Grayson Highlands State Park to south of Buzzard Rock - Southbound

Day Five

October 4, 2013
Massie Gap to past Buzzard Rock
10.9 miles

After a restful night at Ruby’s Rest, we arose at 6:00 a.m. and soon made our way to the Exxon Station for a sausage and egg biscuit.  At 7:00 we met our shuttle driver at Mt. Roger’s Outfitters and found out  he was the original owner of the Outfitter who has now turned it over to his son.  He was a wealth of information about the AT and surrounding area and we enjoyed chatting with him as we drove up the winding Music Trail road up to Grayson Highlands State Park entrance.   At 8:00 a.m. we started up the AT Spur Trail to join the AT at the top and head south. 

It wasn’t long before we found the ponies enjoying the shade in the bottoms--about 13 of them.  After enjoying  them for a few minutes we continued on our way up the mountain.  When we reached the top, we found that they had beat us there.  We took even more pictures of them. We passed the sign for Wilburn Ridge and read about the feral ponies.  In 1974, when the land changed from private to public ownership and cattle were removed, ponies were introduced to the park to prevent reforestation of the highland balds. The pony herd is managed by the Wilburn Ridge Pony Association. During fall roundups of ponies for an auction held in conjunction with Grayson Highland’s annual Fall Festival, association members check the herd for health problems.

 

 



Fatman Squeeze

“Fatman Squeeze” was an interesting feature of the trail going up to Wilburn Ridge.  It is a natural rock formation tunnel and the trail went right through it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wilburn Ridge is a long ridgeline that goes up toward Mt. Rogers.  Due to logging, flooding, and burning in it’s history, it is treeless and quite rocky.  Hence, the panoramic view is unobstructed.  The white blazes of the AT are marked on the rocks.

 

 

 

  

Mt. Rogers is Virginia’s highest peak, at 5,729 feet.  Surprisingly, the trail does not go over the top of this one.  They say the top is viewless because of the trees anyway. 

 

 

 

 

  

One of the rocky areas going up to Wilburn Ridge.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas Knob Shelter

There are many beautiful campsites between Thomas Knob Shelter and Rhododendron Gap—it is easy to see why it is a popular trail for day hikers. In fact, everyone we saw in this area were dayhikers or overnight campers. 

Coming out on the highway at Va. 600 I was looking forward to the bathroom located there but found the door locked with a note saying closed due to government shut-down.  Drat!  I was not the only one though, several others had the same thing in mind while we were there.    

 

There was a nice campsite right before we crossed US Forest Service Road 89 (Whitetop Mountain Road) but we don’t like to camp so close to the road, so we kept going. South of the road though there are no trees big enough to hang from.  Then, surprisingly, we came out of the woods facing a big bald mountain with a big rock formation on the top.  We reckoned this to be Buzzard Rock.  The view from the top of the bald was breathtaking all around.  When we began our journey south again we were very glad that we were headed south.  Going north would have been quite a climb up the mountain. 

It was awhile before we  got far enough into the woods to find trees big enough to hang our hammocks from and by this time we were more than ready to stop for the day.  We had traveled less than 11 miles.  How could that be?  Strange, but we were ready to stop nonetheless.  We were glad when we finally found a place although it was a pretty steep mountainside and not the best, but with a hammock we could do it.  We would have been in bad shape with a tent.    



The buzzard on Buzzard Rock (he he)

View from Buzzard Rock

The bald of Buzzard Rock



Nice memorial bench overlooking a pasture right before V. 600

The trail goes through a treeless pasture before VA 600 

 

Hanging our hammocks for the night.


 

Grayson Highlands State Park to Hurricane Mountain

 

Day One
September 30, 2013
Grayson Highlands State Park (Massie Gap) to Stealth Camp near Hurricane Campground Trail
14.5 miles

 

Last night we stayed at the Comfort Inn in Atkins, Virginia.  We asked for the hiker rate and got a king size bed for a good price.  They have a wonderful breakfast which got us off to a good start this morning. 

We drove down to Grayson Highlands State Park and left our car in the overnight parking area.  At 8:10 a.m., we took the AT access trail a half mile up to join the AT, then headed north.
 Soon we began to see signs saying that Wise Shelter was closed due to aggressive bear activity.  We had heard this before we came on the trail and this was one reason we decided to split our section up the way we are doing—going north from Grayson, then south from Grayson, so we won’t have to camp in the area where the aggressive bear is.  We heard stories that the bear had stolen one guys backpack while he was in the privy and he didn’t get it back.  So we were happy to keep on going when we got to Wise Shelter.  We would be far out of the area before we need to camp for the night. 

It was a wide, rocky trail for a good long distance.  It was hard walking on a trail completely covered with rocks.  We didn’t make real good time. 

We were quite surprised when we came across some long-horn cattle grazing on the trail at the intersection with Scales Trail.  We learned later that the cattle belong to private farmers who lease grazing rights in the state park.  Evidently, we were so enthralled with the cattle, taking pictures and all that we took the wrong trail because soon we saw a sign that said AT “that-a-way, 1 mile”.  Oops.  It was a little unnerving walking through the woods without a white blaze to guide us until we reached the AT again.  We were on the Bearpen Trail.  Soon we were back on the AT.  Luckily it had a sign with north and south indicated, or we might have turned the wrong way again.

 

 

We were fortunate though to see our first feral ponies on the Bearpen Trail.  They were beautiful.  One of them followed us along the trail for a little while, wanting some food I’m sure.  Grayson Highlands is famous for the feral ponies and we have been looking forward to seeing them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Scales Pasture

Before long we could see below us a big pasture with a fence around it and a camper and some out buildings.  The trail ran right through the fenced-in pasture.  As we headed toward the stile to enter the pasture, there was a big bull between us and  it and a man on the inside of the pasture waiting to come out.  He said, “I sure am glad to see you folks come up right now, I don’t want to go out with that bull out there.”  We just walked right on by the bull and went through the stile.  Then the gentleman went out because by this time the bull had moved away.  I guess he had not encountered any steer on the north side of the Scales, but we had seen plenty of them already. 

Going into the Scales Pasture.  See the White Blaze?

The sign inside the pasture informed us that the Scales is a place where in the 1900s ranchers brought their cattle to weigh them before taking them down the mountain to sell.  They weighed more at the top of the mountain than they did at the bottom—seriously!  That way, they got more money for their cattle.  Today the area is used for camping and horseback riding. 

 

Inside the Scales pasture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall colors, beautiful scenery.







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Our high point today was Pine Mountain at 5,000 feet, but the climb started at 4300 feet at Big Wilson Creek so it wasn’t too bad a climb. 

 

We walked until 6:30.  I was thoroughly exhausted, my pack was heavy and my feet hurt.  Somewhere around Hurricane Campground Trail we found some trees to hang our new hammocks for the first time on the trail.  Luckily, it didn’t have to be level ground, because it was not level.  We hung the head of our hammocks from the same tree so I would feel more secure (close to someone).  It was dark by the time we got set up and ate so we climbed in and tried to go to sleep.  It was a fitful sleep for both of us—I don’t think we have the hang just right.  But—no bears!  Yay!

We made it through our first night hammock camping.   

One of my favorite pictures of the trail.



Can't count the number of wildernesses we have been through!

Break on top of Pine Mountain.



First hammock hang on the trail.