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Proposal for Great Eastern Trail Reroute in Virginia
By Timothy A. Hupp
October 2009
I. The need 1
II. Proposed alternative route 1
III. Conditions on route 4
IV. Possible alternates 9
V. Potential improvements 10
VI. Possible dispositions 10
I. The need
The goal of the Great Eastern Trail is to have a continuous hikeable walkway throughout its length from Alabama to New York. This is to be accomplished by use of existing trails, where possible, and roads where this is not possible. For roads, the preference order is dirt, gravel, paved secondary, and then primary being least desirable. Improvements are to be made with the goal of having the entire GET on trails, or at least off paved roads.
Most of the GET route between Pearisburg, Virginia (at the New River) and Hancock, Maryland (at the Potomac River) has been established: Appalachian Trail to the Allegheny Trail, the Allegheny Trail to Meadow Creek Mountain, a series of trails and roads to the south end of Shenandoah Mountain, Shenandoah Mountain Trail and roads, North Mountain to the Tuscarora Trail, which leads into Hancock. Work is being done on the Carr Mountain Trail, which is needed to connect Shenandoah Mountain with North Mountain.
But the biggest problem with this whole section is that the Allegheny Trail is not continuous along the GET route. In fact, between Laurel Branch, West Virginia and Jerrys Run Road in Alleghany County, Virginia, the Allegheny Trail does not exist (there is a dead end portion south of Jerrys Run Road, which does not help). To cover that distance, there is 6 miles along Monroe County Road 17 and Virginia secondary route 600, a high speed secondary road, then 20 miles of primary state route 311, then 3 miles of Interstate 64—which is not hikeable, since pedestrians are not allowed on interstate highways. Jerrys Run Road is not accessible except from I-64. Before the Allegheny Trail can be built there, numerous issues with private property owners must be solved, and then the trail built. Little progress is expected in the foreseeable future.
For this reason, I am proposing a rerouting of the Great Eastern Trail so to bypass the gap in the Allegheny Trail.
II. Proposed alternative route
Going north, the Allegheny Trail comes to an end at Laurel Branch, West Virginia, as County Road 20 intersects with County Road 17. My proposed route continues on County Road 20 east, up a “road” onto Potts Mountain, follows Potts Mountain north about 14 miles, follows secondary roads into the south end of Covington, Virginia, on Covington streets, then on 30 miles of Forest Service Trails. From there it is just 2 miles of road to connect with the current Great Eastern Trail route on Virginia 609 near Bath Alum.
Detailed description, north to south
Map Designation Name Length owner Users Vehicles Type
(miles) Hikers Bikers Horses
VA 609 Edison Roberts Road 1.8 Bath County X Paved Road
VA 39 Mountain Valley Road 0.9 Virginia X Primary Road
VA 683 Blue Grass Hollow Road 0.8 Bath County X Gravel Road
100 Little Mare Mountain Trail 6.0 Warm Springs RD X X ? FS Trail
5 Brushy Ridge Trail 3.8 Warm Springs RD X X FS Trail
FDR 125 Smith Creek Road 0.3 Warm Springs RD X Gravel Road
15 Middle Mountain Trail 5.5 Warm Springs RD X X X FS Trail
37 Fore Mountain Trail 14.8 James River RD X X X FS Trail
misc. Covington area streets* 2.4 Allegheny County X Paved Road
VA 18 S. Carpenter Drive 0.9 Covington city X Primary Road
VA 657 Pitzer Ridge Road 2.0 Alleghany County X Paved Road
VA 619 Hays Gap Road 3.3 Alleghany County X Paved Road
VA 616 Rich Patch Road 1.5 Alleghany County X Paved Road
VA 618 Upper Rich Patch Road 2.3 Alleghany County X Paved Road
VA 617 Jamison Mountain Road 6.4 Alleghany, Craig County X Paved Road
Lipes Branch Trail 2.3 New Castle RD X X FS Trail
FDR 5036 Potts Mountain 4-wheel Tr. 3.3 New Castle RD X FS Jeep Trail
FDR 177.1 Potts Mountain Road 6.7 New Castle RD X Gravel Road
VA 311 1.1 Virginia X Paved Road
FDR 177.2 Potts Mountain West Road 4.3 New Castle RD X Dirt Road
FDR 5023 1.7 New Castle RD X Rock road
CR 20 Trout Run Road 2.8 Monroe County, WV X Gravel Road
CR 17 0.3 Monroe County, WV X Paved Road
* Covington area streets:
Smokey Bear Lane 0.3
Va. 1104 0.1
Under interstate 0.2
Va. 647 – Interstate Road 0.1
Va. 647 – Mallow Road 1.7 (enters city limits)
This replaces:
FDR 1325 Bath Alum Ridge 1 Warm Springs RD X unpaved road
FDR 465 Bath Alum Ridge Rd. 1 Warm Springs RD X unpaved road
Unnamed trail 0.75 Warm Springs RD X existing trail
113 Piney Mtn Trail 1.5 Warm Springs RD X Existing trail
118 Warm Springs Mtn Trail 0.5 Warm Springs RD X FS trail
113 Piney Mtn Trail 2 Warm Springs RD X FS trail
VA 614 Paved road 0.5 Bath County X Paved Road
109 Muddy Run Trail 1.2 Warm Springs RD X Existing trail
94 Hidden Valley Trail 1.75 Warm Springs RD X Existing trail
241 1.5 Warm Springs RD X unpaved road
88 Bogan Run Trail 5.5 Warm Springs RD X FS trail
VA 600 3.5 Bath County X Paved road
VA 39 1.7 Virginia X Primary road
VA 600 2.9 Bath County X Paved road
Unnumbered High Top Fire Trail 2.5 Warm Springs RD X Gated unpaved road
815/725 Meadow Mtn Trail 4.6 Monongahela NF X X X Existing trail
701 Allegheny Trail 26.8 West Virginia Trail X Existing Trail
FDR 69 Jerrys Run Road 0.3 Allegheny RD X Gravel Road
Interstate 64 3 Virginia/WV X Freeway
VA/WV 311 20 Virginia/WV X Primary Road
CR 17/VA 600 6 Monroe/ Alleghany County X Paved Road Old miles Old % Proposed miles Proposed %
Primary&Interstate 24.7 28% 3.1 4%
Paved Secondary 12.9 15% 19.8 26%
Unpaved roads 8.7 10% 25.5 33%
Trails 42.2 48% 27.8 37% The Current (old) route has a total of 88.5 miles, 43% of which are paved roads. The proposed route has a total of 76.2 miles, 30% of which are paved roads. The main thing is that the current route has an unwalkable gap, while the entire proposed route is walkable.
III. Conditions on route Va. 609 – Edison Roberts Road, 1.8 miles This is a paved secondary road; it is a continuation of a long (8.9 miles) paved road walk, making it a total of 10.7 miles. It passes near the Bath Alum Airport before reaching Va. 39. Traffic is light. Va. 39 – Mountain Valley Road, 0.9 mile This is a primary road, and this part passes the village of Bath Alum, which has no services. Within this section is an intersection with Va. 630, before which is a pullover area that could be used for parking. Va. 683 – Blue Grass Hollow Road, 0.8 mile In the first 0.1 mile, the road is paved with a few houses and business buildings. After that, it is a gravel road in the forest with few houses. There is a sizable parking area on the right for Little Mare Mountain Trail. Little Mare Mountain Trail, 6.0 miles From the name, you might think this is a horse trail, but at the other end of the access on Brushy Ridge Trail, there is a “No Horses” sign. There are no such signs at this trailhead, but I saw no horse droppings on this entire trail. The NG Trails Illustrated maps #788 & #791 claim this is an “Easy” trail, and overall it is, but it does have some steep sections, and near the end has a very steep (about 50% grade) descent to Little Wilson Creek.
The trail makes a climb up the ridge of Little Mare Mountain, climbing from 1750’ to 3500’. It nears the highest knob, then drops down rather steeply to a saddle between there and Little Brushy Mountain, then climbs high on the latter ridge. From there it drops very steeply to Little Wilson Creek, and continues up the next ridge as Brushy Ridge Trail. The Trails Illustrated maps make it look like there is a contact with the Delafield Road descending from the Homestead Skyline Drive. There isn’t—the road we saw was overgrown, and guarded by a sign declaring the area a Nature Preserve, and no one allowed unless they have permission. It is not an access point for this trail.
This is a blue-blazed trail, and is fairly easy to follow, with only a few side trails. It also has signs at each end, and there is a sign on a post at the intersection with Little Mare Mountain Spur Trail, but it is not in the ground. It was lying flat when we found it, and we set it up against a tree.
The lower part, before the Spur Trail, has been worked over with some machine, having two tracks, but not dug in, as grading was not much needed. (The first part of the trail follows an old forest road, but soon leaves it.) The upper part is just a single track path, but it is easy to tell where it goes. In the center part of the trail there is Gypsy moth damage, and it is grown in some—it could use clipping, but not very bad. We found in this area some fairly large Chestnut trees, one that was about 50’ tall and had a trunk 11” in diameter. Also there were large patches of Minniebush, almost replacing Blueberries.
There is no water except at Little Wilson Creek, and no camping sites were seen. I saw no poison ivy along this trail.
Brushy Ridge Trail, 3.8 miles
After Little Wilson Creek, the Little Mare Mountain Trail becomes the Brushy Ridge Trail, with the blue blazes continuing as if there was no name change. It climbs up to about 3600’ elevation, then drops down the side of the ridge by switchbacks, never very steeply, but with a long descent.
This trail could use some clipping, but it is not too bad, and the tread is good. At the 3000’ level, there is an intersection with the Salt Pond Ridge Trail, which has signs, but that trail is quite overgrown.
What is not shown on the Trails Illustrated map is the Lasso Loop, a new yellow blazed road and trail. The head of the Lasso Loop is a large turnaround area that is off the Smith Creek Road just west of where the Brushy Ridge Trail comes out on Smith Creek Road. It goes through a space in a new fence (to limit passage to horses, not vehicles), and it follows the Brushy Ridge Trail across Wilson Creek, then up to a new dirt road. The Lasso Loop goes both ways on the road, so I think the road makes a circuit, but it also has another access, for we saw a pickup truck driving on it, and the approaches we saw would not allow that. Anyway, the Brushy Ridge Trail follows the dirt road for about 0.7 mile. This section is blazed both blue and yellow, but there are not equal amounts of the blazes. There is a sign barring horses on the Brushy Ridge Trail where it leaves the Lasso Loop to the north.
Waterbars are quite rare in this region, but there were some in the trail below the new road. But they haven’t been cleaned out, and many are not doing their job. I saw no poison ivy along this trail. FDR 125 – Smith Creek Road, 0.3 mile This is a gravel road giving access to the trail, not far from Va. 629, the Douthat State Park Road. It provides fairly easy driving, with only occasional potholes and rocks. In the 0.3 miles the GET follows it, there is a crossing of the Left Prong Wilson Creek, and it also goes beside Wilson Creek. There is a side road up the Left Prong that has camping areas.
There is no parking where the Brushy Ridge and the Middle Mountain Trails emerge, but there is a good pullover about 200’ and across from the Middle Mountain Trail.
Poison ivy grows beside this road. Middle Mountain Trail, 5.5 miles There is some confusion on the Trails Illustrated Map #788 for this trail. It designates the northern part of this trail as “South Middle Mountain Trail” (#15) and the southern part as “Greenwood Point Trail” (#10), which is plain wrong, as this trail is over by Lake Moomaw. Obviously a misprint.
There is one continuous trail over Middle Mountain, FS 473, but it has different names. South of the Bath/Alleghany County line, which is also the boundary between the Warm Springs and James River districts, it is called the Fore Mountain Trail. It is all blue blazed, although in the James River/
Alleghany side the blue looks more like turquoise. There are numerous trail intersections on this segment, and the south end (Fore Mountain Trail—see) has been relocated since Map #788 came out (2001). This section will include the Fore Mountain Trail on Middle Mountain.
The north end of this trail ascends by switchbacks up on the ridge. There is some poison ivy in this part, but not growing into the trail. No horses are allowed on this part. At about 2100’ elevation there is an intersection with the yellow-blazed Brown Hollow Spur, which is the horse access. This trail is not on the map.
Most of the trail across Middle Mountain is fairly well graded and open. Only minor clipping would be needed. As the trail passes the edge of Douthat State Park, there are three trails going east into the park, plus two going west to Smith Creek Road. The map is wrong on this, both on number and place of the trails.
The northernmost intersection on top is the Salt Stump Trail, leading mostly south from the northern corner of the park. Next is a new one, apparently not named, leading to Smith Creek Road, but north of the Sandy Gap Trail while reaching the road at the same location. Third is a four-way intersection, sort of. To the west is the Sandy Gap Trail (with a sign that looks like it is facing a direction opposite what it should), then just south of it is a trail going east into the park, but I didn’t see an identifying sign for it. I think that is the Blue Suck Trail. Both of these trails tend north from their intersections. The final Douthat Trail is the Stony Run Trail, from which the Middle Mountain Trail must turn right. In this area are two Bath/Alleghany Line signs, on the ground, about one mile north of the actual line. Also there were two stone benches beside the trail.
There is a relocation in progress where the trail (now Fore Mountain Trail) leaves the Middle Mountain Ridge and goes over to Pine Spur Ridge. The relocation has been blazed and cleared (although grown back some), but the tread has not been built, and it is not packed down. At the north end, the old trail is descending on the Middle Mountain ridge and the relocation goes to the left, and it rejoins it about 0.3 miles just below the crest of Pine Spur Ridge. There is a patch of White Snakeroot that has many Tickseed plants (with stick-tight seeds) that caused us some delay as we pulled them loose.
The trail descends from Pine Spur Ridge with more switchbacks than shown on the map. At about 1750’ elevation there is another relocation that goes off to the east, about to the apparent dead-end point of the road up McGraw Hollow, as it appears on the map. From there it goes south to the road with the parking at the crossing of Smith Creek (it is not clear from the map where the parking is, but it is at the end of the side road by the creek).
The trail has been relocated from where the map shows it crossing VA 606. It now crosses it near the side road to the parking. It follows the road to the parking, then crosses Smith Creek over a huge culvert, then takes a trail up the left bank to a forest road. It follows the forest road about a quarter mile, then makes a SHARP left turn on a new trail—this is very easy to miss if you are heading north! There is a double blaze, easy to miss, and there is little wear for trail traffic, that is, it looks like traffic going other ways. Once on this new trail, there is considerable distance before the next blaze (typically, blazes are seen about once a minute. Not here.). Due to this relocation, I’ve added 0.5 mile to the trail distance given by the map. Note—there are no signs indicating Fore Mountain Trail or Middle Mountain Trail from Va. 606, but there are turquoise blazes along the side road.
Except at the north end and the 0.4 mile gravel road just north of Va. 606 at the south end, I saw little or no poison ivy on this trail section. Fore Mountain Trail, 14.8 miles (about 5 on Middle Mountain) Fore Mountain is the ridge just north of Interstate 64 between Clifton Forge and Covington, coming closer to Covington. The trail is well graded, but is more overgrown than the parts further north, as it has less slow-growing Mountain Laurel and Blueberry. Along the top for about 3 miles is a grass road that goes through several fields cut for wildlife. The rest is graded trail.
The north end of this section leaves Va. 606 (Sulphur Spring Road) about 100’ west and opposite of the intersection with the side road. There is also a pullover parking spot about 200’ west of this trailhead on the opposite side of the road. There is a sign designating the Fore Mountain Trail (but not in the other directions, but you can follow blazes north). The trail switches back and goes above Va. 606 for a distance, then turns up a ridge, on an open trail. There is a place where it is right beside FDR 337, where it may be a challenge to tell exactly where the trail goes. Look for blazes and a signpost.
Above this the trail climbs the ridge with the hill on the right. It gets into an area of a recent fire and Gypsy Moth damage, and the trail is very overgrown. If not for the tread, it would be very hard to tell where the trail was. After the switchback so the hill is to the left, the overgrowth gets even worse. Included in this overgrowth are thorny plants like blackberry, black locust, and greenbrier.
At the top of the hill, the trail emerges in a field, continue straight across and join the grass road for the next three miles, which is an easy walk.
After the road ends, the trail is fairly clear for a few miles. There is a view north soon after the road ends, and several views south into Clifton Forge and Low Moor about 2 miles south of that. Then the trail goes through an area overgrown with White Snakeroot and Crownbeard. These aren’t noxious plants, but they cross the trail, with a tangling effect (we cleared some out of our way, cutting the worst offenders). Along the way, it passes a communication tower, and continues in the overgrown part. There is a little poison ivy in this section. Then it emerges onto the gravel road to the tower. It follows the road for about ˝ mile, then leaves on the right. From there it descends to Covington, mostly with the ridge crest to the left. There are a couple big blowdowns in this area. Near the bottom are some Paw Paw trees, including one blown down with many new trunks growing perpendicular to the fallen trunk. There is a switchback where the trail bends left, but an old trail leads down to the Forest Service work center.
The end of the trail has a few signs, one indicating it is Fore Mountain Trail, and another saying it is maintained by the Bordernier Riding Club. There is a parking area for the trail. From here south are several miles of paved roads to follow.
There were lots of horse droppings at the south or west end of this trail, but very little in the northern half of Fore Mountain. Streets in Covington, 3.3 miles (I’ll give these directions in both directions)
North to south:
Follow Smokey Bear Lane from the Fore Mountain Parking 0.3 mile out to Va. 1104 to the stoplight. Go right and go 0.1 mile to next stoplight and turn left, going under Interstate 64. After 0.2 mile (just on the other side of the exits) turn right on Interstate Drive, Va. 647. After 0.1 mile, turn left on Va. 647, now Horse Mountain Road. After 0.4 mile at intersection with Va. 732, keep right on Va. 647, now Mallow Road. At 0.4 mile from there enter Covington City limits, and reach S. Carpenter Drive (Va. 18) in another 0.9 mile. Turn left and follow S. Carpenter Drive for 0.9 mile. At S. Pitzer Road, turn left.
South to north:
From S. Pitzer Ridge Road, turn right on Va. 18 (sign says W. Indian Valley Road, it becomes S. Carpenter Drive). Go 0.9 mile to E. Mallow Road and go right. Leave city limits in another 0.9 mile, and in another 0.4 mile keep left at intersection with Va. 732. Follow Horse Mountain Road (Va. 647) to end (0.4 mile) on Interstate Drive and turn right. In 0.1 mile reach US 60 beside interchange, turn left and go under Interstate 64. Turn right on Va. 1104 at stoplight and go 0.1 mile to next stoplight and turn left on Smokey Bear Lane. Go 0.3 mile to Fore Mountain Parking.
Hiking condition of streets: Near I-64, there should be a fair amount of shoulder room. Va. 647 through Mallow is fairly narrow with houses close to the road. Entering the city limits there are few houses, but the street has little room. On Va. 18, there are sidewalks for most of the way, although they may alternate which side of the street they are on.
Services: Near I-64 there are three motels, and several restaurants. Along Va. 18 and in Mallow there are several churches. Va. 657 – Pitzer Ridge Road, 2.0 miles This is a fairly narrow paved road (with wide curves) that climbs up a hill then descends. While in Covington, it has several houses along the road, but outside it is mostly going through forest. Va. 619 – Hays Gap Road, 3.3 miles This is a fairly narrow paved road partly through forest (mostly near the Covington end) and partly through open fields. While in the forest area, there are a few pulloff places to park. There are good views of nearby mountains. Va. 616 – Rich Patch Road, 1.5 miles This is a fairly narrow paved road through open fields. There are good views of nearby mountains, especially the north end of Potts Mountain. Va. 618 – Upper Rich Patch Road, 2.3 miles This is a paved road up on the hillside with many (I counted 26) houses along the way. Va. 617 – Jamison Mountain Road, 6.4 miles This is a paved road mostly in forest, especially in Craig County. There are many pulloff places along this road. Near the south end is the Pines Campground. I saw pit toilets there, but I couldn’t see any water pump or hydrant. Lipes Branch Trail, 2.3 miles There is a parking area for this trail along Va. 617, and it looks OK (I didn’t hike it). It goes through the Barbours Creek Wilderness and thus does not allow bikes. Potts Mountain Four-wheel Trail, 3.3 miles This comes out on FDR 176 (Sweet Spring Road) just east of the Potts Mountain Road (not opposite it, as it looks on the map). There is a sign designating it as a Four-wheel drive trail, with some warnings. FDR 177.1 – Potts Mountain Road, 6.7 miles This is a gravel road, fine for walking, and not too bad for driving. There are occasional pull off places for parking. It passes a parking area to Hanging Rock. There are two or three communication towers along this road. Va. 311, 1.1 miles This is a primary road. FDR 177.1 emerges on a sharp curve, but there should be enough shoulder room to walk on for this distance. FDR 177.2 – Potts Mountain West Road, 4.3 miles This is a gravel road, fine for walking, and not too bad for driving. There are occasional places for parking. It goes onto private land, where FDR 5023 leaves it at a four-way intersection (not three-way, as it looks on the map). FDR 5023, 1.7 miles This road is has no signs at all—nothing identifying it, or warning about not using it—at either end. It is a steep, narrow road with sharp curves and big rocks. It is not passable for most cars, and it would be dangerous to attempt it. It should be suitable for a trail route, although rather steep. County Road 20 – Trout Run Road, 2.8 miles This is a narrow gravel road, part in forest, and part with houses. County Road 17, 0.3 miles This is a paved road, followed from CR 20 (Trout Run Road) to CR 20 (Crowder Road) a short distance. Note that the map is wrong about the name of CR 20 south or east of CR 17.
IV. Possible alternates
A. It would be possible to replace the Va. 647-Mallow section with US 60 while staying on Va. 18 longer to get to US 60.
B. It would be possible to stay on Va. 616 to Va. 617, not using Va. 618. This has fewer houses along the way, but there are some steep banks on the sides in places.
C. It would be possible to use the whole Potts Mountain 4-wheel Drive Road instead of the Lipes Branch Trail (would bypass Pines Campground). This would shorten the paved road walk.
D. At the north end of the reroute, the route could be moved a bit west to use some other trails used by the current route and using the Little Mare Mountain Spur Trail.
V. Potential improvements
This route, which allows through hiking, is far from optimal, as it requires miles of road walking south of Covington. But there are potential improvements that can be made to this route.
The most obvious is a reopening of the Potts Mountain Trail west/south of Va. 311. Although absent from the Trails Illustrated map, DeLorme maps show a trail on the crest of Potts Mountain opposite FDR 177.1. DeLorme Topo USA 6.0 has the trail continuing all of the way to the Appalachian Trail, a total of 16 miles, of which 5 would be used for the GET. This part of the trail could be cleared and reused to avoid walking along Primary Va. 311, as well as gravel FDR 177.2 and the private land near the end of that road. I climbed up the bank across from FDR 177.1, and found a trace of a footpath that looked usable. A bigger problem may be the steep bank itself and the traffic around the sharp curve.
Between the upper end of Lipes Branch Trail on Potts Mountain and the Hays Gap area along Va. 619 is continuous Forest Service property, where trail could be built on public land. I propose trail could be built, continuing on Potts Mountain from the 4-wheel drive trail about 2 miles, then descending on the west side of the ridge and crossing Va. 616 just west of its intersection with Va. 617. From there it could go around Mud Run Mountain (not needing to climb too high on it) and coming down onto Va. 619. This would reduce the road walk by 12 miles. About 9 miles of trail would need to be built.
In Covington it would be preferable to get the GET off some of the streets, especially the Mallow Road. I could see some preferable routes: 1. along the Jackson River, 2. across the forested hill northwest of Mallow, or 3. near the fence along Interstate 64 between Va. 18 and Exit 16. I do not know the property situations with any of these routes.
VI. Possible dispositions The Great Eastern Trail council or other deciding bodies has some alternatives in response to this proposal: 1. Reject the proposal and leave the current route of the GET as it is.
2. Accept the proposal, but only as a temporary route until the Allegheny Trail is completed.
3. Accept the proposal and choose this route for the GET.
4. Accept the proposal with alteration(s).
5. Accept the proposal (with or without alterations) and push for the improvements to be started on.
Note – as editor/author of the Great Eastern Trail Guidebook from I-66 to I-64, this reroute would make it easier and quicker for me to finish the guidebook if the reroute is accepted.
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