I am planning a trip mid-March. We are undecided as to what section to start. Either SW or Central VA are our options. We are planning a 4 night, 3 day trip. This will be our first of many in Virginia and we wanted to get started off on the right foot. Any suggestions? My group are all hikers that have experience in Linville Gorge, NC. Suggestions on weather and sections with parking at each end would be greatly appreciated.
smb300
Are you looking to do a circuit hike, or hike in one direction with vehicles at both your starting and finishing points? Are you looking to do part of the AT, or any trails in the areas you mentioned? If the AT, are you planning to use shelters, or are you planning to tent? How many miles are you looking to cover per day? Did you mean three-night, four-day trip?
Ozone
There are some great ones. Damacus thru Grayson Highlands, over Mt. Rogers and Whitetop, has excellent scenery and high balds. Another fun section is near Roanoke, between Catawba and Daleville. This includes The Home Place, McAfee Knob, and Tinker Cliffs. Have fun.
Mango
ditto and double ditto what mango said! (hi mango!)…you can’t go wrong on the AT in either of these places…weather could be a little tricky though…so watch your updates…as experienced hikers, i’m sure you have proper winter gear?..(you can see our photos of what the weather CAN be like on march 22 in our journal : MAW-EE AND PAW-EE 2006 (click on journal “list”…scroll down under “destination” to “damascus”…if you click on the snowy photo on that page, you can continue viewing pics of these sections we’re speaking of)…dragon’s tooth is really fun, too!..in fact, we LOVED most ALL of virginia!..have a great hike!
maw-ee
I’m reading your thread on Damascus thru Grayson Highlands to Whitetop as a section Hike. I’m thinking of doing this with My Son as his first AT section hike what type of terrain, distance, days should we plan for?
Trombag
Roughly 40 miles, with decent elevation gain, but good terrain. Get the Data book for water and Shelters. Spend a day in Damascus and a day in the Highlands If I had to do it again, I would definitely take more time to enjoy the journey, not the destination. Three days to do it, another two to enjoy it should cover the trip. Maybe longer, depending on your Son’s physical condition. Great way to introduce him to the AT. One of my favorite places.
Kingfish
If your son is the age where you need to make sure he enjoys himself (actually that would be any age!), you should start at Grayson Highlans and hike down into Damascus. The hiking will be easier and you can finish in town with pizza, etc.
Carlgoose
great idea, carlgoose!..otherwise, going north presents you with that steep climb out of damascus, as well as a couple of other “sustained” climbs…but which road/trailhead would you start from? how do folks access grayson highlands in a VEHICLE? (i’ve only hiked thru, never sectioned here)…would you have to start a little further north, say, at Va.603, fox creek?..oooooh!..then you’d have to CLIMB pine mountain! 8>0 !
maw-ee
Hiked it last yr in May. Started at Highlands park. You start at Massey Gap in the park going south to Damascus. It was roughly 35 miles with the 2 highest ele. mountains in Va. to go through. You can’t beat the scenery, I think about it often. We overdid it the 1st day and went 16 miles and wore some good blisters.
boz
If you do the hike in the above from whitetop back to damacus you can get Mt Rogers Outfitters to run you up to Elk Garden and drop you off for a fee. This is an excellent hike. Another trip that i liked was from Hwy 16 back to elk garden.
frog
To answer your questions Ozone…hike in one direction with cars at each end. tent camp, no side trails. and yea i meant a 3 night/ 4 day. since my original post i have a few people suggest shenandoah. apparently skyline drive crosses the trail many times and would allow us an out if the weather really turned on us. We are planning on EVENTUALLY hiking all of VA and I was told Shenandoah might be better in the winter to miss the crowds. Any of this sound like a good plan? How about mileage? We have 5 fit guys but don’t want to race to our next camp. we will be tent camping. are there typically spots along most of the A.T. already established or do we need to plan on shelter to shelter camping? thanks in advance for all the help.
smb300
Shenandoah National Park is a good choice, as is the Grayson Highlands/Mount Rogers area noted above. You most definitely have plenty of road crossings along Skyline Drive; however, in inclement weather, Skyline Drive will be closed. That said, some of the park facilities in the northern and central portion of SNP open March 21; while bad weather is a definite possibility that time of year, it’s not extremely likely. If you really want to beat the crowds, you could hike the southern portion of the AT in the park – the 44 or so miles between Rockfish Gap and Swift Run Gap. Parking is available at each end of the section. You’ll get plenty of views in this section in mid-March – many views you won’t get once everything starts to bloom. Of course, if you want to do more miles per day, Rockfish Gap to Big Meadows (which will be open and is a fine place to leave a vehicle) is about 61 miles. The terrain is about as easy as you will find on the AT in Virginia.
Ozone
To answer your question about camping spots… You won’t find any “established” camping spots away from the shelters. You are allowed to tent camp, but SNP has clear rules you have to follow. You can find camping spots without too much hassle.
Ozone
thanks for the help ozone. given basically 3 days to hike, would 44 miles allow for a moderate pace on the hike? we are not that experienced with our distances and not sure what we can cover.
smb300