Hiking Virginia: Heart of Appalachia

Pine Mountain Trail. More photos

We just spent 10 days in  far southwest Virginia, near the Kentucky border, also known as the “Heart of Appalachia.” We're re-hiking the trails in our first book, “Hiking Virginia” (2001) for a new edition.

This is quite possibly the most rugged hiking in the book, and perhaps all of Virginia. The climbs are steep, the ridges relentless, but the rewards are many. Autumn rains mean the streams are flowing through deep hollers to cascade over waterfalls, and the leaves are at their peak.

The great little town of Big Stone Gap has been our basecamp, specifically Jessie Lea RV Park, where we’ve parked the Vanagon (aka Virginia Creeper), to rest, refuel and do laundry between hikes. This is a beautiful spot, a little slice of heaven along the Powell River. 

Big Stone Gap is home of the “Trail of the Lonesome Pine Outdoor Drama,” Mutual Drug where you can get great home-cooking, several good museums, and Adrianna Trigianni, author of the best-selling “Big Stone Gap” novels.

The soundtrack to our trip has been the traditional and mountain music of the region. The 40th Annual Home Craft Days were taking place at Mountain Empire Community College and we attended the Friday night concert, and purchased the CD to accompany us on the rest of our journey.

Here’s the hiking re-cap of Southwest VA:

1. Stone Mountain overnight: 14 miles from Gap Springs, camping at Lake Keokee, ending at Roaring Branch.

2. Chief Benges Scout Trail overnight: 14 miles from High Knob, camping at Bark Camp Lake, pass the Falls of Little Stony and end at Hanging Rock.

3. Devil’s Fork day hike: 7 mile loop, featuring numerous stream crossings in a lush gorge

4. Pine Mountain Trail, Highlands Section: 14- mile overnight (probably more like 15). From Pounda Gap, Virginia, to Route 119 outside Whitesburg, Kentucky. A spectacular hike along the razor’s edge of the VA-KY border. In places you are literally walking atop the ridge where the Virginia plate is pushing up over the Kentucky plate.

Thus closes the chapter on Southwest VA, at least for now. Next: Mount Rogers, highest point in Virginia!

Paddling Events ESVA Nov-Dec 2010

We're finishing up the season with some cool (or shall we say 'warm'?) events at our shop at Onancock Wharf, on the beautiful Eastern Shore of Virginia.

During this week's Second Friday Art Stroll, 5-8 p.m., we’ll have a Tropical Paddling Party with a slide-show and book-signing about our Florida Keys kayak expeditions this winter. Free Margaritas and tropical food! Book a trip that night and get 10% off. details: www.BurnhamGuides.com

The next day, Saturday, Nov. 13, at 1 p.m., we’re having a free Cold Weather Paddling Clinic, safety issues, what to wear, and cool gear to extend your paddling season safely. Special discounts on cold weather gear. This session will help you get ready for Noel Night (see below)!

Sunday, Nov. 14, 2-5 p.m . Soup on Sunday Club Paddle. Bring your boat to launch on Onancock Creek for this afternoon version of our Summer Sunset paddles (rentals available). Whether you choose to paddle or not, we’ll have hot soup and coffee in the shop from 4-5 p.m.!

Second Friday Noel Night, De c. 10, 4-8 p.m. This is a brand new holiday event featuring Santa Claus arriving at Onancock Wharf by lighted boat parade and a KAYAK FLOTILLA, followed by tree-lighting and Christmas caroling in Town Square. We need paddlers! Come into the shop for the pre-party to warm up before launching. We’ll be open afterwards as well with hot refreshments.

Saturday, Dec. 11, Onancock Christmas Homes Tour. Come visit our historic Steamboat Ticket Office decorated for the holidays. We’re offering free Kayak Ferry Service for those hardy folks who want to visit Cokesbury House without driving out of town! Tour tickets for sale at the shop ($5 discount if purchased before Thanksgiving). This year’s tour benefits the Literacy Council of the ES

We’ll be open Friday-Sunday until Christmas for your holiday shopping. Give an Eastern Shore gift bag full of local products like Chatham wine with the SouthEast kayak label, ES Coastal Roasting Coffee in red & green bags, Blue Crab Bay snacks, and our hiking and paddling books. Perfect for hostess gifts. We’ll wrap them for you!

SouthEast Expeditions at the Wharf, 2 King St., Onancock, VA 757-354-4FUN

Visit onancock.org for visitor info

Hike VA: St. Mary's Wilderness

St. Mary’s Wilderness
Distance: 10.2 miles
Start: Mine Bank Trailhead, Milpost 23 on the Blue Ridge Parkway
Difficulty: Strenuous
Campsite: Sherando Lake National Recreation Area

On this the first day of fall, we did our longest and most strenuous hike in quite awhile, with a 1,000-foot ascent to 3518 feet, quite a lung-buster for us sea-level dwellers!

Despite summertime temps in the low 90s, the leaves are really changing up here, beautiful hues of red, yellow and orange mixing with the green. Once in awhile a cool fall-ish breeze would come through and cause a flurry of yellow hickory leaves to gently fall to the ground.

From our campsite at Sherando Lake, we had a nearly full moon every night, bright enough to light our way on a nighttime hike up to the lake. Fall is a beautiful time in the Blue Ridge and the parkway is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

James River State Park

Distance: 7.5 miles

Start: Parking area just before the Park Office/Nature Center

Difficulty: Moderate

Admission: $2 day use

Pets: Allowed on a leash

Accessibility: The .37 mile Green Hill Pond Loop is a paved trail with boardwalks over a scenic fishing pond.

Camping: Large, level, full-service sites as well as primitive camping (fee charged)

Link to Park Website

Highlights: This new-ish state park opened in 1999. Scenic river views and flat trails contrast with some pretty rugged up-and-down wooded trails. A state-of-the-art nature center is nearly done and slated to open soon. Widely used by equestrians, there’s even a horse camp.

Our day hike combined several trails to make a big loop around the entire park. Varied eco-systems, remnants of an historic farm, and a canoe livery where you can rent a canoe or tube for a leisurely 2-mile flat on the James River make this a great weekend destination for the family.

James River State Park will be a new chapter in the 3rd update of our book, Hiking Virginia, coming out in spring 2012.

Hiking Virginia: Newport News Park

Distance: 5 miles
Start: Discovery Center
Difficulty: Easy
Admission: Free
Pets: Allowed on a leash
Accessibility:
Camping: 188 large, shady sites (fee charged)
Link to Park Website

Highlights: Reservoir, boardwalk overlooks, wildlife, Civil War earthenworks, varied habitats

As Hurricane Earl is doing a cat-and-mouse with the Atlantic Coast, we headed to the Virginia Peninsula for a night of camping and hiking in Newport News Park.

The nation’s largest municipal park—8,000 acres—is a gem of woods, marsh and lake habitats and more than 30 miles of hiking and biking trails just off busy Interstate 64.

If you ever find yourself backed up in traffic getting to Hampton Roads, consider hopping off at the Ft. Eustis exit to do a leg-stretcher, ranging from the .4-mile nature trail, to five miles connecting the White Oak, Wynn’s Mill, Twin Forts and a couple of other connectors. We did the later and so much wildife: ducks, swans, turtles, egrets and great blue heron on the reservoir; several deer and even an owl in the woods.

Got your bike along? The 5.3-mile Bikeway is a winner and connects to adjacent Yorktown Battlefield. The park also rents bikes at the Campground office.

Newport News Park will be a new chapter in the update of our book, Hiking Virginia, a National Outdoor Book Award winner in 2000. Between now and next spring, we’ll be rehiking, re-photographing and GPS-ing many of the hikes in the book, plus adding some new ones. Follow the progress here!

Hiking Virginia Book Update

When we’re not paddling this fall, we’ll be hitting the trail, quite literally, for the 3rd edition of our first book, Hiking Virginia. It’s been 10 years since we did the initial research, so we are going to re-hike many of them, add new chapters (like James River State Park, which wasn’t even open back then!), and add GPS coordinates and color photos to every chapter. 

We’re excited to make this book we love even better: a National Outdoor Book Award Honorable Mention, it has sold more than 20,000 copies. 

We’ll be posting trail reports here weekly, from easy walks near cities, like Newport News Park, to the lung-busting 100-plus-mile Pine Mountain Trail that follows the high ridge between Virginia and Kentucky.  The first post will be up soon!

Blue Ridge Parkway Turns 75

The Blue Ridge Parkway’s 75^th Anniversary culminates Sept. 10-12 at the VA/NC border in Galax, VA and Cumberland Knob, NC where Parkway construction began on Sept. 11, 1935. Click for details.

Dubbed America’s Favorite Drive as the most-visited national park in the nation, the Blue Ridge Parkway is celebrating its 75^th anniversary this year. But tourism to this region dates much further, back to Thomas Jefferson who became enamored with the Peaks of Otter.

National Parks Service District Superintendent Peter Givens explains how this 469-mile road traversing three states came about:

“Someone put the bug in President Roosevelt’s ear that we could create a third national park that would be a graceful, recreational mountain road that would reveal the natural and cultural history of the southern highlands, connecting Shenandoah National Park in the north and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee to the south.”

Read the complete article by Mary Burnham in the September 2010 issue of Hampton Roads Magazine.

Black History Month in Virginia

Each February, up to 100 African American horseback riders take an 8-mile ride through the Hampton Roads city of Portsmouth, this year on Feb. 20. They do it in honor of the Buffalo Soldiers, the black Cavalry of the US Army, established in 1866.

See more Black History Month events throughout Virginia at www.Virginia.org

2010 Virginia is for Lovers Travel Guide

The 2010 Virginia is for Lovers Travel Guide (written by yours truly) is now available free at www.Virginia.org or by calling 1-800-VISITVA.

The new guide's commemorative cover stars the 75th anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway, with a panoramic photograph taken by Cameron Davidson, an award-winning photographer from Virginia.

It is an honor and a pleasure to be writing for Virginia Tourism's official travel guide for the past 7 years. In addition to detailing the Commonwealth's nine geographic regions, this year's guide features several new and unique travel features.

We truly love Virginia. Get you free guide and find out why!

Have a Green Christmas: Cut your own tree!

Did you get your tree yet? We're choosing ours this weekend, at Booker Farms in nearby Melfa on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. We make an outing of it, taking time to pick out just the right size of a live White or Norfolk Pine, and then Mr. Booker cuts it for us (757-787-9517).

You can even buy the entire live tree! They will dig it up for you, roots and all (you'll probably need a pick-up to get it home!) Then after the holidays you can plant it in your yard. Now that's an eco-friendly Christmas.

But cutting a live tree at a local farm is still a fairly green option. After all, this tree was raised for this purpose, so you're not depleting a forest. No fossil fuels were used transporting it by truck from the north country. After Christmas, be sure to recycle it with green waste or have it chopped for mulch. Many municipalities are doing this now.

You might think an artificial tree used year after year would be the greenest option, but not so according to The Daily Green website:

"Most artificial trees are made in China, typically from oil-derived, pollution-releasing polyvinyl chloride (PVC). A number have been found to contain lead. Once finally disposed of, artificial trees will last for centuries in landfills."

So, if you go artificial, try to get one made in America.

The truest green option would be a potted tree you decorate at Christmas, like the little tabletop guy pictured here. The rest of the year, it will provide beauty and give off oxygen in your home!

If you choose to cut a live tree locally, Virginia Tourism has a listing of Christmas tree farms around the state.

Merry Christmas!

Virginia: First Official Thanksgiving in the New World

Thanksgiving lore is all about Pilgrims and Indians, feasting on turkey at Plymouth, Mass. But many Virginians claims that the first true Thanksgiving occurred on the banks of the James River, a full year before the Pilgrims landed.

In 1619 the ship Margaret, captained by John Woodleefe, carried 38 men to Berkeley Hundred, a land grant on the James River near present day Charles City County, VA. With them they brought official written instructions from Richard Berkeley, their benefactor, that they annually give thanks on the day of the ship's arrival at the plantation. That day "shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to almighty god."

On the other hand, Pilgrims were the first folks in the New World who combined elements associated with our modern Thanksgiving: a communal feast of autumn’s harvest. Berkeley's group simply prayed and thanked God for safe deliverance to the Virginia Colony. Europeans, especially Spanish, had been doing that for centuries.

But in support of Virginia’s claim, Abraham Lincoln -- not the Pilgrims -- created Thanksgiving Day by an 1863 proclamation. There is no mention of pilgrims, Plymouth or pumpkin pie. No turkey, either. It was all about giving thanks to God, just like at Berkeley.

Berkeley Plantation still stakes claim as the site of the first Thanksgiving, with an observance every year in early November. The 1776 mansion and expansive grounds are open to the public year-round for tours.

Click ‘Post a comment’ to weigh in: Berkeley or Plymouth? Either way, let’s all give thanks for family and friends, and please pass the pecan pie!

The storm's over: Let's get outside, Virginia!

Click for slide show

OK, Virginia, the waters have receded and we’re drying out nicely from that weird confluence of a nor’easter and tropical storm. (We found all the leaks in our house, how about you!?)

So what are you going to do to get out and enjoy what's left of fall in the Old Dominion? Here are some of our ideas – feel free to post your own!

-Bike for food: Our friends at Foster Harris House in Little Washington just received a tremendous honor. Their Tour d’Epicure, a gourmet wine bike tour was named number one in the Top Ten Foodie Bike Tours in a new National Geographic book titled “Food Journeys of a Lifetime.” Click here to read our take on the tour.

-If you’re in the Roanoke region, check out Roanoke Outside, a really cool site that lists all kinds of outdoor fun in that region.

-Love coffee? Head to Colonial Williamsburg, where Richard Charlton’s recreated 1760 coffeehouse is re-opening to the public on Friday at 4 pm, with an open house all weekend long. Later that night, enjoy a celebration of chocolate, cognac and coffee at the Williamsburg Lodge. Also opening this weekend, “Deeply Superficial: Andy Warhol’s Voyeurism” at the Muscarelle Museum at the College of William and Mary.

-This coming Saturday (Nov. 21) is the Inaugural Thomas Jefferson Wine Festival at Poplar Forest, the retreat home of the man credited as the father of wine-making in America.

Fall Paddling on the Eastern Shore of Virginia

Click to view a slide show of recent kayak trips on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

We're seeing more waterfowl migrating through- ducks, geese, hawks- that we don't see in the heat of summer. Saw two bald eagles perched in some tall trees on Onancock Creek yesterday (perhaps they're scoping out a nesting site!). One swooped down and plucked a fish out of the water with his talons.

Five Fall Hikes to Inspire

A great hike can be more than a walk in the woods. These five Virginia hikes provide opportunities for clarity or contemplation—as you sit by a waterfall, watch the moon rise over the ocean, or bask in the rush of reaching a summit. For a dash of fun, we’ve included a haunted hike for Halloween!

1. The Haunted Hills of Bull Run

2. Run with wild ponies on Mount Rogers, Virginia’s tallest peak

3. Peaks of Otter: Just steps off the Blue Ridge Parkway

4. Overall Run, Shenandoah’s tallest waterfall

5. False Cape State Park: Beach hiking to a remote campsite.

For dozens more hikes in the Old Dominion, check out our award-winning guidebook Hiking Virginia.

Pet Getaway at Keswick Hall, Virginia

Even though she belongs to travel writers, our mutty-mutt rescued from the local shelter 3 years ago, doesn’t travel much. So she was quite confused when we pulled up to the circular drive of Keswick Hall in central Virginia and handed over the keys for valet parking.

Miss Coco (as in "Chanel") was even more sedate when we led her into the elegant lobby of the Tuscan-style mansion and the woman behind the desk exclaimed: "This must be Coco!"

On hearing her name, Coco's head cocked as if to inquire, “Do I know you? Do you have something for me? A treat perhaps?”

This elegant, sublime golf resort not only takes pets no matter their breeding, but welcomes them, embraces them, courts them, in fact, with a Pampered Pooch Package.

In our room a huge bowl of Milkbones, a plush pillow and matching bowls were waiting.

We posed her for photos on the private terrace with her ‘luggage,’ ordered from the Doggie Menu, delivered by room service, and gave her a rubber duck to play with.

But we know what a dog wants most is exercise, so only after a sunset spin around the golf course did Coco really settle in for the night, nestled on her special Keswick plaid pillow.

Read the complete story in November's special pet issue of Hampton Roads Magazine.

Paddling in Waller Mill Park, Williamsburg

For a change of pace from sea kayaking, we’ll take you to a little-known spot on the outskirts of Williamsburg, Virginia.

Waller Mill Park has hiking and biking trails and quiet, shady spots for picnicking. But the real lure for us paddlers is the 343-acre lake, where a rare natural history treat awaits.

You can launch your own boat, or rent one very inexpensively: the canoes and kayaks are just $5 an hour.

From the dock, head out to the open water, turn right and look for an opening that passes beneath a bridge. From here, follow the left shore closely, turn into an inlet, and scour the banks and shallows.

You’re actually following an ancient ridge called the Yorktown Formation. Look along the base and you’ll begin to see dozens and dozens of Virginia’s state fossil: Chesapecten jeffersonius!

These huge scallop shells, as big as a man’s hand, are actually fossils, more than four million years old when much of the Virginia Piedmont was a vast inland sea. You’ll see them layered in the banks, and strewn about on the lake bottom.

These fossils have been noted in the earliest annals of American history. Jamestown settlers reported seeing Native Americans using Chesapecten shells as bowls and scraping tools. Learn more about Waller Mill Park here.

For a fun place to stay nearby, check out the Great Wolf Lodge and its huge indoor-outdoor water park.

Kayaking and Hang Gliding on the Eastern Shore

There's a new sport on the Eastern Shore of Virginia: Hang gliding! It takes place at Campbell Field, which is on the road to where we launch SouthEast Expeditions' kayak winery tours.

I'm pretty sure Stephanie and Emily from Richmond are the first ones to do both adventures in one weekend. We really should make it a package!

After I took them to historic Chatham Vineyards by kayak, they stopped at nearby Holly Grove Vineyards and met Jonathan's amazing "fainting goats."

The next morning, at the Eastern Shore Hang Gliding Center, a plane towed them in tandem with an instructor to 2,500 feet and then let them go! They spent the next 25 minutes floating silently over the Eastern Shore's farm fields, vineyards and waters.

Their ES adventure weekend also involved biking, visiting Assateague lighthouse and staying at the iconic Rittenhouse Motor Lodge.

Thanks for truly experiencing the Shore, ladies! You are awesome and we'd be honored to have you back. There's still kite-boarding, kayaking to barrier islands and an overnight stay in a watermen's cabin to try! Just give SouthEast a call: 757-331-2680.

Read more and see photos from the kayak winery tour. For more Eastern Shore adventures, visit ESVA Tourism: "You'll love our nature."

Diamondback Terrapins on the Eastern Shore of Virginia

On our 'day off', we launched from Gargatha Landing on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, to paddle to a seaside barrier island for a Sunday of beachcombing and swimming in the Atlantic.

Along the way, we began to see little black and white noses poke out of the water, then pull down on our approach. Bill said they were diamondback terrapins, once endangered due to their tastiness, now a “species of concern” in Virginia.

Looking ahead along the marshy shore we saw more and more of them, little black dots that disappeared. There were dozens, perhaps hundreds.

Then I looked ahead at the shoreline and saw it shimmering in the sun, then moving! Enmasse the turtles were slipping into the water as we approached. The ground was literally covered with them, all sizes ranging from about the size of a teacup to a dinner plate. There must have been thousands all told.

We landed on the backside of Metompkin Island at what used to be channel marker 71. Tropical storm Ernesto 3 years ago washed over the island and actually filled in the channel, creating a deadend. The markers are sticking up out of sand, kind of a crazy sight.

When you land here this time of year there are signs stating the island is closed due to nesting of least terns, oyster catchers and piping plovers. The signs do allow for a pathway across the island where the wash-out occurred, so us hunmans can get to the beach and take a dip in the Atlantic and beachcomb. Just please don’t venture into the island’s interior: stay on the beach.

Eastern Shore Kayaking

This past weekend we had all kinds and ages of paddlers on SouthEast Expedition tours. On Friday I took a group of Delaware teachers with a day off from teaching summer school on the kayak winery tour. They were delightful!

Then Saturday morning Bill and I may have had SouthEast's most senior customers ever on the Onancock Creek Tour! Connie & Bud Bernton (shown above), ages 82 & 83, came down from Bethesda, MD to celebrate their 59th wedding anniversary in Onancock. They'd never been kayaking before, and they loved it!

On the same tour we had a young family, the youngest 9-year-old Rebecca. The Pullens had come over in their powerboat from the “Western Shore” (what we call the Northern Neck), across the Chesapeake Bay, to stay the night in Onancock.

That afternoon Bill took a Bachelorette party of six on the Chatham Winery Tour. “How did it go?” I asked. “They wore bikinis,” he answered. Tough job, Bill!

That night Chatham was having it’s annual Bluegrass Concert and Low Country Boil on the lawn. There we ran into Connie & Bud, my parents, and other paddling friends for an absolutely splendid Eastern Shore evening.

Sunday we had no paying tours, so Bill & I treated ourselves to a paddle out to one of the barrier islands, from Gargatha Creek to Metompkin Island.

More on that in the next post!

Kayaking Tangier Island, Virginia

(click on the image to see my video!)

Last week, I took the ferry from my town of Onancock on the Eastern Shore of Virginia to Tangier Island, 12 miles out in the Chesapeake Bay. As a kayaker, my goal was to check out the paddling options. I borrowed a boat, life jacket and paddle, which are available free to visitors from the dock of the Tangier History Museum.

Turning right, I quickly left behind the small town and the sounds of the crab sheds and boats of Tangier’s main industry. A family of Canada geese walked along the shore. Osprey nested on a platform and great blue heron waded and fished in the shallows.

I soon entered a marsh creek where I could hear Virginia rails “clapping” in the grass. Occasionally one would flush and fly across my bow, colorful if somewhat awkward in flight. I was completely alone except for the birds.

Within 15 minutes a sparkling white sand beach came into view, a perfect spot for a picnic.

There was far more to explore than I had time for. I’d love to see this become a paddling destination. You could start in Onancock with a two-hour historic creek tour, stay the night in a B&B, take the ferry to Tangier in the morning, take a self-guided trip, then stay at one of their B&Bs.

Here’s a link to the Tangier Water Trails.

Learn more in my article on the "A day in the life" of the watermen who live here.