Southwest Virginia
This is a great website to get an overview of what there is to do in Southwest Virginia
Blue Ridge Parkway: We are a 20 minute drive from "America's favorite drive". A drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway is meant to be slow paced and relaxing. A stop at almost any overlook or trail will reveal much of the natural and cultural history here. The Parkway meanders 469 miles between Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks.
Grayson Highlands State Park: Just across the Virginia state line is some amazing hiking. This park is the neighbor to Mount Rogers National Recreation Area (NRA) and provides one of the easiest access points for a hike to Virginia's highest peak. The road into Grayson takes hikers to a parking lot at Massie Gap that's 4,200 feet above sea level—a good running start at the 5,729-foot peak of Mount Rogers. But this windswept, often fog-shrouded piece of the Blue Ridge Highlands is far more than just an entrance to the federal recreation area. The 4,935-acre Grayson Highlands State Park showcases the natural beauty of waterfalls, spruce-fir forests, igneous rock outcroppings, native trout streams, rugged mountains, and high alpine meadows with panoramic vistas of valleys below. A community of hardy wildflowers, shrubs, birds, amphibians, and wild ponies that can withstand the harsh conditions of the open highlands have adapted to life in the alpine meadows.
Virginia Creeper Trail: This is a biking adventure that you and your friends will talk about for a long time. The Virginia Creeper Trail stretches 35 miles from Abingdon Virginia thru Damascus Virginia to the NC State Line near Whitetop Virginia. The Virginia Creeper Trail is open to hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. The former rail bed passes through the back country of Southwest Virginia. The Virginia Creeper Trail is rich in beauty and regional history. If you don't bring your bike, rent one from Creeper Trail Bike Rental.
