Day 4 of May 2022 Virginia Trip, Blue Ridge Parkway and Sharp Top

by admin

The fourth and last day of my 2022 Memorial Day weekend trip. I would be driving from the town of Wytheville, Virginia back to my home near Washington DC. With me in no hurry for the day, I would take the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway, and hike Sharp Top Mountain along the way.

Harkening Hill

For my long day hike the previous day at Grayson Highlands State Park, I chose the town of Wytheville, Virginia as my overnight outpost, which served me well. Today, the only thing on my plan was to drive back home, which should take less than 5 hours if I take the interstate. However, driving along Blue Ridge Parkway had always been on my bucket list, so I planned a small detour by taking the parkway from Fancy Gap to Rockfish Gap.

After leaving Wytheville, it took me about half an hour to reach Fancy Gap and head onto Blue Ridge Parkway.
Here’s a compilation of my dashcam video for the day, between Fancy Gap and Rockfish Gap:

This video is at a minimum playback speed of 10x.
0:00 Entering Blue Ridge Parkway from Fancy Gap
3:08 Mabry Mill
4:16 Rock Castle Gorge Overlook
5:04 Rakes Mill Pond
6:10 Smart View Overlook
7:35 Devils Backbone Overlook
8:50 Leaving the parkway at Adney Gap, and reentering at US460. Skipping 30 miles of parkway due to closure.
9:47 Great Valley Overlook
10:08 Taylor Mountain Overlook
10:20 Montvale Overlook
10:54 Mills Gap Overlook
11:47 Sharp Top Trailhead parking
13:49 Terrapin Mountain Overlook
17:24 Buena Vista Overlook
21:05 20-Minute Cliff Overlook
22:58 Humpback Rocks Visitor Center and Picnic Area

This section of Blue Ridge Parkway felt more like a typical road in the woods, smooth and uninterrupted by intersections. There were a few overlooks but most of the time, it didn’t feel “ridge” or “mountain” to me.

Mabry Mill

Mabry Mill was a major attraction along this section of the parkway. It was built around 1910 by Edwin Marby, a jack-of-all-trades who was a blacksmith, a farmer, a carpenter and so on. The mill remained functional until 1936 and was restored by the National Park Service in 1945.

Mabry Mill
Mabry Mill
Water Channels
Log Carrier
The mill was also used to saw logs.
House
Sorghum Making Equipment

A horse or mule walked in circles to turn the rollers of the sorghum mill, where juice was extracted from stalks.
Sorghum Making Equipment
The extracted juice was then cooked into syrup here.

And here were some photos I took along the numerous overlooks along the way.

View from Rock Castle Gorge Overlook
Blue Ridge Parkway
Rakes Mill Pond

The stone facing of the nearby Mill Dam was built early in the 19th century by One Jarman Rakes, Miller. His operation was notable for a scheme of advertising that would credit a much later day. Rakes we are told allowed his customers the sole privilege of fishing for brook trout in his pond while they waited for their grist.
View from Devils Backbone Overlook
One of the broadest views along the way.
View from Devils Backbone Overlook
I liked that the patches of farmland was shaped like an arrow or a shell.
Cahas Mountain

A section of Blue Ridge Parkway outside Roanoke was closed, as a result, I took a detour into the suburbs of Roanoke, where I had my lunch.
After that, I entered Blue Ridge Parkway again at US460. This section was actually following a mountain ridge, with overlooks on both sides, and a rather pleasing experience for driving.

View from The Great Valley Overlook
The valley between Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains, vaguely visible in the distance.
Sharp Top Mountain
Fields to the East
From Montvale Overlook.
View from Mills Gap Overlook
James River

View from Montvale Overlook

Sharp Top Mountain

It’s only 3pm by the time I passed Sharp Top Mountain, arguably the most popular mountain in Virginia next to Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s a pretty developed site along the parkway, with a major visitor center, a lake, a campground and a hotel(!).
It’s a 5.3km out-and-back to the top of Sharp Top Mountain with 382m elevation gain, mostly in the shade. After the previous few days’ misery with mud, I breathed a huge sigh of relief that the trail was dry, and mostly in great shape.
Here’s GPS tracking:

Start of Sharp Top Trail

Right next to the trailhead was Sharp Top Store (top), with cold drinking water available. The trail appeared as paved stairs (bottom) at the trailhead, but only for a few meters before it degraded into raw dirt, but still in great shape though.
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Towards the top there were signs of improvement, like stairs and handrails.
Trail
Towards the top there were signs of improvement, like stairs and handrails.

After 40 minutes on the trail, I was almost at the top. Here’s a video of my final steps onto the summit (at 5x playback speed):

Sharp Top Summit
A cottage on the right, most likely former fire watchman building.
Cottage Interior
Now empty.
Sharp Top Summit
Well-constructed stairs leading onto the summit, no difficulties.
Sharp Top Summit
Well-constructed stairs leading onto the summit, no difficulties.
Sharp Top Summit
I believe this was the highest of the rocks.
Buzzard’s Roost

Another pile of rocks to the south of Sharp Top. It’s also accessible through a short spur trail. I didn’t see a clear path onto these rocks so I skipped them.
Lizard

There were many rocks at the summit of Sharp Top, and I reasonably believed some of them were cut into the stairs for the final ~300m/1000ft of trail. Thus despite its steepness, the trail presented no technical difficulties.

The Washington Monument in the national’s capitol, completed in 1884, contained an engraved stone from Sharp Top.

From Otter’s summit, Virginia’s loftiest peak, to crown a monument to Virginia’s noblest son.

It seemed strange to me that at 1167m, Sharp Top didn’t even come close to Virginia’s tallest peak, which is Mt Rogers at 1746m that I visited the previous day. Even the nearby Flat Top Mountain to the north was taller than Sharp Top. But probably for its commanding view, Sharp Top reigned supreme among its peers.

Fields and Mountains from Sharp Top
to the east (top) and to the west (bottom).

When it comes to views, due to its rocky summit, Sharp Top offers unobstructed panoramic views of the surrounding landscape, from the Piedmont farmland to the east to the Appalachian mountains to the west, and all the majestic sights in between. For aesthetics, it’s probably the best view of my entire 4-day trip.

Flat Top Mountain
Flat Top Mountain
Fields to the East
Mountains surrounding Abbot Lake
Harkening Hill
Abbot Lake
Mountains to the Southwest
Blue Ridge Parkway in the background.

Unfortunately, during my visit, Sharp Top’s summit was inundated with bugs, swarms of them. The best of my deet couldn’t keep them at bay. Despite the gorgeous scenery, I couldn’t stay at the summit for long before they forced me back.

Then after a total of 2 hours on the trail, I was back with my car, and continued my road trip up Blue Ridge Parkway.
Here were some photos at the turnouts.

Terrapin Mountain
North Buena Vista
North Buena Vista
Blue Ridge Parkway
My Car at 20-Minute Cliff

I thought the place was called 20-Minute Cliff for its limited parking size, thus restricting parking to 20 minutes. It turned out the cliff served the White Rock community down the mountain as a time piece. In June and July during the corn-chopping season, 20 minutes after sunlight strikes the rock face, dusk would fall on the valley below.
Blue Ridge Parkway
Blue Ridge Parkway
The Priest Mountain
Mountains
Mountains

Rockfish Gap Overlook

Finally, I left Blue Ridge Parkway at Rockfish Gap at 8pm. It’s about sunset time, and the distant horizons were glowing beautifully. I launched my drone at a roadside overlook for an aerial tour.

I64 at Rockfish Gap
I64 at Rockfish Gap
Forests

Parking lot for the eastern trailhead of Blue Ridge Tunnel Trail for the historic Crozet Tunnel. In parallel, North Mountain Subdivision Railroad.
Interstate 64
And the Rockfish Gap Turnpike on the left, both with a scenic overlook on the southern side.
Sunset
Sunset Glow
The southern end of Shenandoah National Park.
Sunset Glow over Fields