Grayson Highlands State Park

The ponies are the reason many people first come to Grayson Highlands. Small, shaggy, and remarkably tough, they live outdoors year round on the high open ground, grazing the grasses and shrubs of the balds. The herds are managed to help keep the meadows open, since without grazing the forest would slowly reclaim these grassy summits.

Because they roam freely, encounters are unplanned, and part of the magic is coming over a rise to find ponies grazing among the rocks. They are wild, though, and both their health and a visitor's safety depend on keeping a respectful distance. Watching a foal pick its way across a windy bald, with the mountains rolling away behind, is the kind of scene that stays with people.

The open, treeless balds that give the park its character are unusual for the southern Appalachians, and their exact origin is debated, with grazing, fire, weather, and thin soils all playing a part. Whatever the cause, they open up sweeping views that wooded ridges never allow, and they turn the high country into rolling green pasture broken by outcrops of ancient rock.

Scattered across the highlands are dramatic boulder fields and rock formations that draw scramblers and climbers as well as hikers. The stone here is very old, part of the deep Appalachian bedrock, worn and weathered over immense spans of time. On a clear day the ridgelines seem to march away without end into Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

Grayson Highlands is a hub for hikers. The Appalachian Trail passes through the park and the adjoining Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, and many people use the park as a launch point for the climb toward Mount Rogers, the highest point in Virginia, whose summit is famously wooded rather than open. Shorter loops let day hikers reach the balds and the ponies without a full expedition.

The land was once logged hard, and much of the recreation area grew back after the timber era, protected now as public land. Trails range from easy walks to rugged routes over rock, and connecting paths make it possible to string together long backcountry days across the high country. The mix of open meadow, deep forest, and rocky ridge in one park is a large part of the draw.

At this elevation the seasons hit hard. Spring is late and cool, summer stays mild and sometimes downright chilly on the balds, autumn lights the highlands with color and often the year's clearest air, and winter brings snow, ice, and the quiet of an empty mountain. Weather can shift in minutes, so hikers plan for wind and cold in any season.

The park anchors a remote and beautiful part of Virginia, near small towns like Independence and Mouth of Wilson and within reach of Damascus, a famous trail town on the Appalachian and Virginia Creeper trails. This corner of the state, deep in the Appalachian highlands, has its own music, crafts, and pace, and Grayson Highlands is its scenic crown.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.