AT From Interstate 81 to Virginia Rt. 42
14.2 miles, moderate terrain
200 miles from Chsrlottesville
The group met up at the Walmart parking lot in Dublin,
Virginia. Dublin is between Pulaski and Radford, just off of Interstate
81. Here the group
consolidated into three cars, and I gave my car to another hiker to drive to
the end point of my hike on Rt 42. We drove that hiker's car to the beginning
point of my hike, on U.S. 11 near Groseclose, Virginia, which was that hiker's
end point. We planned to meet up in the middle and exchange keys.
After hiking up U.S. 11 and crossing under the interstate on Route 683 (Windsor
Road), we started up the A.T. This is a pretty wet section, as can be seen by
the raised walkways and bridges.
We passed into the Jefferson National Forest after 1 mile of
walking, and shortly thereafter passed a side trail to the Davis Cemetery.
Davis was a name we would see a lot on this hike. At 1.3 miles we crossed
the paved Davis Valley Road, with an actual hiker parking lot. And at 3 miles
we came to the former site of the Davis Path Shelter.
The Davis Path Campsite, as it is now known, still has a picnic
table, privy and the concrete pad from the shelter. Reportedly, the shelter was
taken down because it was a party spot. This is a little strange, because the
shelter is over a mile-and-a-half from any road. Usually, problem shelters seem
to be much closer to civilization. The camp would be a great place to take a
Scout Troop, as it requires some effort to get to, but is close enough for the
youngest scouts to obtain. Having a privy doesn't hurt, either. The only
downside is that there are no springs in the immediate area.
Over the next three miles we had one major climb (550 feet
over one mile), walked along a ridge, then started to drop down to Reed Creek
from Brushy Mountain. Be careful on the descent if hiking this section
northbound, like we were. At about the 6 mile mark, we missed a switchback. The
original trail alignment descended straight down the mountain, and we started
following that route because none of us saw the switchback. When the original
alignment started to get overgrown, we knew we were on the wrong path, and
backtracked 50 yards to find the current trail.
We descended a couple more switchbacks before coming to the
other members of our group at 6.9 miles, nearly exactly half-way into our 14.2
mile hike. Both groups exchanged pleasantries, and more importantly exchanged
car keys, and each went on their way. Our group dropped into the valley and had
lunch.
The valley was a little bit of a mystery to me, and I would
like to go back sometime. There was ths sign below stating the distance to the
nearest road - not something I usually see in the middle of a remote area. And
there was no sign indicating an intersection with the Walker Mountain Trail -
the old A.T. alignment. I later figured out where this is and would like to go
back and check it out.
After lunch we had the big climb for this hike - 940 feet
over nearly 2 miles. Much of the trail here uses an old road that
predates the A.T. in this area. The post-lunch hike uses a trail that was
built in the 1970's to take the A.T. off of Walker Mountain. We crossed
Walker Mountain at Tilson Gap, and left the old roadbed to switchback down
nearly 900 feet over the next 1.7 miles.
At about the 10.4 mile mark we exited the woods and hiked
through pasture, and would see an alternating landscape of woods and pastures
for the rest of the hike.
At 12.7 miles we descended next to the North Fork, Holston
River, then crossed the river on a low highway bridge. We entered the
woods and paralleled the river for a while, with views of deteriorating Tilson Mill.
We finished up the hike by crossing Rt. 42, then staying on
the A.T. until it met up with the parking lot access trail I had used a few
weeks earlier when hiking past Burke's Garden. There are several campsites just
north of Rt. 42, and I remember thinking that they were strangely close to the
road when starting out my backpacking trip in September. Now I know why -
the tight easements over the previous several miles heading north really
restricts camping opportunities along the trail. A flat spot near a
stream in the National Forest probably is a welcome sight to a section hiker or
thru-hiker heading north when reaching this road near the end of the day.
Hike details
Total Distance: 14.2 miles
Total Time: 7 hours, 21 minutes (6:04 moving time).
Starting Elevation: 2418 ft.
Low Point: 2415 ft.
Highest Point: 3580 ft.
Difference: 1443 ft.