Short Hikes to Great Vistas in 7 States

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These classic spots are great for any time of year, and are a fine-views way to kick off your hiking year.

After more than a year of pretty much staying in the house and venturing forth to walk just some local pathways, Laurie and I were fully vaccinated and ready for some traveling and far-off vistas. We knew that, of course, so were a multitude of people.

We came up with a plan to seek out some of the region’s best viewpoints, but not those—such as Hawksbill in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park—that we knew would probably be overrun. We decided on the lesser-celebrated, but still wonderful vistas that are more lightly visited. Knowing that our hiking prowess had deteriorated somewhat during the past year, we chose sites that could easily be reached within the morning hours.

Not only did this hold the promise of meeting fewer people, it meant we would have an easier outing and could be done before the true heat of day had built up. There would also still be enough daylight hours to possibly visit some nearby attractions.

Our June pilgrimage is fully translatable into early spring or fall-color visits.

GEORGIA

Mount Oglethorpe was the original southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail until 1958, when trail advocates considered the increasing development on and around the mountain to be incompatible with the pathway’s wilderness character.

After the trail’s southern starting point was moved more than 10 miles to the northeast on Springer Mountain, Oglethorpe’s summit seems to have been pretty much forgotten and neglected. So much so that the monument to Edward Oglethorpe, who founded the Georgia colony, became so vandalized that it was moved to the nearby town of Jasper to prevent any further damage.

Ken and Billie Ann Rice purchased more than 100 acres on Oglethorpe’s summit in 1995, and, under the auspices of the Mount Oglethorpe Foundation, opened the Eagle’s Rest Park to the public in 2014. Workers with the Mountain Stewards, a nonprofit organization, built a system of trails and observation platforms looking out to the four points of the compass. The mountaintop may be reached by automobile, with the last quarter-mile of the road being dirt and gravel.

Laurie and I started our exploration a little after sunrise. Basically in the middle of the parking lot, the Northern Viewing Deck overlooks the wooded ridgelines of the north Georgia mountains. Following the circular, easy, half-mile Eagle’s Rest Trail in a clockwise direction, the wide panorama to the east overlooks the Big Canoe residential community with its two constructed lakes taking up much of the valley below. The Southern Viewing Deck looks out upon the flatter landscape of the Georgia piedmont. (Someone on Yelp said they were able to see Atlanta’s skyline 60 miles away, but things were a bit too hazy for me to verify that it’s possible to do so.) The scene from the Western Viewing Deck is a woodlands landscape of lush deciduous trees.

Wanting to spend more time here, we walked the Grassy Knob Vista Trail—no vista, despite the name—which winds for 1.3 miles in the woods just below the summit before driving to Gibbs Gardens in nearby Ball Ground, Georgia.

The 300-plus acres of the gardens make them one of the country’s largest residential estate gardens. Miles of trails wind through dozens of eye-pleasingly arranged areas of hydrangeas, daffodils, azaleas, rhododendrons, roses, daylilies and more. Small ponds have been created to reflect the beauty of the Japanese and waterlily gardens. And who knew that, after having had such a visual feast for several hours in the gardens, the little Arbor Café’s chicken salad sandwich and organic iced lemonade would please our taste buds so well?

TENNESSEE

When I asked Johnny Molloy, author of “Five Star Trails: Tri-Cities of Tennessee and Virginia: Your Guide to the Area’s Most Beautiful Hikes In and Around Bristol, Johnson City and Kingsport,” for his choice of viewpoints, he directed me to a hike near his home in Johnson City.

“The White Rock vista atop Buffalo Mountain provides a first-rate panorama of Cherokee National Forest high country, the balds of Roan Mountain and even into Virginia,” he says.  “I like it because the view never fails to thrill first-time visitors who can spot landmarks near and far, and is so convenient to the city. But even on the way to the view, there is so much to appreciate as the hike goes over forested ridges and into rich hollows.”

Buffalo Mountain, acquired in a land swap with the U.S. Forest Service in 1994, is operated by the city’s parks and recreation department as a nature preserve. With close to eight miles of trails coursing through its 725 acres, it’s possible to take a number of different routes to reach White Rock. I have hiked most of those pathways before, but this time I just wanted to get to the vista as quickly as possible and that way is a three-mile roundtrip hike that ascends 900-feet from the Hartsell Hollow Trailhead parking area.

The beauty of the place makes itself known as soon as we rise along the connector trail. More than 200 species of wildflowers have been found throughout the park.

Just a few minutes from the trailhead, we turned onto White Rock Loop Trail, rising rather quickly to reach the ridgeline that is followed to the vista. Luckily, the steeper sections last for a mere few hundred feet at a time.

Don’t make the mistake I did the first time I was here. Don’t just go out to the main White Rock overlook. There are actually four different viewpoints and by wandering around, you will not only be able to take in the wide vista out across Buffalo Valley and Johnson City, but also look upon the town of Elizabethton and Holston Mountain.

Descending through rhododendron thickets on the way back, I thought that Molloy’s book succinctly summed up the outing: “Here you can find wildflowers aplenty, rocky streams, towering forests and rewarding panoramas, all on a rumpled peak that gained its name as a Cherokee Indian vantage post used to spot roaming buffalo in the lowlands below.”

The city’s website, johnsoncity.org, has links for a trail map and a way to obtain driving directions to the park.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Both the villages and the rivers are now under the waters of the 26-mile long, three-mile wide Lake Keowee, whose construction was completed in the early 1970s. Opened to the public at about the same time, Keowee-Toxaway State Park contains 1,000 acres, yet its small campground contains barely two dozen sites.

The large size of the park, its small campground, and the fact that many visitors’ focus is on the lake, means that the trails are often wonderfully devoid of people. In fact, on our four-mile outing along the Natural Bridge and Raven Rock trails, we encountered only one other person—and this was just one day after the Memorial Day weekend.

In extolling the virtues of the hike, park manager Kevin Blanton tells visitors, “You get to experience different forest types, rock outcroppings, geological formations, small cascades along Poe Creek and seasonal wildflowers and mountain laurel. The rock outcropping along the Raven Rock hiking trail offers a picturesque view of Lake Keowee and is the best photo opportunity found at the state park. It’s also a great place to eat lunch or enjoy a sunset.”

Robert Holliday, of nearby Easley, is a bit more poetic in his description of the trails and the overlook: “I’ve hiked the mountain laurel-lined trails many times, crossing over the natural rock bridge, passing by the two waterfalls, and winding down and around to the beautiful views of the blue wall of the mountains surrounding the waters of Lake Keowee.”

I understood what he meant when we reached Raven Rock. Beyond the lake and its surrounding low ridgeline, the Blue Ridge Mountains rise quickly to the horizon.

The trail descends into a quiet cove, where three kayakers were paddling by the narrow point’s three backcountry campsites. (Site three is the choice one, being closest to the water.)

The park is well-known for its lush displays of the pink and white blossoms of mountain laurel and rhododendron and a large variety of other often-seen wildflowers and vegetation, but Holliday says that this hike is also the only one that, “I’m aware of that has a white berry variety of the partridgeberry plants.”

Rob Achenberg, retired from the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, provides an additional reason to take a walk in the park, “A portion of the trails, known as the Eastatoe Passage, will be a part of the main Palmetto Trail.” That pathway, still a work in progress, will one day stretch 500 miles from the South Carolina mountains to the Intracoastal Waterway near the Atlantic Ocean.

KENTUCKY

Kingdom Come State Park, named for John Fox, Jr’s Civil War novel, “The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come,” provides the opportunity to take in a view from another Raven Rock—also called Raven’s Rock. No matter the name, this rock is well worth hiking the less than 1.5 miles (round-trip) to its soaring grand vista. In addition, we were here on a Tuesday and once again, following our philosophy of getting started early in the morning, saw not one other person on the hike.

Parking at the visitor center and miniature golf course, we walked around the eastern side of the 3.5-acre lake (fishing and pedal boating available) to the Laurel Trail. It’s actually a dirt and gravel road and quickly established that the few hundred feet in elevation we were going to gain on the hike were not going to be at a leisurely pace. (Do not let this dissuade you. Remember, it’s less than three-quarters of a mile to Raven Rock.)

A short side trail led to the natural “Cave Amphitheater.” Bleacher seats suggest that it has been used in the past as an event venue; we just enjoyed the fact that I could stand in one corner of the cave and whisper a few words and Laurie could clearly hear what I said in another corner well over 100 feet away.

Switchbacks on the Powerline Trail delivered us to views from both the King and Queen’s Chairs and Raven Rock, a huge slab of sandstone slanted at a 45-degree angle. An overcast sky and the hazy atmosphere of a summer day did not diminish the view. Black Mountain, Kentucky’s tallest at 4,145 feet, dominates nearby ridgelines that include some of the commonwealth’s other highest mountains. The Cumberland River, unseen in the narrow valley it created that bisects the scenery, has carved the hillsides of these lofty peaks, causing them to drop at dramatic angles.

As Laurie had never been in a coal mine, and we had many hours of the day left in which to explore the nature and history of the area, we drove about 15 minutes to Lynch, Kentucky, and Portal 31, an exhibition coal mine. As we went deeper into the mountain while riding in mining rail cars, the tour operator—and animatronic humans!—told the story of how the techniques of coal mining changed from the early to mid-1900s, including the struggles of miners to unionize. 

That evening we dined in what had been the principal’s office and slept in a former classroom of the 1926 Benham Schoolhouse, now converted to an inn.

NORTH CAROLINA

For this one, you almost don’t even have to get out of your car, as you can see the view through your windshield as soon as you turn off the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 328.3, about five miles north of Little Switzerland. The view from the Orchard at Altapass is, in my opinion, one of the parkway’s most easily accessible sweeping vistas, but it can only be truly appreciated by walking one of the trails wandering through the apple trees.

Apple growing has a long tradition in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the orchard is now operated by the nonprofit Altapass Foundation. In addition to the trails, the public is invited to participate in hayrides, attend mountain music concerts, purchase or pick their choice of more than 40 varieties of apples or shop in the retail store and snack bar. (Don’t miss the apple pie a la mode.) It’s a great place for the family to spend an entire day hiking, picnicking, and learning about the heritage of the mountains.

There are more than four more miles of trails (all offering eastward-looking viewpoints of their own) that course through the orchard.

The orchard’s pathways are also part of the parkway’s TRACK Trails system, developed to help children and families connect with nature. Brochures, providing fun and informative activities to do while on the trails, are usually available at the trailhead. If not, download them from kidsinparks.com. Although there may be some confusing intersections where you may not be able to tell just exactly which way you want to turn, there is no possibility of getting lost. All of the pathways are on easy to moderate grades.

At a little more than two miles, the Loop Trail is the longest and provides ample opportunity to gaze up to Jackson Knob soaring high above Peppers Creek Valley. Across the narrow valley created by the North Fork of the Catawba River is the long ridgeline of Linville Mountain, with prominent Dobson and Bald knobs rising up on its southern end.

Laurie is a better birder than I am and she was able to point out at least six different species of warblers, some thrashers, two types of woodpeckers, a couple of vireos and even several broad-winged hawks riding thermals rising from the valleys below.

By the way, be sure to pronounce the “a” in Altapass as you would in the word “apple” and not as you would in “all,” or the locals will surely know you are a visitor to the area.

WEST VIRGINIA

Strains of “The Lark Ascending” were passing through my mind as I gazed onto the scenery spread out before me from the Cranny Crow Overlook in Lost River State Park. Yes, I know it was written to evoke England’s countryside and incorporates bits of British folk songs, but even the composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams, said it was a “pastoral romance for violin and orchestra.”

About 1,000 feet below the viewpoint is a narrow valley with Howard’s Lick Run flowing down the middle of it. Lush forested slopes gently rise to nearby broad mountain crests covered in green pastures. The lowing of livestock is carried on the wind as your eyes are drawn to a succession of ridgelines receding to the horizon. There’s no doubt that these green ridgelines and high open meadows of five counties in Virginia and West Virginia are pastoral, bucolic and just downright romantic. As I wrote in my book, “50 Hikes in West Virginia,” you can’t help but envy the residents of these farmlands that get to enjoy this landscape from their homes every day.

It’s a 4-mile round-trip outing to Cranny Crow that starts by ascending the long switchbacks of the White Oak Trail (a route used by horses, so be mindful of where you step). A small wooden shelter about a mile in has a view that could be a destination unto itself, but it is really just a hint of the vista that awaits higher up.

Reaching the main crest of Big Ridge (yes, that is the actual name of the mountain), the hike turns onto Miller’s Rock Trail to arrive at the overlook and its stone shelter, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

Laurie and I had brought an abundance of snacks and plenty of water as we intended to spend a large portion of the day reading books and generally enjoying being perched on this aerie. Alas, it was not meant to be. Within a few minutes of our arrival, the few white puffy clouds we watched go floating by gave way to a darkened, overcast sky, with a wind that made tree limbs creak. Distant thunder became close thunder as we hurriedly made our way back.

The rain held off just long enough for us to get our luggage into one of the state park’s Legacy Cabins we had rented for the evening. Also constructed by the CCC, they have been upgraded with heat, air conditioning and modern kitchen appliances.

Lost River State Park takes its name from the nearby stream that disappears underground for three miles as it flows under Sandy Ridge and reemerges as the Cacapon River. In addition to the Cranny Crow hike and rental cabins, the park has 20 more miles of trails, riding stables, a swimming pool, picnic areas, gift shop and camping.

VIRGINIA

Rich Hole may well be the most easily accessed federally-designated wilderness area in all of Virginia. Its boundary is within a few hundred yards of I-64 and its trailhead is reached by taking Exit 35 (a few miles east of Clifton Forge) and going  four miles on VA 850 to a small gravel turnout on the left.

It may be accessible, but it seems to receive infrequent visitors. The U.S. Forest Service says trail usage is light and the Virginia Wilderness Committee says, “there is only one, little used trail in the area.” I have been here numerous times and have never encountered another person.

Which is a real shame, for this is an exceptional place. Its more than 6,000 acres received the wilderness designation in 1988, but the forest service has managed the land as a primitive area since it acquired the property in 1935. This means that whatever disturbances humans had made have now had almost a full century to return to a somewhat more natural state.

There is also the very real possibility of seeing black bears, or at least evidence of them. In 1958, an inspection team from the Wilderness Society recommended the suitability of Rich Hole as a wild area based almost exclusively on its large bear population. Of course, that was decades ago, and bears move about from year to year, but, again, each time I’ve been here I’ve seen more piles of scat per mile than any other place I’ve hiked.

Although I would have enjoyed walking the Rich Hole Trail’s complete 5.7 miles, our visit in June was to just take a leisurely stroll of only 1.2 miles (round-trip) to the wilderness area’s best viewpoint.

A rock outcropping breaks up the tangle of mountain laurel and rhododendron, providing a wide panorama to the south of 3,000-foot North Mountain rising high above I-64 and the Simpson Creek valley. With a flitting scarlet tanager as a companion and no urgent place to be, we spent the next several hours reading our books (mine was Denise Giardina’s “The Unquiet Earth” and Laurie’s “Illyrian Spring” by Ann Bridge). We would look up every little bit to enjoy our natural surroundings and then look downward, thankful that, at least for the moment, we were not a part of the swarm of cars and trucks speeding along the interstate.

The story above first appeared in our March / April 2022 issue. For more like it subscribe today or log in with your active BRC+ Membership. Thank you for your support!