time prepping for our hike up the mountain. We packed lunches and snacks, along with as much water as we could carry for our journey.
We only lost our way once throughout the entire trip, and believe it or not, it was the short one mile drive to the trail head that got us. Okay, I’ll admit it… when I say us I mean ME! I was driving the lead vehicle and simply turned left out of the main entrance of the park when I should have turned right. Easy mistake right? Anyway, we found the trail and parked our vehicles. The first thing that caught us off guard was the WIND! I bet there were 30-40 mph wind gust at the trail head as we started out, and it made that mountain morning air feel down-right chilly - even for the middle of June.
We decided to take a short side loop trail right from the start, since we felt that if we didn’t do it now – no one would want to after hiking to the peak of Mt. Rogers, and we were right! The side loop was called the Cabin Creek trail and it led to an awesome waterfall and great photo op for our group. CC trail was only about a mile in length and made for a great warm-up hike for us, and it got us out of that wind for a bit. I would highly recommend this short loop to anyone visiting the area.Once we were “warmed up”, it was back to the wind swept balds that cover a great deal of the mountains leading up to Mt. Rogers. We gained elevation fairly quickly over the first few miles, but the trails were pretty gentle under foot. The views were totally amazing walking up the trail, you really felt like you were hiking to the top of the world. Next up, Wilburn ridge!
As you’re hiking up the trail towards the ridge, you can see it in the distance for a while. We’d look up and say “Wow, check out that outcropping of rocks over there, bet the views from up there would be great!” You start to get closer and closer until you realize that the trail that’s under your feet will take you right over the top and along the ridgeline, cool! By this time on our journey that gentle trail is starting to get rocky at times, sometimes we would find ourselves just hopping from boulder to boulder without touching dirt for long stretches at a time.
After enjoying 60 mph wind on the peak of Wilburn, we decided to continue onward and upward. For the time being we were enjoying the lack of elevation changes, and the soft grasses that the ridgeline offered. Somewhere along here we stopped for lunch, but I really don’t remember exactly where. We ate without hesitation though, our bodies craved carbs!
Grayson Highland ponies were something I’d hoped we’d see along the way, although I figured we would spot them nervously grazing in a distant field along the way. Oh no! They stood right on the trail as if someone told them that we were coming and they had decided to welcome us. “What a magical experience for our kids!” That’s what I remember thinking as I stood and watched my ten-year-old daughter, who loves horses very much, run her fingers through the wild ponies’ mane with a smile so big, it was impossible to hide. We spent some time here, after all, when might this opportunity happen again?
Eventually we said good-bye to our new friends and moved on up the trail. The hike now resembled a walk through gentle rolling hills, on a summer afternoon (because it was). The wind had died down a lot, and the sun was high in the sky. Our water supply was running really low by now, and our next stop was Thomas Knob Shelter, where we would take advantage of a natural spring and refill our water bottles. Most of us waited at the shelter while a few of us hiked, a hundred or so yards, down the hill to the spring. The spring location was well marked and easy to follow. We used a filter pump system to fill our water containers, I would not recommend drinking straight from any water source in the wild, more on that later. I haven’t spoke much about the views lately, but they don’t seem to stop. All day long there was a “wall worthy” picture hanging just over our shoulders as we made this hike.
Just after leaving Thomas Knob shelter, and then briefly exploring the famous facilities that it offers (being extremely sarcastic!), we came to the spur trail that would take us up to the peak of Mt. Rogers. Unfortunately, this spur trail offers no great views. What is does offer though is a very unique forest hike. The Spruce-Fir forest on Mt. Rogers is quite different than any other terrain that we had covered to this point on our hike. The forest, even on a sunny day, is dark and moss covered. Needles from the evergreens cover the ground every where making it impossible for undergrowth. What a great example of a boreal forest right here in Virginia.
Summit! At 5729 feet above sea level, Mt Rogers is the tallest peak in Virginia. We had a great time exploring all over the peak, although it’s much the same, moss covered rocks and Spruce trees every where you look. We located the U.S.G.S. plate and pinpointed the absolute highest point. We all stood on top for a moment and crossed off yet another great challenge from our list! Next… the hike back down.
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