Whitetop, Rogers, Haw Orchard, Richwood Knob, and Moores Knob: May 5th-6th 2023

Whitetop Mountain, May 5th

I parked and spent the night at the AT trailhead for Buzzard Rock, and in the morning went up the main road with my bike. Absolutely gorgeous hike, with amazing views of the Bluff and Snake areas. Only wish the summit was also a bald and not densely wooded. Whatevs

Mount Rogers, May 5th

I started up Rogers from the Elk Garden trailhead and took the AT and spur all the way up. A well defined trail with stunning views, this was well worth the effort and would be well worth anyone's day to hike it. The summit itself, like Whitetop, was a little disappointing, but the hike up to it more than makes up for that

Haw Orchard Mountain, May 5th

Grayson Highlands State Park charges a $7 entrance fee, but it also gets you very high up the mountain which I appreciated after doing a longer hike in Rogers. The walk up was delightful and the view at the top was stunning. This was going to be the last peak I was going to do when I was planning on doing the SE5k list, and I would have chosen a good mountain to end on if so

Richwood Knob, May 6th

I ended up parking at the gate of Fire Trail Lane and 688 with a note on my dash saying I was mountain biking the area. Going up the lane was totally fine until I discovered that I had perhaps taken the wrong way up, as it turned into someone's driveway, there was still a path to the summit, but I would recommend people take the 686 road up to avoid angering rich folk. Anyhow, views near the summit were nice

Moores Knob, May 6th

Moores Knob is well-documented, so all I'll add is that the state park is free to enter, so go wild