Kara Murphy

A blush of rhododendrons brushes an edge of the heavenly blue expanse that opens before me as I drive or cycle along the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Peaks of Otter, scouting for black bears along the way. Blackberry bushes burst with fruit that begs me to pluck and savour it. Leisurely summer days melt to an end with a twilight fiddle tune on the porch and the flicker of fireflies. Sweaty hikes lead me beneath the shade of trees that release hydrocarbons into the atmosphere and thus create a bluish haze in the mountains known as the Blue Ridge.

I miss my former home state of Virginia. Most of all, I miss my people, and I also long to cast my gaze upon gentle vistas of the ancient Blue Ridge Mountains – a section of the Appalachian Mountains – and move my feet along their trails.

Here are three hikes I set out on every time I visit Roanoke, Virginia, my former hometown. They definitely aren't the only beautiful trails in the area, but they're three of my favourites and among the best hikes around there.

The 12.5km return trail up to McAfee Knob, a 974m point along the 3500km Appalachian Trail (AT), is one of the Roanoke area's must-do hikes. The 270-degree views of the surrounding valleys and mountains from its rugged, rocky overlook have earned it the claim of ‘most photographed place along the AT’. To me (and many others, I expect), it’s an easily reached trail that, from the precarious rocky ledge at its summit, rewards with the sense that you’re breathing in a landscape of the most heavenly kind: the Catawba Valley and North Mountain to the west, Tinker Cliffs to the north, the Roanoke Valley to the east, and a sea of Blue Ridge Mountains beyond.

Tinker Cliffs, another hike near Roanoke, Virginia, are visible to the north from McAfee Knob's rocky ledge.

Due to its popularity, parking can be an issue. The main parking lot is the gravel one on Catawba Mountain, at 4440 Catawba Valley Rd, where the Appalachian Trail crosses the road. (Check out this excellent Visit Virginia's Blue Ridge article for information on alternate parking areas and the seasonal McAfee Knob Trailhead Shuttle.)

To have a better chance of getting a space at the Catawba Mountain parking area, I like to go on a weekday … and I’ve sometimes had the summit to myself for a spell then.

Encountering fellow hikers at the top isn’t a bad thing, though. In summer, I love meeting AT thru hikers and chatting to them about their impressive adventures. If conditions are suitable in winter, a chilly hike to the summit to catch the sun rise over the Blue Ridge is an invigorating way to start the day – but I wouldn’t do it alone. Really, whatever the time or season, walking with companions is far safer and more fun.

McAfee Knob in winter. The main parking area for this hike is about a 20-minute drive from Roanoke, Virginia.

From McAfee, a memorable (and taxing) way to extend a day hike is to continue 8.9km northbound along the AT to Tinkers Cliffs. From here, I’ve looked back towards McAfee Knob, in awe of the alternate perspective. Then I’ve continued 6.1km – which includes a steep descent along the Andy Layne Trail – to either my previously organised ride or a car my friends and I have left in the Andy Layne Trail parking area.

After a hike here, I love heading to one of Roanoke or Salem's craft breweries for a well-earned treat.

Another, significantly shorter, favourite Roanoke hike includes a combination of the Monument and Star trails up 519m Mill Mountain, with a descent along Mill Mountain Greenway’s 2km ‘old road’ (Prospect Road) section. Prospect Road – now a driveway up to the Rockledge mansion and a walking/cycling route the whole way – originated as a graded carriage road in 1891 before opening as a private toll road in 1924. It served as the main road up the mountain until 1971. Walking down (or up) it, I love imagining what it must be like to wake up to the views from Rockledge mansion, passing the old tollbooth towards the bottom, and sharing conversation with my walking buddies.

Walking up Mill Mountain's old road (Prospect Rd), Roanoke, Virginia

The mountain’s name derives from a gristmill that operated at its base in the 1700s, and its most obvious feature is the 88.5ft high, manmade Roanoke Star, which was commissioned for Christmas 1949 and is illuminated every night. When I visit Roanoke from Australia, seeing the star from the plane or on the drive into the city feels like a ‘welcome home’. And, standing on the Star Overlook, I love taking in views of the Roanoke Valley and Blue Ridge Mountains, including McAfee Knob.

On a clear day, if I look to the northeast from either the Roanoke Star overlook or McAfee Knob, I might make out the rounded, 1220m rise of Flat Top and the more distinctly peaked rise of 1181m Sharp Top. These peaks are, along with 1028m Harkening Hill, the Peaks of Otter. Less than hour's drive from Roanoke, they're along the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway, around Milepost 85.6.

Distant views of the Peaks of Otter from McAfee Knob.

The small valley between these three peaks is home to a manmade lake (named for Stanley Abbott, the landscape architect who designed the Blue Ridge Parkway) as well as a picnic area, visitor centre, campground, historic attractions, and a 63-room lodge.

The strenuous, 4.8km return hike to Sharp Top’s jumbled boulder summit is the third Roanoke area hike I aim to complete every trip. It’s a reasonably quick adventure (about 1-1.5 hours up and a little less down) if I walk at a swift pace. And the 360-degree views – which include Abbott Lake, the Peaks of Otter Lodge, Harkening Hill, and Flat Top as well as the Piedmont to the east and the Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah Valley, and Alleghany Mountains to the west – are nothing short of sensational.

From here, I feel above most of the world within view … with the exception of Flat Top, which stares back from a similar height. Sharp Top was once thought to be Virginia’s highest peak: a sign near the top notes that, because of this belief, a stone from the mountain was included in the Washington Monument. Flat Top is actually a little higher, and 1746m Mount Rogers, more than 270km to the southwest and a sublime place to hike as well, is the highest.

Flat Top, as seen from Sharp Top. These Peaks of Otter hikes are less than an hour's drive from Roanoke, Virginia.

The hike to Flat Top's forested summit is longer and the views from bouldered outcrops, while achingly beautiful, aren't 360-degree ones. As such, I don't do this one nearly as often, but it's still a wonderful excursion.

The Blue Ridge Mountains are more than a billion years old. Their age makes the 5000+-year human footprint here seem relatively brief, but no less intriguing.

It also includes many other fascinating facts about the area, including a few suggested origins of the area’s name. One theory is that it stemmed from the Cherokee words ‘Atari’ or ‘Ottari’, which mean ‘high mountain’. Another is that early Scottish settlers (who arrived around 1700) could have named it after a famous Scottish place name or mountain. The mountain in question may have been Beinn Dobhrain, ‘Hill of the Otter’, which I’m almost certain I saw while walking the West Highland Way near Tyndrum in 2019.

The first known permanent settler in the Peaks area was Thomas Wood, from Pennsylvania. In the mid-1700s, Wood established a residence and farm on Harkening Hill, in a place now known as The Johnson Farm. The farm’s name comes from the Johnson family, who bought the cabin and land in 1852. It remained in their family for three generations, until it was sold to the Peaks of Otter Company in 1941.

The Johnsons were part of a Mons (mountain) community of at least 20 families, who thrived here in the late 19^th century, working in tourism, farming, distilling, and more. Details of the community in the 1990 historic resource study inspires me to imagine the people who lived here, growing fruit, vegetables, and flowers; distilling apple brandy; going to church; supplying the hotel with goods and labour; and, like hotel guests back then and visitors to the area now, climbing the Peaks as a form of entertainment. Today, you can peer into the past by setting out on the 3km loop trail past the former, empty Hotel Mons site and up to The Johnson Farm interpretive site, where the cabin is presented in its 1930s state.

The area’s first lodging was Polly Wood’s Ordinary, a small log cabin owned by the widow of Jeremiah Wood (Thomas Wood’s son). Polly began welcoming visitors to the Peaks and travellers along the Buchanan to Liberty (now Bedford) turnpike in the early 1830s. When Abbott Lake was constructed in 1965, the cabin was reassembled about 100m east of its original position and is now a short amble off the lake’s 1.7km loop trail, near the picnic area. Subsequent, larger lodgings followed, including the Otter Peak Hotel (from 1857) and the Hotel Mons (from 1920). In 1935, the federal government purchased the Hotel Mons and surrounding land to create the Blue Ridge Parkway and demolished the hotel.

The current Peaks of Otter Lodge was built in 1964; to me, its loveliest attribute is that the dining room and all guest rooms overlook the lake and magnificent Sharp Top.

In addition to being drawn to the area for its beauty and tremendous mountain views, I love it for all the memories I have there. I’ve scaled Sharp Top with my family as well as with each of my closest friends in the US, unloading our hearts along the way and filling them with each other’s presence and the summit views. We’ve stood on the top and witnessed sunset followed by a moonrise. We’ve picnicked on veggie dogs and s’mores beside Little Stony Creek, and been mesmerised by black bears on the drive out. I’ve hiked all three of the Peaks (a ‘trifecta’) in 24 hours with friends and camped in the campground at their base. I’ve watched my brother show his son some ‘olden time’ outdoor games available at The Johnson Farm. I’ve had countless meals in the lodge’s restaurant, with a brilliant view of Sharp Top, before walking around the lake. And I’ve cycled there, along the Blue Ridge Parkway, with my husband a number of times; one trip included an overnight at the lodge for our 10th wedding anniversary.

The Peaks of Otter have a steadfast place in my heart. Coming to these graceful mountains, like seeing the Roanoke Star and hiking to McAfee Knob and up Mill Mountain, is part of returning home.

Sunset from Sharp Top

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