Hiking in Grayson Highlands State Park

After a hearty breakfast at Aunt Bea's in Galax, we left our cozy little cabin to venture towards Damascus, Va. Along the way we stopped at Grayson Highlands State Park. It was a glorious drive along twisting and turning Rt. 58. The park is the Gateway to Mt. Rogers which is the highest mountain in Virginia (5,729 ft.). We hiked the 1.6 mi. Twin Pinnacles trail which starts at the Visitor Center. It was an ideal hike with fabulous 360 views of Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina. We could see the hikers on the Massie Gap trail making their way to the top of Mt. Rogers.


A very friendly ranger told us where to find Wayne Henderson's house in Rugby, VA. If you don't know who Wayne is, he is an internationally known bluegrass guitar player and luthier. Some say he makes the best acoustic guitars on the planet (according to Lance). He is a big favorite of Tom Morton, who played the guitar at our wedding. Since his house was only 3 miles away and Lance was keen to get Wayne's autograph, we had to go in search of his house. We found it but it turned out Wayne was away for the day playing at a music event at a nearby college. He also had just returned from a tour in France. He gets around!

After our hike we stopped at the Creeper Trail Bike Rental & Shuttle store in Whitetop to arrange our shuttle for tomorrow morning. The lady at the shuttle stop was super nice and told us all about the area.

When we arrived in Damascus we were stunned by the number of bicyclist. There were HUNDREDS!!! You can't imagine how many people were out riding the Creeper Trail. It was great to see so many people enjoying the trail.

Damascus looks like a cute little town. We checked into our accommodations for the night at Auntie's Cottage. It is a cozy three bedroom house two blocks from the trail. Donna, the owner, met us at the Cottage and gave us a quick tour. She has several prints of William Gayheart, the pencil artwork artist we met at the Blue Ridge Music Center.

Tonight we will dine at either the Whistle Pig or Quincey's to refuel for our 17 mile ride down the Creeper Trail. Rumor is the trail descends 4 degrees on the segment from Whitetop to Damascus. That will make pulling Fin in his chariot a lot easier!!!

If you'd like to see the photos of our hike in Grayson Highlands click on the link to the right...