Mt Rogers /Grayson Highlands

Got some trip suggestions at another National Park, or know of a great place in the middle of no where? Share them here, plan your trips, and hook up with other individuals on the forum.

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torpified
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Mt Rogers /Grayson Highlands

Post by torpified »

I'm assuming others who haunt this forum are midwesterns who love backpacking but whose local trip options are limited. Work brought me to Durham Friday; I extended the trip through the weekend so I could check out the Grayson Highlands of SW VA. While that's not exactly the midwest, it's a good deal easier to get (and acclimatize) to than the iconic destinations of the mountain west. Damascus, VA, a natural launch point, is a long day's drive from Chicago or Detroit.

What it has: a well-loved stretch of the AT through "balds"--deforested highlands crenelated with granite pinnacles, from which you can see wave after wave of the Blue Ridge. Waterfalls. Insane amounts of rhododendrum (for which the natives appear to have more words than the Inuit are reputed to have for snow). Wild ponies -- they're what are keeping the balds bald. (If you were a horse crazy little girl in the 60s or 70s, you'll be psyched to hear they were imported from Asseteague, where Misty's from.)

The Mt. Rogers AT club has a lot of suggestions here: http://mratc.pbworks.com/w/page/3477611 ... nd%20Trips.

And I found this guy's trail notes--in conjunction with the Nat Geo Mt Rogers area map-- helpful, even though he uses words like "yellow" and "hour" differently from the way I would. This link goes to a Mt. Rogers backpack loop: http://www.midatlantichikes.com/mountrogersbp.htm . He also has two Grayson Highlands Loops, both of which I did, tacking a detour to Mt Rogers on to one. Each would be nice short backpack trips.

Anywhere, there it is. I'm a long way from an expert, but I'm glad to try to answer/redirect questions.

(I'm going to try to insert some low quality photos.)
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torpified
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Re: Mt Rogers /Grayson Highlands

Post by torpified »

hhmmm--- those are low quality photos!
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