On this trip my cousin Marina and I spent 3 days backpacking in Virginia's Mt Rogers National Recreation Area. This was her first backpacking trip and first time hammock camping!

Our first day started out along a spur trail to get from the State Park overnight lot up to the Appalachian Trail. We quickly broke into some of the classic Grayson Highlands views and enjoyed a lunch at the trail intersection. From there we continued along the AT until we were outside of the State Park and in the Little Wilson Creek Wilderness, where we made camp at an excellent meadow site.

On day 2 we retraced our steps through the Wilderness and joined back up with the Appalachian Trail. We enjoyed the beautiful views over Stone Mountain then dropped down into the Scales. The Crest Trail gave us more awesome scenery to marvel at before linking up with the AT again. Our next stop was the top of Mt Rogers - the highest peak in Virginia!

We made camp on the edge of a huge meadow past Mt Rogers in between the Appalachian Trail and the Virginia Highlands Horse Trail. A spectacular sunset and tons of ponies made it the perfect final night of our trip. Day 3 saw us hike out, enjoying more views and more ponies. The ideal weather that we had broke as soon as we got off trail and a huge rain storm hammered the area.

All in all a great first trip for my cousin! She loved hammock camping and the Grayson Highlands are a special, magnificent area. Add onto that the great weather and the multitude of ponies and we couldn't have asked for a better time.

Shorter highlight video for anyone who wants to see the scenery without the trip details:
https://youtu.be/ouHQSmemOq0


Layne