Category: Backpacking & Hiking

We don't always just go to parks, often you will find in historical sites enough of trails to make it a "hike" and not just a place to look at where dead people sat on a stool. We traveled to Booker T. Washington National Historic Site this past week and had such a good time. … Continue reading Booker T. Washington National Historic Site

This week's post is in regards to Smith Mountain Lake State Park and trying to finish up the portion of Striper Trail that is quite frankly, out of the way of the rest of the trail. We started with one of our favorites of Walton Creek Trail, had a break at the parking lot, and … Continue reading Walton Creek / Striper Loop Trails

When we moved up to North Carolina in the early 2000s, we spent a lot of time seeking out local tourism and finding the state parks. One such park was Raven Rock State Park. They have a great detailed page of the individual trails here, and the map. We never did the horse trails, but … Continue reading Raven Rock State Park

We actually camped at Smith Mountain Lake for this trip, and after a chilly low 50s morning with higher winds, we got up at 5:30am and started the hike. While it was dark, we sneaked out of the camp to try not to wake up anyone. It had a feel of some sort of end-times … Continue reading Buck Run Trail

This trail feels so far the best trail in Smith Mountain State Park. See map here. The path actually took us 2.3 miles. There were very few heavy hills and the views were amazing. Now, we did go when the leaves were turning, so I highly recommend going then. The Sourwoods were magnificent. This is … Continue reading Chestnut Ridge Trail

We did this trail today, so the day’s tally was 4.6 miles. This trail is winding and not a loop, so we decided to take a portion of it, and then come back via the road. We parked and took a bit of Buck Run Trail to Striper, making our way to Turtle Island Trail. … Continue reading Striper Cove Trail

This is an under-developed trail at Smith Mountain Lake State Park. It is under-developed due to lack of staffing. Thus, the trail exists, but there are no official blazes along the way. The only marking are those by hunters and tags on branches. The trail states that it is 3.0 miles, but we were closer … Continue reading Five Oaks Trail

This is more of a quick walk off the road, but it is beautiful. This is an 80 foot waterfall that you can no long get into that they have fenced against. https://youtu.be/_g6eTwMTmts

This is one trail within the Smith Mountain Lake State Park. Because we are working on all of the trails individually, I will post each of these trails. The park map can be found here. You can make this a loop if you add this trail to the other side of the State Park Road. … Continue reading Walton Creek Trail

This October (2020), we took a trip into the mountains to see the fall colors. It was a great opportunity to get out of the house during Covid that would would still be social distancing. We went to Douthat State Park, and didn't do any of the hikes, other than walking around the falls and … Continue reading Douthat State Park