Kurt and Cookie head up the Little Rocky Row Trail, March 20, 2021
March 6: Catawba Greenway to Appalachian Trail along Sawtooth Ridge and back. 6 miles. It’s a comment on the ongoing popularity/overcrowdedness of the McAfee Knob area—just back up Va. 311 from the little lot where you park for this hike—that as we got out of the car to begin, a couple drove onto the little lot to ask, “Is this the way to McAfee Knob too?” We told them yes, but with a bit of extra distance. Our walk, up the western side of Catawba Mountain for a mile and then south—away from McAfee–for two miles on the Appalachian Trail for lunch, will one day be part of a loop including the Catawba Trail up the mountain on both sides of 311 and the A. T. Our walk was a pleasant and lonesome out-and-back.
March 7: Horse Pen and Lakeside trails out-and-back at Carvins Cove. 4 miles. Nice day, easy walk, great lunch next to the water. Works every time. And the Timberview parking lot—smaller than either the boat dock or Bennett Springs lots—is rarely crowded; on this day mostly bicyclists.
March 14: Tinker Creek Greenway to Carvins Cove boat dock area and back. 4.8 miles. Our hike for this weekend was to have been up Wilson Mountain off of Va. 614 near Jennings Creek, a walk we had not done for perhaps 10 years. The walk begins with the climb over a stile and onto some farmland and then to a healthy stream. As we approached it, I asked The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All if she remembered that it was at this stream crossing that I had suffered my only get-really-wet fall into a stream in all our years of hiking. And just as she was musing that yeah, she kinda did, my foot went off the top of a slippery rock I knew better than to step on, and I was full-body in the creek. Well, half-body up and down one side. Ironies cascaded. It was cold, and my change-into upper layers also got wet, and so we got back into the car and drove home, with too much of the day having been spent for us to do anything more than an urban walk. The Sunday hike is a favorite, and along it we came across old friend and colleague Paul Calhoun, out on a hike with his wife and son. A pleasure to catch up after perhaps as many years as it had been since I found myself prone-and-struggling in a stream. This has become a popular trail, with lures for dogs, fishermen and women and families. Plus, given that the trailhead is just off I-81 at Plantation Road, it’s as easy as any to get to.
March 20: Little Rocky Row Trail to Appalachian Trail to Fuller’s Rocks and back. 5.6 miles. The classic spot—well, unless you continue north on the A.T. to Rocky Row for another great view—to look down upon the flow of the James River as you enjoy lunch. This hike, with parking on the side of U.S. 501, has become the geezer alternative to the 21-switchbacks hoke to the same place using the Appalachian Trail from 501.
March 27: Hotel, Buck, Brushy Mountain, Hi Dee Ho trails loop at Carvins Cove. 4.5 miles. Once again, if you’re not prone to take on the climb or the parking lot for McAfee Knob, at least you can climb Brushy Mountain and sit down for lunch to look upon it. This walk is from the Bennett Springs lot, and features a new trail midway up the mountain that connects Buck and Hi Dee Ho via a flank-side walk. We also came across lots of fresh evidence of horses on this walk, which seems to have been missing from the Carvins trails we walk during the pandemic year. While we didn’t come across any live riders, it was good to see clearly that they’re back.
