Reddish Knob & High Knob
The Pines Campground, VA to Brandywine Lake Campground, WV | Falling Springs Falls | Reddish Knob | High Knob Fire Tower | October 2023
We left our campsite at the Pines Campground on October 1 and continued our drive North. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, the leaves were starting to turn, and the bright colors made us feel rejuvenated and excited. Fall had arrived!
Our plan for today was to drive Northeast on US-220 and then either camp for free in the national forest or at a paid campground near the VA/WV state line on US-33. Looking at the map, US-220 looked like it would be a straightforward and easy drive, but it turned out to be much more winding and with significantly more elevation change than we expected. But the drive was quite scenic, passing through the ‘Virginia Highlands’ in what we think was probably the most Autumnal area of our drive to Pennsylvania.
Along the route, we stopped at the roadside viewing area for Falling Springs Falls, which Thomas Jefferson claims is the “best waterfall in Virginia.” I don’t know whether we should take him at his word for that, considering he’s also the one that claimed Sharp Top Mountain was the “loftiest peak in Virginia,” which is not only not the highest peak in Virginia, but also not even the highest among its surrounding peaks. It is a nice waterfall though, and worth a stop!
We continued driving up to US-33, enjoying the picturesque mountains, valleys, and farms along the way. We drove to the campground that we had been considering, waffled a bit on our decision, and then decided almost on a whim to drive up to the summit of Reddish Knob and see if we could find camping in the national forest around it.
After fighting Google Maps (who wanted us to drive through an NSA listening post), we started climbing up in elevation. The road to the peak was mostly paved, though narrow, steep, and winding. The last stretch to the summit was a single lane road which we took carefully to the top. The view from the top was incredible, this being an especially prominent peak, and the visibility stretched for miles and miles. We could see around where West Virginia’s highest point (Spruce Knob) lay, as well as see the long ridge that makes up Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway. We stayed up here for a while, enjoying a lunch with a view.
Unfortunately we couldn’t just sleep right here legally, or comfortably. There was a near constant flow of people coming and going, and the beautiful Sunday sky promised that that would probably continue past sunset. But there was supposedly an abandoned picnic area a few miles further down the road. The drive to the dispersed site was dirt and much more rough than the drive to the summit, probably not one we should have driven in the van. But we found the large pull out where we were able to spend the night all alone.
The next morning, we awoke before dawn and returned to Reddish Knob to watch the sunrise. Once again, the sky was clear and we were treated to a bright pink sunrise. We made up our minds to just go ahead and stay at the paid campground back on US-33 that night. And since it was Monday and significantly less popular, we spent the entire morning on the summit, working, eating, and sunbathing.
That afternoon, we made our way to Brandywine Lake Campground where we paid for one night of camping. They offer free hot showers here, so we decided it was worth it. From the back of the campground, there was a trail that led up to the nearby High Knob Fire Tower, so Curtis hiked there while Charlotte and I walked and hung out around the campsite.
Curtis: High Knob was a hike that we had originally starred back in 2021 on our work trip to Dahlgren, VA. But we had missed the pull out then and instead spent the day in Shenandoah. I probably would have been better waiting for the morning to drive up to the summit ridge and hiking to the peak from that gap. But if I’m anything, it’s impatient and I instead hiked 3x as far with 3x as much elevation gain. As soon as I hit the woods, the trail went steeply up and it didn’t stop until the top. But the firetower and summit area was excellent. I had the tower to myself and 360 views that were only MOSTLY like what we saw from Reddish Knob.
Jess: When Curtis returned, we took turns showering, had dinner, then walked Charlotte to the lake for sunset — or more, she led us on a walk to the lake and then led us in circles around the parking lot and picnic area before we could convince her to go back to the van. She may be blind, but she is still very energetic and stubborn, and somehow has excellent navigation skills.
