Dismal Falls

Description: A short, easy hike along the Appalachian Trail that takes you to a small waterfall nestled between Brushy and Flat Top mountain. The hike in is nothing special except for the fact that you follow one of the new sections of the AT.

Dismal Falls is a side trail of about 0.2 miles off the AT and is a welcome sight on a hot day. Dismal Falls is roughly 15 feet high and with the muddy bottom it is perfect for jumping off. If your looking for a quick hike and a place to relax then this hike is designed for you. However, do not expect to be alone at this water fall.

There is an access road only 20 yards from the falls. In the heat of the summer the falls seems to be a local pool, but atleast it’s clean.

Directions: There are two access points for the Falls. One off the Appalachian Trail and a much shorter trail. Here are directions to both.

Appalachian Trail route: From Pulaski: Take route 11 North to route 100. Take 100 North till 42. There is a little roadside stand with fresh fruit. Take 42 West for about 8 miles. You will pass through White Gate and route 606 will be on the right. The AT junction is only 2/10 of a mile. Take the AT North and your only 2 miles from the falls.

Short walk from road: Take exit 98 from I-81 going north on VA-100. Go 11.6 miles and turn left on VA-42. After 10.1 miles turn right on SR-606. After 1 mile, turn right on SR-671 which becomes unpaved after .4 miles. .5 miles after the pavement ends, there is a sign for the falls and a small pull-off on the right of the road.

Contact Information:
Blacksburg Ranger Station
5162 Valleypointe Parkway
Roanoke, Virginia 24019
(888) 265-0019

Directions: Starting from Blacksburg, VA drive west on 460W towards Giles County for about 7 miles. Turn right onto Mt. Lake Rd. and follow it to the top to the Mt. Lake Hotel. Year-round parking for hikers is now available at the new Trail Access parking lot, 9/10ths of a mile past the Mountain Lake Hotel entrance on your right. There you will find a kiosk with a trail map and other information.

Bald Knob Trail Sign

Trail Distance: ~2 miles round trip

Fees: $3.00 per vehicle for day use/$20.00 for a yearly Trail Access pass

A trail map and trail details can be found on the Mountain Lake Conservancy website. Besides the Bald Knob trail, there are also many others in the Mountain Lake area that you can check out.

Bald Knob in Winter (Picture from Mountain Lake Conservancy)

Location: Pembroke, VA – Jefferson National Forest/Cascades Recreation Area

Driving Directions: Take exit 118 on I-81 north on US-460, making sure to use the bypasses around Christiansburg   and Blacksburg. After 26.6 miles turn right on Cascade Dr (SR-T623) in Pembroke.  The entrance is in 3.3 miles.

Finding the Trail: Find the trailhead at the upper end of the parking lot. The Cascades National Scenic Trail follows Big Stoney Creek upstream, eventually forking into an upper and lower trail. If the lower trail is open, take it because it is definitely the more beautiful of the two. The upper trail ascends the gorge, continuing to follow the stream, albeit at a distance. It eventually descends again to the stream to meet the lower trail. The lower trail follows the stream closely past beautiful cascades and pools. After the trails rejoin, they snake their way through the narrow gorge between high cliff walls. After passing an old stone building, the falls come into view.

Trail Distance: Total hike is 4.0 miles round trip over sometimes steep terrain on a sometimes rough and often muddy path.

More details about the trail and hike can be found at the Giles County website – http://gilescounty.org/cascades.html

Park Fee: $3.00 per vehicle

For More Information call:
540-552-4641
Jefferson National Forest

Cascade Falls - Pembroke, VA

Cascade Falls - Pembroke, VA during Winter

Now – just a side note – the above picture is not mine and I do not know the person in it. However, it captures the beauty of the falls in the winter so I went with it. If it is yours, email me and I’ll gladly give you credit.

In the winter when the falls have frozen or are close to freezing was my favorite time to hit this trail.

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“For solitude on the northern stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway, skip the hordes at Humpback Rocks and drive southwest to MP 18.5. After parking, cross the parkway and look for the White Rock Falls trail marker. Follow the yellow-blazed trail as it unfurls beside lichen-covered rocks and gurgling White Rock Creek. The trail crosses the creek after 1.4 miles, where you’ll find boulder-lined pools ready-made for wading.

To finish the loop, rock-hop across the creek to switchbacks that travel close to the falls, tempering the scenic pay-off with a steep, 400-foot climb. An easy-to-miss side trail before the last switchback leads to hidden, but stellar views of the 35-foot falls. Once at the top, snap a photo of Priest Mountain then continue over rippling brooks and small wooden bridges. At the parkway, follow the trail across the road to Slacks Overlook, visible to your left. From the overlook, walk right to pick up the blue-blazed Slacks Overlook Trail, a narrow multi-use trail shared with mountain bikers. Turn right at White Rock Gap Trail (a left leads to Sherando Lake Campground) and continue for a half-mile back to your car.

-Mapped by Amy C. Balfour”

To view the full details of the trip, the trail, the submitted pictures, and the coordinates, you can head to the Backpacker.com website – White Rock Falls Trail

The festival featured the National Strawberry Eating Contest, lots of food vendors, all sorts of craft vendors and tents set up with goods for sale, games for kids, and more. Below are some pictures and a short (~15 second) video of the bagpipe band from Winchester that was there.

Even though it went to a good cause (Emmanuel Church) I still feel like $20 per car was a bit pricey to charge as entrance, especially for those of us who just came with two people (like us). If it was a family of 5 or bigger group, then the flat rate was worth it. I’d like to see a per person charge up to a certain number of people. I think that would even attract more people being more affordable. But, still, the parking “lot” was packed with tons of cars – so congrats on a great success for the 16th annual festival.

With things on the agenda like children’s games, live entertainment, hayrides, crafts, puppet shows and raffles, you don’t want to miss out. Oh, and I better not forget the National Strawberry Eating Championship offering an amatuer and professional round. View the full list of activities on their website.

Hopefully we’ll come home with some good pictures, videos, and maybe a story or two. The weather for the weekend looks good during the days so it should be a great time.

It’s a bit pricey in my opinion to get in – $20 per car for a one day pass (it runs Saturday and Sunday) – so it better be worth it and not rain! Get the full low down on the festival at the Delaplane Strawberry Festival website!

If you’re looking for a listing of all the state parks in Virginia, then look no further. Below is a list of all the Virginia State Parks and links to their individual pages within the Virginia State Parks website.

Bear Creek Lake (BC)
Belle Isle (BI)

Breaks Interstate (BR)
Caledon Natural Area (CA)

Chippokes Plantation (CP)
Claytor Lake (CL)

Douthat (DO)
False Cape (FC)
Fairy Stone (FS)
First Landing (FL)
Grayson Highlands (GH)
High Bridge Trail (HB)
Holliday Lake (HL)

Hungry Mother (HM)
James River (JR)
Kiptopeke (KP)
Lake Anna (LA)
Leesylvania (LE)

Mason Neck (MN)
Natural Tunnel (NT)
New River Trail (NR)

Occoneechee (OC)

Pocahontas (PO)
Sailor’s Creek Battlefield Historic (SC)
Shenandoah River Raymond R. “Andy” Guest Jr. (SH)
Shot Tower (ST)

Sky Meadows (SK)
Smith Mountain Lake (SM)

Southwest Virginia Museum Historical (SW)

Staunton River (SR)
Staunton River Battlefield (SB)
Tabb Monument

Twin Lakes (TL)
Westmoreland (WE)

Wilderness Road (WR)
York River (YR)

Enjoy all the beautiful areas that Virginia has to offer!

A couple of their books will overlaps states depending on the area that it features. For Virginia hikes, the best two to check out would be 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Richmond and 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Washington D.C..

I’ll be featuring some more hiking trail guide books for Virginia trails soon, but I wanted to put out this set now. Check them out and let us know what you think!

This 7,247-acre memorial parkway, running from George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon to just below the Great Falls of the Potomac River protects the natural scenery along the river as a memorial to the celebrated Revolutionary War general and first president of the United States. Numerous places of historic interest and natural beauty lie along the route. From the south to north, they include Fort Hunt, where batteries guarded the river approach from 1898 to 1917; Dyke Marsh, a habitat for birds such as herons, egrets, rails, and ducks; Daingerfield Island, an area with hiking paths, recreational facilities, and the Washington Sailing Marina; Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary, a popular birdwatching area; Gravelly Point, a spot that offers an excellent view across the river to the nations capital; access to Columbia Island, on which are located the Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove, the Navy and Marine Memorial, and the Columbia Island Marina; parking for the pedestrian bridge to Theodore Roosevelt Island; and Turkey Run Park, an area affording views of the palisades of the Potomac.

Mailing Address:

Turkey Run Park

McLean, VA 22101-0001

703-289-2530

Fredericksburg

Following a number of intense clashes between Union and Confederate tropps at Fredericksburg in December 1862, one of the worst military disasters of the Civil War resulted in a devastating defeat for the Union army, with casualties totaling at least 12,500 men. The site of this killing field was below Marye’s Heights, a strategic hill that, as was known to the Union forces, was bristling with Confederate batteries of cannon and infantry. What the Union commanders did not know, however, was what lay hidden at the base of the hill, along a sunken road and out of sight behind the breastwork of a stone wall.

As the first Union brigade of soldiers charged across a 400-yard expanse of open ground in an attempt to storm the hill, they were suddenly mowed down by the massive volley of Confederate musket fire that erupted from behind the wall. From noon until dark, wave after wave charged across the field, but each suffered the same fate. The slaughter continued, with not a single Northerner ever reaching the wall. Feeling from this defeat, the demoralized Union army withdrew northward across the Rappahannock River.

Chancellorsville

Nearly five months later, in early May 1863, the next fierce occurred around Chancellorsville, about ten miles to the northwest of Fredericksburg. Even though the Confederates were greatly outnumbered, they nevertheless achieved another victory. In the final clash of the battle, Confederates opened a withering attack upon a 22,000 man Union force that, earlier in the day, had captured the defenses in and around Fredericksburg. Heavy casualties from those several days of fighting totaled more than 17,000 Union and nearly 13,000 Confederate soldiers.

The Wilderness
A year later, two days at savage, confused, hand-to-hand combat occurred between Union and Confederate armies in an area of dense scrubby pines and oaks known as the Wilderness, about 15 miles northwest of Fredericksburg. The smoke from forest fires reduced visibility further, adding to the chaos of the conflict. Union casualties totaled nearly 18,000 men, while the Confederates sustained more than 8,000 killed, wounded, or captured. Unlike previous Union commanders in the Virginia campaign, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant refused to retreat. Instead, he ordered his forces on southward, in a campaign designed to wear down and ultimately defeat General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate army.

Spotsylvania Court House

Several days later, the armies clashed again in fierce combat at the important crossroads junction of Spotsylvania Court House. Some of the most brutal combat of the Civil War occurred at a U-shaped salient known as the “mule shoe.” The Union forces far outnumbered and soon overwhelmed the Confederates. As more and more reinforcements on both sides poured into the battle around the jutting angle, savage hand-to-hand warfare erupted, with soldiers using bayonets, knives, clubs, rocks, and bare fists. For 20 hours, the slaughtering raged on, made worse by a downpour of rain and deepening mud, and after midnight, the Southerners finally retreated to form new defense lines. For all the fighting, which continued for the next two weeks, there were no measurable gains for either side. Following the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House, the area around Fredericksburg became an enormous open-air hospital, where surgeons labored around the clock attending to the 20,000 wounded Union and Confederate soldiers.

The park has two visitor centers, providing interpretive exhibits, an audiovisual program, and publications. One is near the base of Marye’s Heights at 1013 Lafayette Boulevard in the Fredericksburg unit, and the other is at Chancellorsville, eight miles west of I-95 on State Route 3. A self-guided auto tour and self-guided walking routes lead to points of interest. Other interpretive facilities include exhibit shelters at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House units.The park headquarters is located in the red-brick, 18th century style plantation mansion, Chatham Manor, to the north of the Rappahannock River. This gran old structure served as a Union army headquarters and field hospital during the Civil War. The park also offers walking tours during the summer, and picnic areas are available at all four battlefield units, Chatham Manor, and the Stonewall Jackson Shrine. Access to the park includes State Route 3, east from I-95 to Fredericksburg and west from I-95 to the Chancellorsville and Wilderness units. One of the accesses to the Spotslyvania Court House unit is on State Route 613, southeast from State Route 3, just to the east of the Wilderness Battlefield.