Virginia Appalachia ’24

Collection of photos from the backend of 2024 roaming around the peaks of Virginia. From multi-day backpacking, to day hikes, to driving up old forest roads, Virginia constantly reminds me I don’t have to go far to be far out. All shot on a Nikon D5300.

Was happy to see some pollinator action going strong on Cole Mountain, a rare “bald” for Virginia.

Something calming about an evergreen, even in its infancy.

Could sunbathe on that rock for hours!

I don’t know that I’d ever want to thru-hike the entirety of the AT, but I do enjoy my section hikes.

Lake Moomaw is a lovely hidden gem in western Virginia. I was only slightly annoyed to see a motorized boat zip along as my packraft struggled to track.

All I could think of in the moment was the old McCartney song “Mull of Kintyre”

Dead stumps littered the beach, almost like horns in the desert.

The top of Mount Rogers itself doesn’t have much of a view, but this shortly below makes the uphill worth it all the same.

The peak of Mount Rogers, Virginia’s highest, is an ecological island. I find such landscapes fascinating, like I’ve been teleported hundreds of miles away.

The island is slowly being encroached on with diseases and climate change, if these dead trees are any indicator.

Great views and convenient food access? Sounds good to me!

I think I need to head further south and explore North Carolina’s mountains in 2025…

I think that’s edible but didn’t want to find out.

It was a chillier night than I was prepared for, with no trees to cut the wind, but that sunset and the subsequent march of the stars made it worth it.

I don’t know whether I should be grateful or upset there weren’t any wild ponies to wake me up! We didn’t see any more ponies beyond these ones in Grayson Highlands, which was a bit surprising.

God I love evergreens.

When I think of mountains, I think of views like this. Might not be the tallest or the grandest, but you stand comfortably knowing they’re the oldest.

I think the art of good trail blazing, as in putting up blazes on trail, is significantly underappreciated.

So much of hiking in Virginia, like the east in general, is made up of the “green tunnel” which make kaleidoscopic meadows like this that much better.

Uphills feel easier when there’s less trees, I think because I have a better sense of how much more there is to go.

Wonder if that gates to keep the horses or the truck in 😉

It feels wrong there’s even a path there, breaking up those wildflowers.

It’s been a particularly dry fall, so I was surprised the leaves were that vibrant. The hikes around Humpback Rocks are well-traveled, but for good reason.

That tree can definitely talk, right?

Got a good car camping trip in around Thanksgiving with the boys. Baby Blue enjoyed getting to blaze up an old fire road, her natural element.

There’s a stillness the end of November brings, as life goes on hold for a while.

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