The Virginia Highlands Horse Trail at Jefferson National Forest near Wilson Creek and Whitetop, Virginia is a moderate 2.8 mile one-way hike to/from the Elk Garden Trailhead to the intersection with the Appalachian Trail to Mount Rogers.
This GPS data starts at the AT to Mount Rogers Trail with scenic mountain top views and heads into the Lewis Fork Wilderness at Jefferson National Forest. The trail ends up in a scenic cow pasture with mountain top views before getting back to the Elk Garden Trailhead parking lot.
The trail itself is much longer than 2.8 miles one-way, but this section is a great shortcut back from Mount Rogers to make the hike 8.5 miles instead of 9 on the AT.
Follow the orange blazes; however, some of them look dark orange/redish at times. When you make it to the connector trail between this one and the AT, the blazes will be blue on the large boulders along the trail.
MyHikes is an indie web platform aimed to make exploring public trails easier for everyone. The site has no investors and is owned and operated by one person, Dave Miller / Admin. As the main contributor and doer-of-all-things for MyHikes, I share my experiences from hikes and backpacking trips on MyHikes for fun on a volunteer basis and I believe that public trail information should be available to everyone.
It takes a lot of time 🕦, money 💰, and effort (including espresso shots ☕) to run MyHikes, including hiking , mapping , writing , and publishing new trails with high-quality content... along with building new features, moderating, and site maintainance . I simply ask that if you find our content helpful or useful when planning your next adventure that you consider making a small donation to help keep the site running.
You can become a Supporter* (*MyHikes user account required) to unlock perks for as little as $0.83/month with a 1-time non-recurring payment 👍 Or you can simply Donate any amount without a MyHikes user account. Otherwise, telling your friends about MyHikes is the next-best thing to a donation - both quick and free 😄
Thanks for visiting MyHikes and have a great hike! ✌