February 16th, 2008 - For about 30 minutes today, I stood higher than any other person in the State of Virginia. 

I began my Mount Rogers summit heading north on the Appalachian Trail at the Elk Garden trailhead (elevation 4435').  This hike starts out very scenic with a nice climb up a grass-covered ridge.  Then after a mile or so I left the balds and began a gradual climb through the forest on the west side of the mountain.  As my elevations increased, the forests turned from decidous to Fir and Spruce.  These areas were very pretty, with numerous springs flowing across the trail.                      

Mount Rogers Sign at Elk Garden (Highway VA600)

Soon I left the conifer forests and reached another grass-covered ridge.  This area would normally give great views, but the fog too dense to see much more than a couple hundred yards.  It was here that I also saw two wild ponies in the distance.  I wanted to get a photo of them for the kids, but the weather conditions were too poor.     

After approximately 4 miles I left the A.T. and began my final climb on the approach trail to the summit.  This trail soon turned from grassy to a thick Red Spruce forest, and after a final .5 mile of climbing, I reached the highest peak in the State of Virginia at 5729 feet elevation.  The 1st benchmark below is on a large rock-outcropping, which I assume is the true summit.  I took some photos, ate lunch, and then explored a little more.   

About 100 feet from the first benchmark, there was another rock-outcrop that seemed to be just as high as the first when "eye-balling" it.  This rock was also benchmarked.  Since I didn't know which one was the true summit, I checked each location with my GPS altimeter, and the second location actually showed to be one foot higher than the first.  I'm not sure of the accuracy (each location is very close in elevation), but just to make it official I climbed on top of this rock too, and took another photo.        

After my summit, I retraced my steps back down the mountain.  I was hoping again to run into some more wild ponies, but I had no luck.  But, the skies began to clear up a bit as I reached the balds near Elk Garden, so I had some nice views on my descent.     

I arrived back at the Jeep after a round-trip of four hours (from 11:00 to 3:00).  My GPS registered 8.8 total miles. 

Total Miles Hiked:  8.8