Blue Ridge Parkway – Milepost 85.6 – 176.1

January 23, 2018January 23, 2018Leave a comment

This is now day 7 of our F.A.R.T.! In order to maximize our time on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we decided that it would be most efficient to car-camp in the campgrounds along the road. We had read in multiple places that October is a very busy month for the BRP, so we made reservations for our campsite well in advance. We spent our first night on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Peaks of Otter Campground. Our campsite was nice enough, but the bathrooms and water spigot were out of order in our section of the campground (site B16). We didn’t receive any warning of this despite having reservations. We could have moved to another section of the campground, but we had already set up our campsite, so we chose to stay where we were and walk to the other area of the campground. We made chili for supper that night. We got up with the sun so that we could pack up our campsite and get on the road before the crowds hit.

The scenery along the parkway is beautiful during the fall!

I’m a sucker for cows, barns, and cemeteries, so we stopped for a bit at the Shaver Cemetery at milepost 136.

The first big stop for this day was Mabry Mill. We wanted to get there early in an attempt to avoid the crowds, as we read that it is one of the more popular sites along the parkway. It certainly did not disappoint. The mill was beautiful and still functional (which was a big plus for this engineer)!

There were several other buildings to see while at the mill. On our way out, there was a yarn making demonstration being done, but we did not have time to stay and watch. I did snap a few photos as we were leaving. We had hoped to eat lunch at the restaurant, but the wait was too long. We bought some locally-ground grits and hit the road!

Apple Orchard Falls

January 8, 2018January 6, 20181 Comment

After completing our hike to White Rock Falls we continued south on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The next hike on our list was Apple Orchard Falls. We did an out-and-back hike that ended at the falls for a total of 2.4 miles.

These were easily the newest trail markers we’ve ever seen!

By the time we started the hike, the sun was already setting. We knew we’d have to book it to the falls in order to be able to see them before it got dark. The foliage along the way was beautiful, and the trail was covered in leaves.

I was a bit nervous about making this hike at all because I knew that the return trip would be in the dark. I’m so thankful that we made the decision to go ahead with the hike, as the Apple Orchard Falls were beautiful!

We went ahead and donned our headlamps before setting out on the return hike.

Making the return hike in the dark was a bit intimidating, but we didn’t encounter any issues along the way. We’ve backpacked in the wilderness before, but we’ve never hiked after dark, so this was a first for us. I’m thankful that we had the foresight to put our headlamps in our backpacks before setting out.

Good Bye, Shenandoah. Hello, Blue Ridge Parkway!

January 2, 20183 Comments

After finishing the Bear Mountain Rock Scramble hike, we continued heading South on Skyline Drive. We stopped at several scenic overlooks before leaving the park.

Before starting our trek down the Blue Ridge Parkway, we stopped in Waynesboro, Virginia, to get gas and stock up on groceries. In order to maximize the amount of time we could spend enjoying the Blue Ridge Parkway, we decided to go car-camping for two nights during our drive south. We made reservations well in advance of our trip for the campgrounds — one night at the Peaks of Otter campground and one night at the Linville Falls Campground. Prior to the trip, we planned out which hikes we thought we’d like to do, so that enabled us to figure out how many miles we thought we’d be able to drive along the parkway each day, which helped us choose what campgrounds to make reservations for. We ended up arriving to both of our campgrounds after dark, but we felt that that helped us to make the most of our daylight hours.

We entered the Blue Ridge Parkway via the North entrance near Waynesboro. Our first stop was a mile marker 5.8, the Humpback Rocks Visitor Center.

After getting a magnet and sticker from the visitor’s center, we made a couple of PB&J sandwiches (to eat while hiking) and set out on our first hike of the Blue Ridge Parkway leg of our trip — Humpback Rocks. The hike was a short one, only 1.6 miles out and back, but the steep grade made it a bit more challenging than we expected. The views from the top were totally worth it!

After completing the hike, we continued driving south along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Our next stop was White Rock Falls. It was an easy-to-moderate 2.5 mile hike that began at the Slacks Overlook parking lot. The falls were rather unimpressive but could definitely be lovely in a different time of day (we were there in the afternoon) or with a larger volume of water (maybe in the spring time).