Hiking Mt. Rogers

My hike up Virginia’s highest mountain began one morning in late January. Mount Rogers often sees winter conditions from late December into March, but the week before this trip temperatures had reached nearly 70 degrees in other parts of Virginia. Instead of snow, the mountain had mostly been getting rain. My friend and I weren’t confident we’d see much winter scenery, so even this light dusting at the beginning of the hike was a welcome sight. Above are some rhododendrons along our starting point on the Appalachian Trail.

Most of the lower trail had only a light coating of snow, while the trees remained mostly bare. In a few places I noticed these strange hair-like ice formations pushing up from the ground. Some were only a few inches tall, but a few had actually lifted small rocks and bits of soil as they formed.

At first they reminded me of the penitentes I had seen while climbing Cerro Aconcagua, although those were enormous by comparison and formed through a completely different process. These smaller formations are known as needle ice. They form when liquid water rises through unfrozen soil into freezing air, creating thin columns of ice that continue growing upward.

As we continued climbing the Appalachian Trail, the snow gradually became deeper and began covering the trees as well. We had actually planned this hike nearly a month earlier but canceled because there was no snow. I prefer a true winter landscape over bare trees this time of year, so after the recent warm weather I had expected disappointing scenery. Instead, we ended up hiking through some of the best winter conditions I’ve seen in Virginia.

This photo was taken around 4,000 feet (1,220 meters), where the difference in elevation was already becoming obvious. The higher we climbed, the more the forest transformed from a mostly snow-free winter landscape into a much colder mountain environment.

Grayson Highlands

After a few hours of hiking we reached the highlands, where much of the terrain sits around 5,000 feet (1,500 meters). Being a native of Virginia, it felt strange standing on an open plateau nearly a mile above sea level without having to fly out west or travel to another country. The landscape felt completely different from the Virginia I grew up around.

My friend and I stopped for lunch near rocky outcrops like the one above. The highlands are also famous for their free-roaming ponies, although at this point we had no idea how difficult they would be to find. We had a good view across the open terrain but couldn’t see any animals anywhere.

From the meadows we could see Pine Mountain, the rounded peak on the right. At roughly 5,500 feet, Pine Mountain is one of the highest points in Virginia, and Mount Rogers rises nearby. Up here the highest mountains don’t look especially dramatic because they’re surrounded by high plateau rather than rising steeply from a low valley.

Instead of heading directly toward Pine Mountain, my friend and I had planned a roughly 15-mile circuit to make the hike more challenging. At one point we descended all the way back toward 4,000 feet (1,220 meters), where the environment became noticeably warmer and wetter. The snow disappeared and we eventually wandered off trail through this swampy area filled with green moss and rhododendrons. The contrast with the snowy highlands only a few hours earlier was dramatic.

Wild Ponies

It was on our way back toward the highlands that we finally saw our first pony in the distance. We weren’t sure whether they would react like deer and immediately run away, so we approached cautiously. The closer we got, the more obvious it became that they weren’t bothered by people at all. At first we saw only one, but several more were nearby, and a few walked directly toward us.

By this point we had hiked nearly 15 miles (24 kilometers), so we decided to head toward Pine Mountain and camp below the summit. The temperature dropped to around 12°F (-11°C), but we had some beautiful evening views across the surrounding mountains.

The next morning we woke early and continued toward Mount Rogers. We had assumed our pony experience was over, but almost immediately we came across a group of five ponies in the woods. Snow was falling that morning, which made the encounter even better. Like the ponies from the previous day, they showed almost no concern about our presence and seemed more interested in whether we had food.

This pony was one of several that allowed us to get surprisingly close. Their thick winter coats made them look perfectly comfortable despite the snow and subfreezing temperatures.

We spent some time watching the ponies and were able to observe some of their behavior. Above is a young foal still nursing from its mother. Another pony seemed to be much more aggressive and repeatedly approached the others and tried to kick at them. The rest usually just moved away, looking more annoyed than frightened.

This younger male seemed much more relaxed. The way his mane fell across one eye made me think that if he were human, he’d probably be some punk teenager listening to grunge music.

Climbing Mount Rogers

We reluctantly left the ponies and continued toward the summit. The snow was falling steadily but never became heavy enough to make hiking difficult. I continued to be impressed by how different the terrain felt at these elevations. The hardwood forests of lower Virginia had largely disappeared and were replaced by colder, higher-elevation spruce and fir forest.

As we got closer to the top of Mount Rogers, we began passing larger rock formations like the ones above. Eventually we left the Appalachian Trail and turned onto the short spur trail leading to the summit.

The summit trail is only about half a mile long, but it feels surprisingly remote. The route passes through thick evergreen forest and rocky terrain before reaching Virginia’s highest point.

Once on the summit trail, you enter one of Virginia’s most unusual ecosystems. The highest elevations around Mount Rogers support forests of red spruce and Fraser fir, species more commonly associated with colder climates farther north. These isolated high-elevation forests are remnants of colder conditions that existed much farther south during the last Ice Age.

Fraser firs now survive naturally only in scattered high-elevation areas of the southern Appalachian Mountains. Their presence is one of the reasons the summit of Mount Rogers feels so different from most of Virginia. While lower parts of the state may go an entire winter with very little snow, these elevations regularly experience snow, strong winds, and subzero temperatures.

A short time later my friend and I reached the summit of Mount Rogers. At 5,729 feet (1,746 meters), it’s the highest point in Virginia and one of the higher peaks in the eastern United States. Unfortunately, the summit itself is completely forested, so there are no sweeping views from the actual high point.

For me this was state high point number four in my goal of reaching all 50. Even without a summit view, Mount Rogers became one of my favorites because of the snowy highlands, unusual spruce-fir forest, and especially the wild ponies. The entire trip felt far more like a mountain adventure than I had expected from somewhere in my home state.