I’m looking to plan a camping/hiking trip somewhere in Western Virginia. The area I want to go is between where 52 comes up from N.C. and where 64 branches off from 81 towards Charlottesville. Anything that is relatively easily accessible off of that stretch of 81 is perfect. I want to spend like 2 nights camping in the area while doing day hikes or other outdoor stuff. Any suggestions at places I should be looking at?
Are you looking at a 2 day journey into the woods/mountains, or are you just looking to do a day of hiking, then go camp somewhere, etc.? That is, are you open to going for a hike and then driving a few exits to a campsite, or do you want to stay on the trail for the entire period?
The AT runs right through there so there’s lot of options.
A few hikes/trail runs I’ve done in that general area (all a bit south of there, say near Montebello, VA. That sits on 56 which runs roughly parallel to 64 but maybe 30 miles to the south. If you’re going north of 81 you’ll pass 56 first, then hit 64.)
Crabtree Falls. (really very nice and now is a great time of year to hit it. Gets busy during the day but I was the second car there at 9am on a Saturday). It’s only about 1.5 miles to the top of the falls but it’s all uphill. We continued on up to the to of The Priest (about 4000 feet), then down and across the AT to Spy Rock, then retraced our steps back to Crabtree. I’d guess it was about 15 miles.
Quite a few folks do the Three Ridges as a two day hike (it’s just across the road from The Priest and a few miles from Crabtree Falls)
Down a few miles to the south there are some nice loops around Mt. Pleasant and Mt. Pompey. That’s a five mile loop. The AT is a few hundred meters away as well. Cole/Cold Mountain is right there too. I haven’t done that one but it’s right next to the Mt. Pleasant loop.
Further south along the same mountain range is Apple Orchard Falls (can park on the Blueridge Parkway at Sunset Fields). There’s a very nice 7 mile loop you can do that follows along some lovely creeks going up and down.
I’ve got pictures for quite a few of those areas if you’re interested. I"ve never done overnights out there but it’s certainly possible.
I find this site (links below) has very good info for hiking. Of the half dozen I’ve done they were spot on regarding directions and parking.
I can do either. If the views and the trail are worth the hike, then I’m fine with doing that. On the other hand, driving to a camping spot with a lake or something and then doing day hikes would be good as well.
Grayson Highlands is a little bit outside your range, but I’d encourage you to look into it – it was one of my favorite places on the whole AT. I’m taking my wife there this weekend in fact.
McAfee Knob is a terrific view, and about 5 miles from the road on the AT. The Dragon’s Tooth is there, too. Be sure to eat dinner at the Homeplace in Catawba if you do this.
The Natural Bridge is down there if you’re interested.
This seems like a really good option if we want to hike in. Do you have any suggestions for campsites where we could sleep and do day trips from?
Unfortunately I haven’t done that trail. Per the hiking upward site there area a few spots on the Mau-Har portion of the trail. Note that you can also park at the AT intersection along 56 (south of the trail) vs the parking at Reeds Gap at the north of the trail. You can see a tiny sliver of 56 in the lower left corner of the map on the Hiking Upward site.
Edit: there’s also a campground nearby (closer to Crabtree fall, but only a couple miles up the road from the AT). I haven’t stayed there but drove by it on our way to Crabtree Falls. The website is: http://www.crabtreefallscampground.com/