Cold Mountain is Cool

How lucky were we: a puppy AND a short hike on the AT at Cold Mountain. Last weekend we met my sister a little over half way between Columbus, OH and Va. Beach, VA to pick up an orphaned puppy. So I’m looking at the atlas to see where half way is, and choose Covington, VA… but of course I have to look to see where the AT crosses through Virginia. Low and behold, only about an hour farther east.

Isn’t it great when the opportunity for an adventure just falls in your lap? It’s not like we could go there and NOT hit the trail. I found a better hotel in Lexington anyway (and some damn good pizza). So I jumped onto trusty WhiteBlaze.net and within minutes had a response to “Where is the closest trail head parking near Lexington, VA?” (Thanks, Mobius!)

We left Ohio at 7 a.m. Once reaching Lexington around 2:30 p.m., it’s off on US 60 through Buena Vista, left on Coffeytown Road, and right on Wiggins Spring Rd. Definitely more of a spring than a road, Wiggins is a dirt forest road and farther up was still snow, ice and slush over mud. The Journey handled it fine and once parked, we stretched out legs, adjusted our trekking poles, and we were hiking on the AT!

We didn’t have much time but hiked up to the top of Cold Mountain and enjoyed the 360-degree view of the Virginia mountains from the grassy bald. Snoopy only lost his iPod once, in the snow on the way up. But the top was beautiful, the sun was shining and there was little snow up there. Not so much like, as I found out, when my bro-in-law was hiking there with the guys just a couple weeks earlier!

I am very ready to see and experience more of the AT.