634 There is limited roadside parking Add On: After you hike head to The Bank restaurant for some great food and drink Not done yet? Rent a canoe or go fishing with Tangent Outfitters (540.626.4567) Roanoke Outside Land Activities and Attractions visit the website. 634 (Morris Avenue) Follow 0.6 miles to where the Appalachian Trail crosses Rt. 100S) Take 2nd right onto Johnston Avenue (Beside the Dairy Queen) Take the next right onto Rt. Steep and beautiful Length: 2.3 miles one way (4.6 miles round trip) Directions to Trailhead: I-81 S to exit 118B (460W towards Blacksburg) Follow 460W for ~30 miles (past Blacksburg, Newport, and Pembroke) Take 2nd exit after crossing New River (Pearisburg/Rt. The AT continues to the crest of Angel’s Rest and follows along a rock ledge overhanging Wilburn Valley for more spectacular views. When you reach the boulders at the top, detour a few hundred feet to the right on a blue-blazed trail for a view of Pearisburg and the twisting New River. Gradually, the thriving hardwood forest of the lowlands gives way to stunted oaks and shrubs. The path crosses over two ancient rockslides and passes through thick poplar and oaks, as well as laurel and rhododendron. The well-worn trail leads into a spring-fed ravine and briefly along an old logging road before settling into a consistent, thrashing course of switchbacks. climb before you can sprawl over a boulder enjoying the view of the New River below. Each team has a dedicated crew leader and assistant crew leader, and the teams are separated from each other by significant distance while remaining in radio or cell phone contact with each other throughout the day.The climb to Angel’s Rest above Pearisburg is notorious among Appalachian Trail hikers for its punishing incline. Steve Kruger worked with the Forest Service and State Parks to get agreement on the two-team plan, which is now ongoing. Guy remained interested in developing a skilled rock team at TKO. After a few weeks, we began to realize that we could be much more productive with two teams of 12, one for tread and one for rock. For several weeks, we divided the group of 12 into two groups, one for tread work and the other for rock work, rebuilding the stacked switchbacks near the top which had suffered considerable erosion damage from the fire. Work parties have filled up almost immediately, with many new volunteers coming out to learn trail skills. (Photo by Elaine Keavney)īoth State Parks and the Forest Service have decided to limit crew size in the burn area to 12 people. He mentors volunteers in the art and skill of working with rocks and continues to come every Tuesday.Ī new rock wall supports a previously eroded section of trail that had been used as a cut-through by hikers. An assistant crew leader for Washington Trails Association with considerable experience in rock structure building, Guy began to come regularly to the work parties. Work on the first switchback, supervised by Guy Hamblen, improved an area that had previously been a tangle of exposed roots. With the understory burned, finding rocks for improving switchbacks was much easier. We also began to consider how we could improve the switchbacks by repairing eroded trail and plugging the number of cut-throughs that hikers have made when shortcutting the switchbacks. Much of the early work was deferred maintenance on this trail, improving tread in ways that had been very challenging, if not impossible, when the trail was open to the public. Once we crossed the Coopey Creek bridge, we were able to start tread work in earnest. Many of these rocks needed to be hand-placed, since if they were tossed over the edge, they might fall all the way to the bottom and trigger other rocks to follow.īefore restoration: An eroded section of the Angel’s Rest trail makes for difficult walking with intersecting tree roots and sunken areas. A TKO work party spent most of a Saturday moving rocks and stabilizing the trail across the talus slope. The talus slope remained relatively stable after the fire, but many new rocks of various sizes on the trail made hiking treacherous, particularly when carrying tools. After the first two work parties, and after a fall by a volunteer, it became clear that before others could safely traverse the talus slope about a quarter-mile from the trailhead, the tread across the rock slope needed to be improved. Are you traveling with children Families may also want to rethink bringing their kids along when hiking Angels Landing. If you’re not physically fit with good balance, you may want to consider another hike in Zion National Park. The work on that section was not so much restoration of fire damage as it was improving the drainage that is a chronic problem in that section of the trail. Angels Landing has hikers pushing themselves along a trail that ascends a total of 1500 feet. The first volunteers began work on the section just below the Coopey Creek bridge on March 3, 2018. The Angel’s Rest Trail was heavily affected by the Eagle Creek Fire, and TKO volunteers were eager to get to work on the restoration of this popular trail. By Elaine Keavney, Board Member, Trailkeepers of Oregon
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