Tuscarora Overlook – Douthat State Park
Posted by Chris | Filed under Trail Information, Western Virginia
Total Distance (circuit): 9.6 miles
Hiking Time: 6 hours
Vertical rise: 2180 feet
This excursion into the western and southern regions of Douthat State Park is probably best done in the early spring. Not only will the trees still be leafless so that the views will be more extensive, but the two waterfalls you encounter will be running at their highest and most impressive volume.
Leave your car at the entrance parking area of White Oak Campground (C) and walk across Wilson Creek on the low-water bridge into the campground and past Beards Gap Hollow Trail (on which you will be returning). Across from the bathhouse and next to campsite 33, make a left into a woods of pine and oak on yellow blazed Tobacco House Ridge Trail. Some of the trees and shrubs you pass may have galls on them. Galls form on almost every plant in the world and are not a cancer or some other disease but the plant’s reaction to an attach by a parasite (which could be bacteria, fungus, eelworm, mite, or insect). Rarely will a plant be affected by the formation of gall. Rather, this abnormal increase in the number or size of cells isolates the parasite and helps to localize any poisons it may produce.
A break in the vegetation at 0.5 mile provides a pleasant spot, especially early in the morning when songbirds are most active, to overlook Douthat Lake. The Tobacco House Ridge Trail comes to an end upon meeting blue-blazed Blue Suck Falls Trail at 0.9 miles. This trail descends right to VA 629, but it also ascends to the left and that is the direction in which you need to turn. Early settlers noticed that wildlife was attracted to the salt from high sulfur content springs in the area of Douthat State Park and that the animals would stand above the springs to inhale the vapors – thus the name “suck”.
At 1 mile, gold blazed Huff’s Trail bears right toward the northern portion of the park; keep left on Blue Suck Falls Trail. Keep left again when white-blazed Laurel View Trail comes in from the right at 1.2 miles.
Conversely, bear right upon reaching the junction with yellow-blaxed Locust Gap Trail at 1.5 miles.
Continuing to ascend on Blue Suck Falls Trail, which is now steep and rocky, come to the falls, which drop about 50 feet down a rock facing lined with mountain laurel and rhododendron. Your route crosses the stream just below the falls and swings around the side of the mountain on a pathway still supported by rock cribbing constructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Keep left at 2 miles when yellow-blaxed Pine Tree Trail comes in from the right; pass by two excellent views of Wilson Creek valley bordered by Beards Mountain. The stone bench at 2.5 miles provides a place to rest and enjoy the view, but take the short side trail to the right to Lookout Rock at 2.7 miles for an even better vantage point on this vista of wave after wave of undulating Virginia ridgelines.
Returning to the main trail, continue to the end of Blue Suck Falls Trail at 3.6 miles. A short pathway to the right provides access to George Washing National Forest’s Middle Mountain Trail (FS 458). You want to bear left, descending on yellow-blaxed Tuscarora Overlook Trail, taking the side pathway left to Tuscarora Overlook at 4 miles for a view unsurpassed anywhere else in the park. Douthat Lake sparkles more than 1000 feet below you, and now you are high above the elevation to which Beards Mountain to the east attains, you can see far beyond it – into Cowpasture River Valley and all the way out to Rough and Mill mountains, well over 10 miles from where you are standing. To this southeast it is even possible to see a bit of four-lane I-64 snaking towards Lexington. The rustic cabin at the overlook was originally built by the CCC and later used as a fire warden’s station; it was restored in the late 1980’s. It is not available for overnight stays and should only be used in case of an emergency. Because the Tuscarora Indians inhabited North Carolina (and later New York and Ontario) and not Virginia, it must be assumed that the overlook is named for the Tuscarora sandstone that forms the upper layer of the mountains in the region.
Returning to the main trail, make a left and contour along the mountain in an upland environment of hardwoods and mountain laurel to where the Tuscarora Trail ends at 4.6 miles. A portion of orange-blazed Stony Run Trail ascends right to connect with the Middle Mountain Trail. However, you will follow its orange blazes as they descend to the left. Be alert at 5 miles! Do not take the old trail straight ahead, but bear left to swing around the ridgeline and begin a series of long, well graded switchbacks down the steep slope of the mountain. After entering a rhododendron tunnel at 6.9 miles, cross scenic Stony Run and bear right onto 100 foot long side trail to Stony Run Falls. This is a great place to stop and relax on a warm, dry day. Tiny bits of mist from the falls add moisture to the air, and thick growths of rhododendron block the sunlight to provide dark patches of shade. It is interesting to see how the rhododendron is affected by its environment; in some places it grows tall and straight while in others it is twisted and gnarled.
Return to the main trail to continue downstream as the valley becomes wider and more option. At 7.7 miles, Stony Run Trail continues right for one and a half miles to VA 629. You will bear left onto yellow-blazed Locust Gap Trail, swinging around several spur ridges with little change in elevation to the next intersection at 8.6 miles. Locust Gap Trail continues left for about a mile to intersect Blue Suck Falls Trail; you should bear right to drop quickly along white blazes Beards Gap Hollow Trail, crossing the water run several times. Keep a sharp eye out at 9.2 miles and you might notice an old telegraph wire connector in an evergreen tree. In the days before wireless radios and phones, the only contact with isolated outposts, such as the cabin at the overlook, was by telegraph lines. If you watch closely when hiking in Virginia on a pathway going to the site of an old lookout station, you will likely find some kind of evidence of this form of communication.
Turn right onto a dirt service road at 9.3 miles, keeping left when another road joins it in a few hundred feet. After crossing a wooden footbridge, turn right onto the paved campground road. If you are near the campground in early morning or evening, there’s a good chance of seeing a raccoon or an opossum.
Follow the campground road across Wilson Creek and to your car, ending the hike at 9.6 miles. If you have also done the Bears Mountain hike, you’ve now completed an exploration of some of the eastern, western, and southern portions of Douthat State Park. Take a look at the park handout map and you will see that by combing the Salt Stump, Pine Tree, Middle Hollow, Heron Run, and Backway Hollow trails you can accomplish an approximately 4-mile discovery trip into a segment of the park’s northern district.
July 29th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Tuscarora Overlook – Douthat State Park | Virginia Hiker great article thank you.