THE LABYRINTH

I finished my week-long vacation with a pair of outstanding hikes in southwestern Virginia with Rick Shortt. Rick gave me a grand tour of two of his favorite places – The Great Channels of Virginia and Beartown Mountain.

The dogs and I met Rick at Hayters Gap, north of Meadowview, VA, at 9am on Saturday. There is a small parking lot there, just below the crest of the gap, at the junction with Raven Ridge Road. Raven Ridge Road is gated, and it passes through private property. However, it is open to the public (foot traffic only). This entire area used to be private property, but a few years ago it was acquired by The Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy sold it to the state of Virginia. The 721-acre Channels Natural Area Preserve is now part of the 4,836 acre Channels State Forest.

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/natural_area_preserves/thechannels.shtml

We walked the dirt road all the way to Middle Knob on Clinch Mountain. The hike is 3+ miles one-way, but it is still shorter and much easier than the original access from the valley below. On Middle Knob we found an old, rickety fire tower. The lower section of steps has been removed, so if you want to climb it you’ll have to do some gymnastics.

Just beyond the summit we reached the top of the Great Channels. The Great Channels are a network of natural tunnels carved out of a sandstone outcrop. It’s fairly easy to walk around on top of the channels, but you do have to watch your step. There are lots of holes and cracks that you could fall into, and some of them are 40’ deep.

We took in the sweeping views from the top before descending a beaten path to access the labyrinth below. I immediately fell in love with the place. It’s a fantasyland of narrow, twisting passageways and soaring sandstone walls. Some places are so narrow you have to turn sideways to squeeze through. In other spots it is necessary to crawl. I even noticed a couple of places where it might be possible to chimney back up to the top.

Although it isn’t a big area, it is still an impressive maze. At one point I was setting up a photo when I realized that we had already been there. Somehow we had circled back around to the same point, but without covering any of the same ground.

I was taking photos when Boone lost his mind. Even at 7 years of age, Boone occasionally gets the “zoomies”, when he starts sprinting at full speed, sometimes in multiple directions at the same time. He usually gets this urge in the woods or in a meadow. This time, he did it in the maze. He bolted suddenly, kicking up sand as he disappeared down the tunnel behind me. Rick and I were both laughing as we heard him gallop up the next passageway behind us. The echoes of his footsteps faded….and then he was charging down the tunnel ahead of us. His passage was a blur, but a minute later he reappeared, from a different tunnel. He kept this up for several minutes before finally running out of gas.

Rick and I spent about an hour in the tunnels exploring and taking photos. I was glad that I’d brought the tripod, as getting good photos would’ve been difficult without it.

We returned to Middle Knob, where we found a large group near the fire tower. That was a little startling after having the place to ourselves all morning. We passed several more groups on the way out, and found the parking lot overflowing when we returned to the cars around 12:30.

BEARTOWN

From Hayters Gap we drove down the mountain, heading north on highway 80. Then we drove a side road leading up a valley through farm land. We stopped at Ball Farms, where we hoped to start our hike. Rick had talked with the landowner earlier in the week and had obtained permission to cross his land to access Beartown Mountain. Beartown Mountain is extremely difficult to access. One side is public property, but approaching it from that side requires horrific bushwhacking. The remainder of the surrounding land is privately owned.

We had permission, but there was one complication. The farmer owns a dozen dogs that are trained to protect his sheep and cattle from predators. They attack pretty much any animal that they consider a potential threat, like bears, coyotes, and…dogs. Passing through the area where the dogs were would be too dangerous. Luckily, the farmer offered to take us through that part of the farm in his truck. Rick, Boone, Kona and I piled in the back for the slow, bumpy ride. Before long we were out of the danger zone and we were able to start hiking. We thanked the farmer for allowing us passage, and for the lift across the farm.

Rick had also obtained permission to cross the land of the farm adjacent to Ball Farms. We planned to return by that route, so that we didn’t have to worry about the dogs on the way back.

The dogs created some additional challenges for us. Early on there were lots of farm animals to contend with, so I kept them leashed. The funniest episode was a small group of mules. They were excited to see us – maybe a little too excited. In fact, they began to follow us. At first we thought they were escorting us out of their area, but ultimately I think they were just hoping that we had food.

The biggest difficulty was fences. We encountered many of them. Some had gates, and most of them were unlocked. Others we had to climb over, or crawl under. The worst was shortly after we left the mules behind. There was a gate, but it was locked. The fence was 5’ high, and topped with barbed wire. We were unable to find a way around. Our only hope was to go over the gate.

Rick climbed over first. I picked up Kona easily, and passed her over to him. Then it was Boone’s turn. He’s 85 pounds, and he hates being picked up. I thought our attempt would end in disaster. I was able to lift him on the second try, and he actually didn’t fight me. That was a good thing, because it was all that I could do to get him over the gate and into Rick’s waiting arms. Everybody needed a break after that. I’m pretty sure it was the most taxing part of the day.

From there we climbed through a series of grassy meadows, following a ridge towards the summit of Beartown Mountain. It was a sunny day, and the views were fantastic. Directly across the valley was Middle Knob on Clinch Mountain. To the southeast we could easily see Mount Rogers and Whitetop. Farther south were numerous high peaks in North Carolina, including Three Top, Elk Knob, The Peak, Snake Mountain, Rich Mountain Bald, Grandfather Mountain, and Roan Mountain. We could even see distant peaks in West Virginia. We had views of four states, and we weren’t even at the top.

The meadows eventually ended and we entered open forest. We found lots of wildflowers here, including spring beauties, bloodroot, and trout lilies. The forest eventually thickened, and some steep, gnarly bushwhacking led to the base of a cliff. There, we found another fissure cave. One narrow tunnel led back into the mountain. It met another one at a 90 degree angle. I thought I could follow it out, but the second tunnel was too narrow at its start. I may have been able to belly crawl through there, but the floor of the passageway was sharp rock. I decided to go back out the way I’d come in.

A bit more climbing and bushwhacking led to the summit plateau, which is covered in spruce and rhododendron. We eventually found the proper summit, which is marked with a cairn. From there, Rick led us out to a rock outcrop he’d found. It’s on the northwest side of the mountain, and it offers a great view of the surrounding landscape.

We took a creative route down. The route Rick had hiked before follows the summit plateau, but requires a lot of serious bushwhacking. Instead, we backtracked, and then followed an old road on a contour below the summit plateau. We hoped it would take us to the farm where we planned to descend. Instead, it suddenly disappeared. From there, a mixture of bushwhacking and old roads gradually led us down. We eventually realized we were getting too close to Ball Farms and the dangerous dogs, so we had to traverse a series of ridges and gullies. That worked out ok, and we finally reached the meadows above the second farm. From there, an easy descent led to a road, which we followed back to Ball Farms.

On the way back, I stopped at an impressive cascading waterfall on Logan Creek, just before it enters the North Fork of the Holston River. It’s quite scenic, though I hadn’t heard of it before. Thanks for the tip, Rick!

Rick, his girlfriend Leanne, and I met up for dinner at Mexican restaurant in Wytheville. It was a nice way to cap off a great week off hiking. Thanks again to Rick for the grand tour!

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