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.

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.

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!