Twenty minutes to paradise

The proximity of the Appalachian Trail to Roanoke offers innumerable hiking and wildlife-watching possibilities

By Bill Cochran

The Georgia-to-Maine Appalachian Trail winds through the Roanoke, Va., Valley, appearing to linger there in order to savor the scenery, which includes a number of the most splendid vistas that the 2,000-plus-mile pathway has to offer.

Often called the most-photographed spot on the trail is McAfee Knob, a 3,197-foot upheaval of 400-million-year-old Silurian sandstone from the bowels of an ancient ocean. Standing on the horizontal outcropping of the Knob is a bit like perching on the wingtip of an airplane in flight. It can take your breath and make you woozy.

The McAfee Knob trailhead is a modest 20-minute drive from Hotel Roanoke, the OWAA 2007 conference headquarters. From there, it is a seven-mile roundtrip hike to the Knob. Allow about four hours, take water, wear footgear suitable for some rocky terrain and don’t forget your camera.

The trail is well maintained and marked by 2-by-6-inch white blazes. It isn’t extremely demanding, but there is enough grade to make you earn your view.

From the Knob, you can see downtown Roanoke and visually follow the trail northward for scores of miles as it heads along a knife-like ridge toward Maine. On a pretty day you may have to fight the urge to answer the question, “What would it be like to just keep on going?” Some do, and they are called “thru-hikers,” people who travel the entire length of the Appalachian Trail, who are willing to invest six months and 5 million strides. But you have a conference waiting back in Roanoke.

Maybe the next best thing to being an end-to-ender is taking a second day hike. A top choice lies about 10 minutes up the highway from the McAfee Knob trailhead. It is the Dragon’s Tooth trail, which leads to a stone monolith towering like a fang above a remote, rural valley, offering a big bite of beauty.

You have to scramble over some boulders to reach the Tooth, and occasionally someone with an overweight pack will complain about the ruggedness. Look at it this way: It simply is rudimentary preparation for Mount Katahdin, the trail’s craggy northern terminus. Allow about three hours for a roundtrip hike to Dragon’s Tooth.

If you work up an appetite, there is a wonderful all-you-can-eat restaurant between McAfee Knob and Dragon’s Tooth. It is called Homeplace and is like going to Grandma’s place for Sunday dinner. It is open Thursday through Sunday. If you happen to arrive days other than these, you weep.

To reach the McAfee Knob trailhead, travel north on Interstate 581 from Hotel Roanoke then south on Interstate 81 to Exit 141. Make a left on Virginia 419 then a quick right on Virginia 311. Follow 311 seven miles to the top of Catawba Mountain, where you will find an Appalachian Trail parking lot. From the lot, head north three-and-a-half miles on the Appalachian Trail by carefully crossing 311.

The Dragon’s Tooth trailhead is located another four miles north on 311. Look for a Forest Service sign on the left side of the road.

Bill Cochran is the co-chair of the 2007 OWAA conference in Roanoke. He and his wife, Katherine, who is chair of the conference’s spouse events, live along the Appalachian Trail on a small farm between McAfee Knob and Dragon’s Tooth.