Blue Ridge Country March/April 2022 - 51

ABOVE: Fire pink is among the wildflowers in the littlevisited
Rich Hole Wilderness of Virginia.
LEFT: The best viewpoint in Virginia's Rich Hole
Wilderness is only an easy 1.2-mile walk, but is also just
off of I-64 near Clifton Forge.
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 (roundtrip)
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.
MARCH/APRIL 2022 51
Blue Ridge Country March/April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country March/April 2022
