Appalachian Trail along Blue Ridge Parkway

Sunday morning, we woke up to another cold morning and packed up camp.  From here, we got on the Blue Ridge Parkway heading southbound.  We made a quick stop at View Porter Mountain for a view looking down into the Goose Creek Valley.

The we drove just a short ways further to VA-43 and parked here to access the Appalachian Trail.  Heading southbound, the trail climbed via switchbacks up to a ridgeline, then followed the ridge parallel to the parkway.  In a mile or so, the trail came out at Mills Gap.  Looking west, the James River Valley was completely below the clouds, despite beautiful blue skies at our elevation.

It was a really fantastic cloud inversion.  Ridges and mountains poked up like islands through a sea of clouds.  A little further on the trail, I found another spot on the parkway to view the inversion.

The trail stayed in the woods for a while then came out again on the parkway at Sharp Top Overlook.

Sharp Top was clearly visible from about 6 miles away.  But looking in the other direction, there were more low clouds.

We hiked along the AT for about 4 miles and right past Hammond Hollow Trail, we found a nice rock outcrop to take a break.

We had a snack here and then made a leisurely hike back.  Some Jack-o-Lantern mushrooms were growing at the base of a tree.

We also noticed some poisonous plants along the hike back.

White snakeroot and pokeweed are both poisonous to humans.

Back at Mills Gap, the clouds had cleared and the James River Valley was visible below.

We got one more view of Sharp Top from here to conclude our weekend at Peaks of Otter.

We finished our hike up back at VA-43 and started making our way home.