Northern Blue Ridge

Camping in Monroe, Virginia

…about a mile from the Blue Ridge Parkway, MP 61.4 entrance, and not so high in the mountains as at Fancy Gap, at only 1,031′. First day here it RAINED all day and ended with nearby tornado warnings. That was a hang out/laundry day. Then we spent 2 beautiful days touring and hiking.

Day trip visit to 1 new National Park Site:

Booker T. Washington National Monument (#248), where Booker T. Washington was born a slave in April 1856 on the 207-acre tobacco farm of James Burroughs and was freed 9 years later, at the end of Civil War. He became the first principal of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial School. Later as an adviser, author and orator, his past would influence his philosophies as the most influential African American of his era. We visited the Museum and the reconstructed plantation and hiked around the grounds.

Looking out over the Burroughs Tobacco Plantation

Revisits to 2 National Park sites (to see new-to-us sites):

Blue Ridge Parkway (#245), continuing north toward Shenandoah National Park (MP 0). On two days this stop, we drove on 75.8 more miles, for 204.1 total (43.5%):
- After our visit to Great Booker T. Washington and Roanoke, we drove back to camp via the Blue Ridge Parkway, from MP 121.4 to MP 61.4. As it was approaching dusk on our drive, we just stopped briefly at a few viewpoints. Beautiful Evening.
- Second drive was pretty short, after a 7-mile hiking day, from a tad north in Buena Vista at MP 45.6 to MP 61.4.
Appalachian National Scenic Trail (#86-revisit), which we saw a few times, where it crisscrosses the Blue Ridge, along the ridge in the Jefferson National Forest. But the BEST was hiking 2+ miles of the AT, across the James River, along it, and up Matt’s Creek to the Matt’s Creek Shelter (and back). At the shelter we ran into 3 through-hikers, who left Georgia February 28. They expect to make Katahdin in late July.

Blue Ridge Parkway-Roanoke River Overlook
Blue Ridge Parkway-Quarry Overlook
Appalachian Trail-Gail Crossing the James River on the longest foot traffic-only bridge on the Appalachian Trail, at 623 feet
Appalachian Trail-Hiking up along Matt’s Creek
Appalachian Trail-Mark chatting with Though Hikers at Matt’s Creek Shelter

Other Adventures

In Roanoke, we wandered around Market Square and had dinner at The Hatch, a Southern Comfort restaurant in the City Market Building. And yesterday, between hiking the AT and driving a bit more of the Blue Ridge, we visited Natural Bridge State Park, where we got in 2.5 more miles of walking along Cedar Creek, where Natural Bridge, 200-feet tall, sits in a limestone gorge carved out by Cedar Creek. A State Park only since 2016, it was first purchased for preservation by Thomas Jefferson in 1774.