Peavine Mountain Explore Trek

I had done hike to Peavine Mountain  on 9th and 10th November . It is located in Virginia State in Amherst County. Part of the route is through Appalachian Trail(A.T.)
Hike Location
Name: Peavine Mountain
Distance: 30 miles from Lynchburg(approx)
Total hiking distance: 16.5 miles.
Hiking Experience:Started around 5:40 am from Richmond. Reached Lynchburg around 7:40 am. Met the organizer at Lynchburg and started to Mountain around 8:10 am. Had breakfast at MCD and reached the trek start point near the James river bridge around 9:00 am. We know the destination, we have the map but there were few routes missing in the map and we want to explore the route. So, aim of this trek is to explore about the routes on the mountain. Started the trek at 9:00 am. Initially we were walking on plain road used by forest vehicles.We walked around half an hour. This is the first time we are going through this route so not sure how the trail is going to be and what is ahead of us. After around one hour we reached a gate and it lead us to the Quarry. From the quarry as per the map there is a route which leads us to the Appalachian Trail. However we do not see any such trail which connects to A.T. We then used our compass and started walking as per the directions towards A.T. There was no trail as such, on the way we found another trail which is marked by blue and this trail is not present in the map. We have no idea where the trail is leading us to and we lost the direction where we are heading towards. The route lead us to the top of the mountain. It was very narrow. slipper due to the leaves that are fallen after the fall season. Around 12:58 pm we came across A.T. and could see the white marks on the trail. Went along the trail for another half an hour.
                                  The trail is steep and narrow and covered by trees on both sides. Now as per map we know that we need to exit the A.T. and reach our camping spot for night stay. However we could not find any other trail which leads us to camp spot. We are able to see a path which leads us to the destination but do not find any trail to reach to the path. All we could see on the mountain is trees on a slope hill. We climbed the hill, it was very steep. We somehow managed to climb the hill and reached the path. The path leads us to the road which takes us to camp site. The path is very wide and steep descent. It has slippery rock patches along the route. We reached the camping spot around 3:00 pm. We walked around 9.6 miles. The camp area has a small water creek. The climate is very cold and windy. We started campfire around 4:00 pm. It became dark by 5:30 pm and temperature started going down. We cooked food for dinner and had our dinner by 6:00 pm. It was freezing cold. Went to bed by 7:00 pm.
                                   Got up next day(Sunday) around 6:30 am. Had breakfast, packed the bag and put off the camp fire. Started towards the parking lot near James Rive Bridge around 7:30 am. The trail was clear, narrow and had an exposure on one side and other side is covered with trees. The climate is sunny but windy. Walked across the narrow trail. Reached the parking lot by 10:30 am. Walked over the James River Bridge and started from parking lot by 10:40 am. Walked aournd 6.9 miles on Sunday. Reached Lynchburg around 11:20 am. All is well

                                  

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Hike to Humpback Rocks

I had done hike to Humpback Rocks  on 27th October .It is located at Charlottesville in Virginia State.

Hike Location
Name: Humpback Rocks
Distance: 90 miles from Richmond(approx)
Total hiking distance: 7 miles.
Hiking Experience:Started around 9am in the morning. Filled Gas at Exxon at Exit 138 on I-64 around 9:40 am. Left the station and had breakfast at burger king on exit 119 around 10:40 am. Left for the destination around 10:55 am. Reached the Humpback parking around 11:25 pm. The parking was full and had to park the vehicle outside the parking lot on the side of the road following others. Started Ascent. The climate is very cold and windy. The trail is narrow and very steep. The trail is covered by long trees both the sides. After half an hour along the trail, there are wooden steps(like ladder) but not steep. once the ladder is crossed, it was a flat trail and leads through the jungle of the Dobie mountain. As I reached the top of the mountain the temperature increased and cool breeze deceased.
                                                The trees along the trail are very colorful as it is the fall season. Along the trail there are benches on left side for hikers to rest. After an hour of hike, rock patches started and there was a small cave to the left of the trail and the trail is muddy and rocks are bit slippery. After crossing the rockpatch, there is a signboard which states humpback rocks towards left around 800 ft and humpback picnic area around 2.7 miles. went to the humpback rocks. These rocks are huge white rocks. from the top of rocks we can see the Shenandaoh Valley. It was an amazing view. There was a cold breeze at the top of the rocks and these rocks are rigid and tough. went towards the humpback picnic area. There are proper blue trail marks all along. Blue indicates it is blude ridge parkway. After 0.1 miles walk the trail merges with Appalachian Trial(trail with white marks) .After an half an hour walk there is a diversion towards left. This would take back to the parking lot forming a loop. The straight route follows the Appalachian trail. I have taken left to traverse the loop. The trail is very colourful and through the jungle. It was a descent and while descending the temperature increased and could feel the heat os Sun. Reached the parking lot by 3:30 pm. Left for home and reached Richmond by 5:00 pm. All is well.

                                

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Hike to McAfee Knob

I had done hike to McAfee Knob  on 20th October . It is located in Virginia State and along the Appalachian trail(A.T.)
Hike Location
Name: Mcafee Knob
Distance: 65 miles from Lynchburg(approx)
Total hiking distance: 8 miles.
Hiking Experience:Started around 6:55 am in the morning. Had Breakfast(pancakes only veg available) from McDonald's around 7:00. Started from McDonald's at 7:15 am towards the destination. Reached the destination by 8:30 am. The parking lot is on the right side of the road. The trail starts on the left side of road and there is a sign board at the start of the trail which says about the mountain height and distance of the trail.It is a well maintained trail. Most of the trail is along the Appalachian Trail. Trail is narrow and wooden steps along the start of the trail to prevent erosion. The trail is covered by trees on both sides. It was a sunny day and soon the morning coldness withered away and forced to remove the Jackets. Along the trail, every mile there is an Appalachian Shelter. There are small wooden bridges to cross the rock patches. There are five bridges. As this is the fall season , the leaves on the trees were very colorful.                                                          Huge white rocks on the way add to the scenic of the area. As we ascent, we experienced cold breeze. As we reach the top of the hill we could see valley to the left and was an amazing view of trees, base of the mountain and barren land. We reached the McAfee Knob around 10:30 am. At the top there is a huge rock which is exposed to the valley and get very good view of entire valley and other hills like otter. Also runway of Roanoke can be seen.  Had theplas and fruity at the top. It is approximately 2000 ft high. It was cold at the top in spite of Scorching Sun due to cold breeze. Started descent around 10:58 am. On the way we have seen small lizards. The trail is very clear and no trash at all. There were many fellow hikers along the trail. The trail route is easy to identify as there were white markings along the trail and only single place where there is diversion. Reached the parking lot by 12:34 pm. There is a trek register as well. Went to Roanoke, had lunch and reached Lynchburg by 3:30 pm. All is Well.

                                   

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Hike at Grayson Highlands

I had done hike at grayspon highlands on 4th May . It is located in Virginia State and can reach to Appalachian trail(A.T.)
Hike Location
Name: Grayson Highlands
Distance: 185 miles from Lynchburg(approx)
Total hiking distance: 8 miles.
Hiking Experience:Started 6:00 am in the morning. Had breakfast(pancakes) from McDonalds around 6:10.Started towards grayson highlands. Taken a bio break at a restroom house around 7:35. Reached the state park entrance around 9:40. Paid the parking fee, parked the vehicle and strated for hike around 9:56 am. The temperature is around 38F, much colder than the expected(as per forecast above 50F). There is a narrow trail starting from the parking area which leads to Appalachian trail(approx length of this trail is 2200 miles). The narrow trail is AT Spur trail. Through the trail there are blue markings providing the directions. The trail has huge trees and plain grass on either side of it. It passes along the small water streams with cold water. there are wooden bridges to cross the streams. The climate is very cold, windy and covered with fog covering the scenic view of the nature along the trail. The trail is flat walk initially for about a mile then stlope increases. The spur trail is ended and continued the hike on appalachian trail. There are white marks along the trail for directions. The trail also passes through water streams. There are beautiful ponies(small horse) along the trail. Also there is a trail register for safety and emergency purposes.
                                 The temperature reduced, wind speed increased, the slope increased, making it little tough to proceed further.  continued along the trail. Fog still prevailed along the trail. traversed along the hills and coninued further until we reached the junction(one route leads to Mt Rogers- highest mountain in Virgina, one leads to horse trail). Had lunch at the shelter over there around 1:00 pm. Planned to do camping in the night, however due to drastic climate change decided to cut off the trip for one day. After lunch started back to the starting point by 1:20 pm. still the temperature reamined the same. Reached the Wise shelter  around 2:55 pm and took a break. The shelter is made of wood. Met few fellow hikers near the shelter. There are two type of hikers section hikers and thru hikers. Thru hikers are the ones who do the entire appalachian trial(which take few months) and section hikers, just do hiking for few days targeting to cover few miles. Started from shelter around 3:27 pm. reached the point where we need to take diversion and cut off from appalachian trial by 4:30 pm and take A.T. Spur trial. on the way, temperature slowly increased, saw sun for the first time for the day. Slowly reached the parking lot by 5:05 pm. Left to home by 5:30 and reached home by 9:00. This was the first hiking in US and thouroughly enjoyed it. All is well.

                                 

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