2 Smart View
Recreational Area
The aptly named Smart
View Recreational Area
sits at an elevation of
2500ft with commanding
vistas of the surrounding
valleys. The area is a
birder’s parade, rife
with trails that cut into
hardwood, broadleaf
forest that teem with
brown thrashers, great-
crested flycatchers and
Kentucky warblers,
among many, many other
species.
The Smart View Trail
is a moderately difficult
2.6-mile loop that shows
off the best of this area.
If you’re not in the mood
(or don’t have the time)
to complete the entire
circuit, the paths near
the main parking pull-off
for this area offer similar
landscapes.The Drive » Continue along
the Blue Ridge Parkway for 4
miles, then turn right onto State
Route 860/Shooting Creek Rd.
After about a mile, turn left onto
State Route 681/Franklin Pike.
Follow it for 2 miles, then turn
left on Floyd Hwy.3 Floyd
Tiny Floyd is a
surprising blend of rural
conservatives and slightly
New Age artisans. Grab
a double espresso from
a bohemian coffeehouse,
then peruse farm tools in
the hardware store.The highlight of
this curious town is
the jamboree at the
Floyd Country Store
(%540-745-4563; http://www.
floydcountrystore.com; 206 S
Locust St; h11am-5pm Tue-Thu,
11am-11pm Fri, to 5pm Sat,
noon-5pm Sun). Every Friday
night, this little store
in a clapboard building
clears out its inventory
and lines up rows of
chairs around a dance
floor. Around 6:30pm the
first musicians on the bill
play their hearts out on
the stage. Pretty soon the
room’s filled with locals
and visitors hootin’ and
hollerin’ along with the
fiddles and banjos.
Then the music spills
out onto the streets.
Several jam bands
twiddle their fiddles in
little groups up and down
the main road. Listeners
cluster round their
favorite bands, parking
themselves in lawn chairs
right on the sidewalk or
along the curb. Motorists
stare at the scene in
bewilderment. There’s
really nothing else
like it. Just remember:
this tradition has been
maintained as a family-
friendly affair. Drinking,
smoking and swearing
are frowned upon.54 p297
The Drive » Take VA-8/Locust
St southbound for 6 miles back
to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Then it’s a little over 1.5 miles to
Rocky Knob. If you follow VA-8,
you can detour to Fairy Stone
State Park (p294).4 Rocky Knob
At Rocky Knob, almost
1000ft higher than
Smart View, rangers have
carved out a 4800 acre
area that blends natural
beauty with landscaped
amenities, including
picnic areas and
comfortable cabins.
If you’re really looking
to punish yourself and
simultaneously soak up
the best the Blue Ridge
mountains have to offer,
set out on the Rock
Castle Gorge Trail, a
hard-going 10.8-mile trail
that descends deep into
the shadowed buttresses
of Rock Castle Gorge
before clambering out of
the dark woods back into
the sunlit slopes of Rocky
Knob.
A much easier option
is covering a small
portion of the above via
the 0.8-mile Hardwood
Cove Nature Trail, which
follows the beginning of
the Rock Castle Gorge
Trail and cuts under the
dense canopies of some of
the oldest forests in the
Appalachians.4 p297
The Drive » Mabry Mill is
only a little over 3 miles south of
Rocky Knob via the Blue Ridge
Parkway, at milepost 176.5 Mabry Mill
Here’s where things go
from picturesque Blue
Ridge bucolicness to ‘Oh,
c’mon. Too cute.’ BuiltTRIP HIGHLIGHTVIRGINIA.TRIPS24
(^) THE CROOKED ROAD