PHOTOS OF BACKPACKING
THE MT. ROGERS
NATIONAL RECREATION AREA
Though you can't read the sign in
the left
of the photo, it announces your entrance to the Lewis Forks Wilderness
on
the Appalachian Trail. The AT crosses Highway 603 and ascends 1500 feet
in 3.5 miles to reach the ridgeline. The entire 2100+ miles of the AT
has
a dedicated crew of volunteers from local hiking organizations who
maintain
the trail through their area, and the same is true here in Virginia,
and
thus the AT is one of the better maintained trails wherever you hike
it. The Mt. Rogers segment is a favorite of AT through-hikers
because of the modern shelter located near the Visitor Center, and
because the phone outside the Center has the phone number of a pizza
place in town that delivers out here. In fact, several hikers
were enjoying whole pizzas each on the grass!
The vistas from atop are well worth the effort
to achieve the altitude and as is always the case, a photo doesn't do the
view justice. Several other ranges beyond those evident are out there, and
the 180 degree view the eye can see doesn't translate through the camera
lens. But don't think the trail is flat once you reach the heights -- it
constantly rises and dips like a roller coaster.
Several day hikers were giving much appreciated
attention to two open range ponies at the Thomas Knob Shelter. Though the shelter is fenced
in, the horses somehow managed to get into the area and were looking for
attention and food. Like most hikers, I replenished my depleted water supplies
at the spring near the shelter. Filtering or treating the water is
highly advised since cattle were grazing in the vicinity.
After a trip up to the Mt. Rogers summit,
I returned to the low country via the Mt. Rogers Trail, grateful for the
non-aerobic downward hike. This trail was very scenic, with switchbacks
for a good deal of the lower few miles. Numerous trees were down on the
trail and foliage needed to be lopped back, but the Mt. Rogers NRA has few
trail workers and 400+ miles to cover, which is why I was recruited as a
volunteer to do trail work the following week through the auspices of the
American Hiking Society which
sends three crews here every year. As coincidence would have it, my crew
worked on this very trail and corrected the above problems I had noticed.