Mount Rogers, VA, US Highpoint #17, 10 March 2004

Mount Rogers, Virginia lies at 5,729 feet MSL and is ranked #19 in elevation among US Highpoints. This would be my 14th highpoint of 2004. Not a walk-up, Mount Rogers lies just off the Appalachin Trail (The “AT”) and requires a few miles of hiking to access. I parked at a nearby trailhead after spending the previous night in a warm hotel room nearby.

This was the first time I realized how massive the Appalachians are – from several vantage points along the AT, I could see mountains for miles and miles. They aren’t massively tall like the Rockies, but they are grand and I really enjoyed this short hike, passing near a classic lean-to on the way.

Summit selfie. I’m crouching in front of the benchmark that I was happy to find. Mount Rogers is surrounded by trees and had no views from the summit proper on my visit.
Mount Rogers benchmark
The Appalachins on the hike to Mount Rogers
A hut is visible at center on the AT
Mount Rogers non-descript summit.
Back before I knew this was called a selfie 😉
I think this was the sunrise that morning but I can’t remember
This is labeled “Natural Bridge” but I can’t make sense of it. I think that’s a creek down there but the scale is tough to process. There is a lot of limestone around and I passed many roadside caves and karst features on this part of the trip.

From here I would head to Kentucky’s Black Mountain the following day.

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