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Mt Rogers hiking highlights
Would you like to hike to Mount Rogers summit with Wild Pony sightings along the way? Have you ever been to the top of Virginia? What are the attractions to these areas? Wilderness Wanderers took a trip and will share their wanderings as well as some tips for when you visit Mount Rogers National Recreational Area.
Where is Mount Rogers?
Mount Rogers National Recreational Area in Virginia is a popular tourist location because, if you climb to the summit, you will have reached the highest point in Virginia. 5,730 ft! It sounds like a lot. However, using the Elk Garden trailhead was a very nice gradual ascent and descent. Only around 1,700 ft of elevation gain/loss on the trail dispersed over about 5 miles. Check it out on Alltrails here. Mount Rogers sits adjacent to Grayson Highlands State Park of Virginia, which has its own special attractions as well. The main attraction being the spectacular Wild Ponies. You will find them in many areas of the park on shorter day hikes, or even sometimes if you have just a few hours.
Why Hike to Mount Rogers from Elk Garden trailhead?
Starting at Elk Garden trailhead was beautiful as soon as you step out of your car in the parking area! Open mountain views, a hazy mist was in the sky circling the mountains – it gave us a special feeling. Vaulted toilets are provided at this location. It is a loop trail with a distance of about 11 miles. We traveled against the grain (unintentionally) according to the Alltrails suggested direction. Traveling this direction, we camped near Mount Rogers summit spur trail in an established camping area with a composting toilet and shelter house.
To find this, hike Trail 1 (in Alltrail maps), also part of the Appalachian trail, to where it and the Mount Rogers Summit spur meet. Then, continue on (trail 1 or the Appalachian trail) about 1/4 mile beyond the spur trail, and there you will find many established camping locations available to the left of the trail nestled in some pine trees. There are also a few on the right of the trail out in the open. All very beautiful locations. People love this spot though, so be prepared for neighbors. If you would rather not have neighbors, you can choose another location. You just need to be 200ft off of the established trail, and preferably use an already established campsite.
The Best reason
The best reason to hike this trail is for the wild ponies! If you hike far enough and are patient, you will have a good chance of a sighting. It was truly spectacular to camp and wake up to a foggy morning with its beauty, and have a band of these magnificent wild ponies venture near our campsite. They shared the trail with us all morning as we made the one mile hike to Mount Rogers summit before breaking camp.
To quote someone telling me what to expect at the summit, “it’s the most underwhelming site you will see”. What did he mean? It is heavily treed at the summit, with some dense foliage. Still beautiful in its own right, but there are no grand mountain views to be seen on top. Even so, you will get some of these views along the trail. Also, I’m assuming he meant it would be “underwhelming” in comparison to seeing the wild ponies!
Having climbed to the top of Virginia, seen breathtaking mountain wilderness and meadows along the way, and shared the trail with some wild ponies, it was time to head home. The descent went much faster than the climb. It was a steady heavy rain on us the entire way down, but it was still very enjoyable. On leaving camp, we started to return the way we came. We took the first connecting trail in a large beautiful opening to trail FS 337 or Virginia Highlands Horse Trail according to Alltrails and continued toward Elk Garden trailhead. It provided some different scenery for our return hike.
Wilderness Wanderer ratings/tips:
- Would we recommend this hike? Yes!
- Tips:
- Pack raingear
- Take your time to look for the ponies!
- Try it as an overnight camping trip
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