Rocky Mount, Virginia’s Grassy Hill Preserve trails. 6.6 miles
Photo Above: The Day Hiker overlooks Rocky Mount on a gray day along Grassy Hill’s ridge line.
We do this walk, usually, as a part of a weekend-evening visit to Rocky Mount’s Harvester Performance Center, on this date to watch some comedy. Such a day allows time for lunch—well, we should have carried it into the woods, but The Day Hiker talked us into a pre-start lunch at the latest iteration of the restaurant space across the street from the Harvester, the Rocky Mount Burger Co. The new effort is not as ambitious as the former dining room there, but OK for lunch.
The Grassy Hill trails are easy-day perfection: The climbs are modest, the loops are fun, there are a couple of benches with views down over Rocky Mount, and the walk seems shorter than the stated total of 6.6.
And on this day, as on most when we have visited, we had the place pretty much to ourselves, with the exception of crossing a lone hiker twice and then seeing him again as we got back to the car.
We were out of the woods in plenty of time to make a visit to Ippy’s for dinner and then hie on down to the show.
