Trip: Grayson Highlands Truck-in and Backpacking
Date: August 24 – 25, 2024
Author: Cristian Baca
History:
Grayson Highlands State Park is located in Grayson Country, Virginia, and is adjacent to Mount Rogers National Recreation Area and lies within the Jefferson National Forest. The park contains a total of 4,502 acres. Originally named Mount Rogers State Park, the park was established in 1965. Many areas in the park are named after early settlers. Massie Gap takes its name from Lee Massey, who lived in the gap with his wife and five children in the late 1800s and early 1900s. At that time, the present park area was thinly settled by people who managed to live off the land. They made, grew or gathered most of their necessities. Wilburn Ridge is named after the famed hunter Wilburn Waters. His reputation as a bear hunter and wolf trapper made him renowned throughout the region.
In the 1950s, the American chestnut blight arrived and killed the most predominant tree in these mountains. The massive logging that followed created more openings, changed the soil composition, and resulted in the many balds of Grayson Highlands.
In the 1950s, Bill Pugh began breeding an equine called the Virginia Highlander, a small horse that was more suited for the cold winters and mountainous terrain. When the park was established, the ponies remained as both the U.S. Forest Service and Virginia State Parks wanted to maintain the balds by allowing grazing. These “wild” ponies are one of the main attractions at Grayson Highlands. Visitors are discouraged from interacting with the ponies because it may cause them to lose the essential wildness that keeps it ever alert for predators. The park has a considerable coyote population, and they can easily kill a newborn foal,
Experience:
We had both truck-in and backpacking (2 groups) events. Friday night saw 2 backpackers do 5 miles on Friday before meeting up with the Saturday backpackers who did 6 miles on Saturday and 4 on Sunday. Truck-in campers hiked 6.2 miles on Saturday and 3.5 miles on Sunday. Truck-in crew camped in the Hickory Ridge Campground. Backpackers camped west of the Third Peak in the Scales area. Blueberry picking and wild pony sightings and beautiful scenery were experienced by both groups. The backpackers, however, had a special experience when a couple of the wild cows decided we were too close to them and chased us away. It was like the ““running of the bulls” Appalachian style J.
The backpacking trail was rated moderate difficulty – it was challenging but fun for some of us and should definitely not be your first backpacking trip. Saturday night the backpacking crew also heard coyotes and was a little concerning to some of us. Also it was a reminder of why we shouldn’t let the ponies become too used to us.
References:
https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/grayson-highlands#other_info
https://www.smliv.com/the-ponies-of-grayson-highlands-state-park
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