Mountain Lake, Virginia

Radford, VA | Jefferson National Forest | Mountain Lake, VA | Hiking Bald Knob | Appalachian Trail | September 2023

After our night at Rocky Knob, we left the Parkway and started heading North to new counties, new towns, and new mountains. The mornings had been very overcast and this was no exception. Curtis had a meeting that morning, so we knew we needed a safe place with cell signal to stick around for a while. After charting a route that would maximize our counties, we ended up settling at a park along the New River in Radford, VA.

Curtis’ meeting went long and we ended up staying here significantly longer that originally planned, having both breakfast and lunch in the park. To wrap up our morning, we walked Charlotte on a long trail around the park before heading back into the mountains. We followed back highways North towards the West Virginia border and the promise of free camping. We ended up following an old county road into Jefferson National Forest where we found an out of the way dispersed camp site.

The next morning, we decided to try and hike together. There was a peak with enough prominence to meet Curtis’ goal, and the AllTrails reviews suggested that the trail was short and well maintained enough for Charlotte. Getting there, on the other hand, was less so. If we had had reception, I’m sure Google Maps would have recommended we go all the way around. But Google Maps couldn’t help us now. We instead followed a forest road that wound up and over the mountains. It was steep, foggy, and dark, we passed by a lot of hunters with mean looking dogs, and we took a wrong turn at one point. At the top of the mountain, we drove by a trailhead for the Appalachian Trail. A trail angel was hanging out there and we waved as we went by and down the other side.

As we made our way downhill, the roads started to improve, and we eventually arrived at Mountain Lake Resort. Curtis had another meeting scheduled in the afternoon, and we were relieved to see we had cell reception here AND the resort had wifi, so we wouldn’t have to drive any further out of our way for that. Since there was still plenty of time before the meeting, we readied ourselves for our hike up to the nearby peak, named Bald Knob (Virginia always wins for most creative peak names). We parked in a public parking area right across the road from the trailhead, and set off on the trail.

It was about a half mile to the peak following a trail, and there was also an ATV road that was 1 mile to the peak. We decided to go up the trail and then back down the road to make a nice loop through the woods. The trail started a little steep, but was honestly not as difficult as we expected, even for Charlotte. It was clear that we were still in the clouds, so we set our expectations low for getting a view at the top. But as we neared the peak, the sun started to break through, sending bright rays through the trees, which gave us hope that maybe the clouds would clear. When we reached the lookout, it was still cloud covered, but we had nothing but time so we let Charlotte pick out a place for us to sit together and wait out the clouds. While we were waiting, an ATV from the lodge arrived up at the peak with a few guests. They stayed for a couple minutes, then made their way back down. We looked it up later and learned that the lodge charges $125 for excursions like this — a steep price to pay and not have any view!

Our waiting paid off, because not too long after, the clouds started to break and we had some great views down into the valley and of surrounding ridges. We took pictures and admired the view, then packed up and began our trek down the road.

When we made it back to the resort area, we still had some time to kill so we wandered around the grounds looking for other trails that we knew existed. It didn’t take long before we learned that this area is actually where parts of the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed — while it was set in the Catskills, it was actually filmed between here and Lake Lure, NC. We thought it was funny that we had visited all 3 of those locations this year. So instead of looking for more trails, we turned our attention to wandering around and looking for signs that shared about the filming of the movie… even though we’ve never actually seen it. I guess we’ll have to watch it now that we’ve been to all these places. We found the lake where the infamous “lift” happened…except it turns out that it’s a very seasonal lake that has been dry now for years. We walked out to a gazebo over the lake and noticed watermelon rinds scattered around, which I guess is another reference that we wouldn’t understand without watching the movie. The piece of trivia that I found most interesting is that the movie was filmed in the fall, but because it was supposed to be set in the summer they SPRAY PAINTED OVER THE COLORFUL LEAVES to make them look green. Can you even imagine?!

Anyway, when it was time for the meeting we returned to our van, Curtis took his call, and Charlotte and I sunbathed in the parking lot. Once the meeting was finished and we didn’t need cell signal anymore, we returned the way we came on the gravel road back to the Appalachian Trail trailhead. We greeted the trail angel there, and learned that he had been here for about a week making pancakes and giving out snacks to Southbound through hikers. While he had served 15 hikers the day before, there had been none today. Since he was very friendly and this seemed like a nice enough spot, we decided to spend the evening boondocking right here.

We took a short walk on the Trail to Wind Rock, which offered a great view of the valley and several ridges to the West. Since it was so clear, we decided to also return to this spot for sunset, hoping to catch a good one, but unfortunately the clouds moved back in the valley around that time and obscured the view. We still sat around and waited and watched the light go from gold, to purple, to blue, before hurrying back to the van and settling in for the night.