Mount Rogers in Virginia was the second HP on this trip and we spent the night not far from Bristol close to the border between Tennessee and Virginia. Speaking of that area I saw a lovely inviting street name...
Apart from some slaughters though the area close to Mt rogers is very nice especially in the autumn with much color changes and beautiful trees. The hike up to the peak follows the Appalachian trail in fact quite a part of the way, it starts out in field like terrain and then enter woods most of the way to the top (4,5 miles one way).
One is supposed to be able to see wild ponies around th area, but that is especially true when approaching on the Appalachian trail from the east rather than the west as we did (both directions have almost identical distance to Mt. Rogers). Views were very nice in the sunny but somewhat cool weather. Autumn is starting to make itself reminded more and more even further south.
The top is not fully easy to identify since it is a somewhat flat top, and the trail sort of forks off n many dead-end directions there. However a watchful eye will be able to find 2 USGS benchmarks close to the top, one marking the peak, and pointing towards it. Some older guidebooks and pictures show a sign at the top, this is however nothing that exists today.
In an effort to try to get higher than most peaks (an effort mostly involving some lookout towers and me climbing a few branches in trees etc) I did a bad Captain Morgan on the top of a cut-off tree...
We went down pretty quick and I tried to carry some extra packing along the way to get used t the backpack I'll use for some overnight hiking the following weekend. We also wanted to get to the North Carolina High point before too much time passed.
Stats:
State: Virginia
High point: Mount Rogers
Elevation: 5 729 ft (1 746 m)
Date: October 31st, 2010
Total elevation to date: 49 885 ft (15205 m)
Access: Hike (9 miles, about 3h)
Difficulty rating (of 10): 2
Potential Difficulties: Wild ponies? correctly identifying the highest point.
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