Visit to Grayson Highlands, Part 2
If you’d like to read about Part 1 to Grayson Highlands, please click here.
Our original plans for Grayson Highlands (other than seeing all the ponies) was to hike to Mt. Rogers. Mt. Rogers is the highest point of elevation in Virginia. I kept thinking how cool that would be. I have been to Pike’s Peak in Colorado and thought adding another highest peak would be a nice note on my hiking successes.
Monday morning we woke up and waited a bit. It had turned pretty cold and everything had frozen. I wanted it to warm up before we started. We arrived at the park (after I stopped again for various photos) and we talked about what to do. There was a waterfall that we could hike to or we could try for Mt. Rogers. I let my son decide and he chose Mt. Rogers. Off we hiked.
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Because it had gotten so cold, all the trees had rime ice. It was magical. In one area, the wooded area appeared to be a frosted fairyland. The cold also made it much easier to hike. In many areas, my son just walked on top of the snow. I sank down so I followed footsteps already created. I felt like we were going at a good pace, but, eventually my son started to get tired. Although he’s an avid soccer player, hiking legs are something different. He was having fun but going slow. The snow didn’t help. I would stop and take photos (I couldn’t stop). We ran into some ponies and that took time. We rested and had lunch. We arrived at one point and it said, “Mt. Rogers: 2 miles”. 2 more miles? That meant we had gone approximately 2.8 miles in 4+ hrs. Go ahead, you can laugh.
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I honestly felt disappointed. I knew that 2 more miles in the snow would be difficult for my son. Did I really want him to be upset? Sad? That wouldn’t make for good memories. My disappointment wasn’t as important. We turned around and headed back. We got passed by two trail runners in shorts and winter coats. At that point, I laughed. My son was decked out in a full snowsuit complete with trekking poles and snowboarding goggles. I was dressed very heavily as well. And there they were… two guys just running down the Appalachian Trail towards Mt. Rogers. I checked our elevation and we had reached almost 5,600 ft. I’d say that’s pretty close considering Mt. Rogers is 5700 and change.
In the end, it was good that we turned around when we did. It started to warm up. The sun and weather felt really good but that meant slush. The snow became difficult. I grabbed one pole from my son because I was sliding all over the place. To be honest, I don’t have winter, or well, any season of hiking boots. I have a couple pairs of trail shoes that I use. I was wearing my winter boots. I had nothing else. By the time we reached the car, the knee I sprained last year was feeling really bad. I can’t imagine if I would have had to hike 4 miles in the slush.
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By the time we finished, we were both tired. It had been a quick trip back but the snow was tiring. I know that I’ll go back another time, with no snow, nice weather, and get to Mt. Rogers. It is just over 8 miles round trip and the hike itself was not difficult. Heck maybe I’ll even run some of it. The views could not be topped. I have included quite a few photos here but if you’d like to see all of them, click on the link below. Any photos that you like can be purchased. I haven’t added any to my website yet but will soon.
If you haven’t been to Grayson Highlands yet, please put it on your list. I think it is quite possibly the most beautiful area of Virginia.
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Posted on April 3, 2018, in Virginia Hiking, Virginia State Parks and tagged Appalachian Trail, Blue Ridge Mountains, environment, Grayson Highlands, Grayson Ponies, Hiking in snow, Hiking in Virginia, Mt. Rogers, Nature, Photography, Rime Ice, Snowy mountains, Virginia, Virginia State Parks. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Hiking Adventures 
Adding another highest peak to your list would have definitely been nice – especially if you were able to accomplish it with all the snow! But your choice to turn around was probably for the best. It’s not worth it if you or your hiking partner is miserable. At the very least you got some amazing pictures out of the hike. And can I say how freaking adorable those ponies are!?
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The ponies are so cute. One came running up to me. And yes, my son was miserable and it wouldn’t have been fair to him. I can go another time and meet that goal.
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