Appalachian Trail (VA) - Chester Gap to Harpers Ferry

The Blue Ridge of northern Virginia have none of the 4,000-foot-plus heights so plentiful on the AT farther south. Still, the northern Virginia leg is one exhausting climb after another. On open mountain balds, views drop west onto the Great Valley. The bumpy spine of the Blue Ridge runs southward, and to the east lie the rolling meadows of Virginia’s hunt country. Come fall and winter, the mountains here harbor quiet moments, interrupted occasionally by the thrashing of birds foraging among the hornbeam, dogwood, spicebush, and sassafras. Terrain: Using dirt footpaths and abandoned dirt roads, hike along low ridges, cliffs, and rock lookouts; through fields, meadows, and stream hollows.