Backpacking the Virginia Triple Crown Loop

The Virginia Triple Crown consists of a roughly 17 mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail that takes in three iconic vistas-the Dragon's Tooth, McAfee Knob, and Tinker Cliffs. I have been to all of these vistas on my 1999 AT thru hike, but have not been back since. After 26 years and thousands of miles of hiking, my memory of the area is somewhat of a blur. 

While the three views are all linked by the Appalachian Trail, it's possible to combine other trails in the area with the AT to form an approximately 35-mile loop that circles the Catawba Valley called the Virginia Triple Clown Loop. Since I usually hike alone, loops are always helpful in eliminating shuttles or hitchhiking. After moving to West Virginia, I lived about 3 1/2 hours from the loop and revisiting the area moved up on my list of trips. With a stellar forecast, I made an impromptu trip to backpack the Virginia Triple Crown Loop beginning on September 9th.

Tomcat on McAfee Knob

Wanting to get an early start, I actually headed down to the trail the night before. I planned on sleeping in my van at the trailhead and begin my hike early in the morning. Unfortunately the Virginia State Police were on patrol. I got pulled over on a remote mountain road for driving 10 over the speed limit. I was on a steep downhill in the middle of nowhere in George Washington National Forest. Apparently no warning this time. After the ticket, I made my way to the Andy Layne Trailhead. I got a good nights sleep and was ready to hike not long after the sun came up.

I began my hike about 715AM. The Andy Layne Trailhead sits at then northern end of the loop. My hike started with a climb up the Catawba Valley Trail. The Catawba Valley Trail climbs relatively steeply on a switchbacked route as it makes its way to the crest of North Mountain. I was startled at one point when I stumbled upon a pair of deer browsing along the trail. I stopped to watch them and they didn't seem to fazed by my presence as long as I didn't move any closer.

Start of the hike

Near the beginning of the Catawba Valley Trail

Deer 1

Deer 2

After 2 1/2 miles, I reached the crest of North Mountain and the North Mountain Trail. Upon researching the hike, I found North Mountain has a somewhat poor reputation. The loop follows the ridge of North Mountain for about 9 miles. The mountain is known for its lack of water, lack of views, and somewhat overgrown conditions. 

Junction where I picked up
North Mountain Trail

Mushrooms around the base of a tree

Brushy trail

Typical stretch of North Mountain Trail

I found these statements about North Mountain to be partially true. The only water I encountered was within the first half-mile from the trailhead. Even though the rest of the ridge was dry, there are still plenty of campsites along the trail. At times the trail is a little brushy with thorns. I didn't find the brushy trail to be that bad though and the tread was easy to follow. I did come across several partial views from the top of the ridge. In winter, with no leaves, it seems like there would be a lot more views.

Partial view from North Mountain

Another view from North Mountain

Rows of ridges

Despite the lack of water, brushy sections, and green tunnel feel; I didn't mind the hike along North Mountain. For starters, I didn't see another person along the length of North Mountain. While the views weren't on par with the main destinations on the loop, there were a few windows taking in the surrounding valleys and ridges. Once on top of the ridge, the trail stays pretty flat with minimal elevation changes. This makes the hiking go by pretty fast. The lack of water wasn't an issue for me. It was 42F when I woke up in the morning. I hiked this stretch early and the temperature wasn't too bad and I didn't drink very much.

Nice open trail near the end of North Mountain

I made my way across North Mountain pretty quickly and dropped down to Route 311. The North Mountain Trail ends at the road. Upon reaching the road, you can see a sign to the right for the Dragon's Tooth Trailhead. A few minutes of walking along the road brings you to this trailhead and the start of the climbing towards the Dragon's Tooth. The climb from the trailhead to the Dragon's Tooth is the most challenging climb on the loop when headed counterclockwise.

Dragon's Tooth Trailhead

From the trailhead, I followed the Dragon's Tooth Trail for the next 1.7 miles. Not far after reaching this trail, you hike along a small creek for a little bit. This is the first water source I saw in about 11 miles. Several sources also noted available camping near this creek, but most of the area was roped off for reforestation. I saw my first people of the day not too far from the trailhead.

Start of the Dragon's Tooth Trail

The Dragon's Tooth Trail ends at the Appalachian Trail at Lost Spectacles Gap. Although dry, several nice campsites sit in the gap. Here I turned right on the AT and began the 3/4 mile trip to the Dragon's Tooth on the AT.

The Dragon's Tooth Trail is in great shape

Lost Spectacles Gap

Just past the gap, a sign warns of rocky and steep conditions ahead. Early on, most of the rocky conditions were well maintained with excellent stonework and steps. Further along the rocky sections became more challenging with light scrambling over sections of ledge. Generally the conditions become rockier and rougher as you gain the top of the ridge. At one point a couple metal rungs help negotiate a small ledge. Just below the ridge several sections of scrambling require caution. In wet weather this could be a rough section of trail. A few spots opened up with good views across the valley. 

Sign warning of the rocky conditions

Good view enroute to Dragon's Tooth

Rock steps enroute to Dragon's Tooth

Section of ledge

Rungs along the AT

Nice trail work along the AT

Once on top of the ridge, you reach a junction with a short side trail to the Dragon's Tooth. The Dragon's Tooth is a spire of rock that stands about 35 feet tall along Cove Mountain. From the base of the Tooth, the views are pretty good. The real treat comes by climbing the Tooth.

Side trail to Dragon's Tooth

Tomcat atop Dragon's Tooth

Dragon's Tooth view

If the rock is dry and you don't mind heights, I highly recommend climbing the Tooth. Climbing the Tooth requires a little scrambling at the bottom to get onto the main fin of rock. Once on the main rock, it's almost like a ramp to a wide ledge. From this ledge you have plenty of space for several people. You are elevated enough to get a full view of the valley and distant ridges.

Catawba Valley

McAfee Knob on the left

North Mountain, Tinker Cliffs, and McAfee Knob
around the Catawba Valley

To get the full experience, you can scramble up to the top of the Tooth. This requires scrambling over a narrow spine. When the rock is dry, it's not too difficult to get to the top. The problem for most people is that climbing to the top requires a lot of exposure on a narrow section with a pretty long drop below. If you aren't afraid of heights its not too bad. There were quite a few groups at the Dragon's Tooth while I was there and I was the only one that scrambled to the top. I have a fair amount of experience with exposure and class 3 terrain from my time living in Colorado and am comfortable with heights. By no means feel like you have to climb to the top if you're not comfortable. You get pretty good views even from the base.

McAfee Knob with the Peaks of Otter
in the distance

At the top, the perch is rather small with room for maybe two people max. By this point I had hiked about 14 miles and was ready for a break. I took a long break up on the Tooth enjoying the view while eating my lunch. It was a crystal clear day with near perfect visibility. From the Dragon's Tooth, majority of the Virginia Triple Crown Loop can be seen. Most of North Mountain, Tinker Cliffs, and McAfee Knob ring the Catawba Valley in clear view from the summit. On such a clear day, I could see a handful of distant ridges stretching out to the Peaks of Otter along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Looking down along the Dragon's Tooth

The Tooth from below

After a nice long break at the Dragon's Tooth, I backtracked to the AT and dropped back down to Lost Spectacles Gap. Once at the gap, I continued north along the AT. The AT drops back to the valley over the next 1 1/2 miles. I was surprised to pass several decent views along the way. The AT crosses VA 624. From this road crossing it's a short distance to a hostel to the right and a store to the left if you need a dry bed or a snack.

View along the AT

Tinker Cliffs and McAfee Knob

After reaching the road you continue in the lower elevations of the valley for a couple miles. I hiked along a stream for a little bit and eventually entered a stretch of meadows. The trail passes through stiles as it enters cow pastures. I didn't have any close encounters with cows but could see them through the trees near the creek.

Crossing through a meadow

Another road crossing is followed by more time in meadows and pastures. The thru hiker bubble has long passed through here and the AT tread was already starting to grow faint in the grass. After passing some large round bales of hay, I dropped to another creek. After hiking through the open fields in the bright sun, I was pretty thirsty. I decided to stop for a break and filter some water. Cows use the fields near this creek, so be sure to filter any water. This was the last water for a while and I knew I probably wouldn't have enough to get to the next source if I didn't fill up here.

Crossing a hay field

After following the creek briefly, I climbed away through another meadow. The view of the mountains were quite nice as I climbed through the meadow. The AT left the meadow and began climbing Catawba Mountain.

There were some nice views in the meadows

The climb up Catawba Mountain was fairly easy. Once on the ridge, the AT follows the top of the mountain with minor elevation change. There's a few small views along the way, but generally the hike passes through the green tunnel. As expected, there was no water along this stretch of the trail.

View from Catawba Mountain

The AT passing along large rocks

The AT drops to VA 311 and the main trailhead for McAfee Knob. The parking lot was quite busy when I passed by. The trail crosses over the road on a pedestrian bridge. There are two routes to McAfee Knob, a woods road and the AT. I didn't see much traffic on the AT, so I'm assuming most of the people were on the woods road.

Bridge over VA 311

Vista near the trailhead

I didn't have a set plan for the day. Camping on this stretch of the AT is limited to the shelters and campsites. Two shelters sit along the AT between VA 311 and McAfee Knob. I originally thought about staying at one of these shelters. I soon found out that the water sources for both of these shelter had dried up. I was very happy that I filtered water from the last creek at this point. 

Crossing a powerline clearing

By the time I reached the second shelter, I had hiked about 23 miles for the day. I was about 1 1/2 miles from McAfee Knob. Another shelter and campsite sat less than a mile downhill beyond McAfee Knob. Other hikers I saw confirmed that the water was flowing at this shelter. The choice was easy to push ahead to McAfee Knob and Campbell Shelter. I still had several hours of light left to travel the 2 1/2 or so miles to the next shelter.

Even though McAfee Knob sits at the highest point along the loop, the climbing never seemed to steep. While it gets rocky at times, I wouldn't consider the climb that difficult. However by the time I reached McAfee Knob, I was approaching 25 miles for the day. I was getting quite hungry. I decided to hold off on a snack until I reached the summit. I wanted to enjoy the view rather than grab a bite at the shelters before the summit. So even though it wasn't too steep, the last 1 1/2 miles to the summit felt a like a little bit of a slog on an empty stomach.

I finally reached the top of McAfee Knob about 545PM. At this point in the day, the crowds thinned out and only a pair of thru hikers were still there. First thing I did when I reached the summit was grab something to eat.

McAfee Knob is said to be the most photographed spot on the entire AT. The bare outcropping juts out over the Catawba Valley and gives the perspective that you are standing or dangling your feet on the edge of an abyss. When I thru hiked the AT in 1999, film cameras were still used. I actually ran out of film by the time I made it McAfee Knob. I'm probably one of the few AT thru hikers without any photos from McAfee Knob. One of the thru hikers that was there offered to take my picture without me asking. Even though it's a cliche photo, I got my obligatory McAfee Knob portraits.

The obligatory photo on McAfee Knob

Tomcat enjoying the scenery

Apart from the classic portrait that everyone takes, the scenery from McAfee Knob is quite scenic. The rock overlooks the Catawba Valley and much of the Triple Crown Loop. The rocks of Tinker Cliffs can easily be seen about five miles north on the AT. North Mountain frames the opposite side of the Valley. Cove Mountain's ridge is easily seen. Rows of ridges line the horizon in all directions. To the far north, the southern end of the Shenandoah's stand out. To the east, the Peaks of Otter dominate the skyline. To the west, ridgelines of West Virginia stretch out along the horizon. It truly is a great view. 

Connecting ridge over to Tinker Cliffs

You can make out the cliffs of Tinker Cliffs

I lingered for probably an hour on McAfee Knob. I had less than a mile of downhill hiking to my campsite for the night and was in no rush. I didn't bring a stove on this trip, so I grazed on my various snacks that made up my dinner. After the thru hikers left, I had the summit to myself for a little bit. A local hiker joined my for a while before I left. He had great knowledge of the surrounding mountains and filled me in on the different mountains that were visible from the summit.

Catawba Valley

North Mountain

Peaks of Otter (Flat Top and Sharp Top)

After leaving the summit of McAfee Knob, the trail passes another overlook with a great view into Roanoke. The airport sits in the foreground with the city in the background surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. The McAfee Knob Trailhead on VA 311 is only about 15 minutes from Roanoke.

Roanoke

Hazy evening view of the Peaks of Otter

I quickly hiked the last .7 miles to the Pig Farm Campsite and Campbell Shelter. Since I had the place to myself, I decided to take advantage of the shelter. There were signs at the shelter warning of bear activity. I wasn't too concerned. All of the shelters and campsites in this section have metal bear boxes for food storage.

The first thing I did once I got there was refill my water. At this point I was getting down to my last half-liter. The water source wasn't the best I have seen, but good enough. At this point, after a dry spell, the water barely trickled from a pipe. 

After filtering my water, daylight was waning. I didn't have much more than 15 minutes of light left. After a chilly night with the morning dropping to the low 40s, it seemed pretty warm as I turned in to the shelter for the night. I enjoyed the sound of a barred owl nearby as I wound down.

Bear warning at the shelter

My home for the night

I slept wonderfully at the shelter. Unlike a lot of shelters on the AT, I didn't hear any mice. Perhaps the bear storage boxes outside of the shelter deter the mice. According to my watch in the morning, it was in the low 50s, a good 10 degrees warmer than yesterday morning.

I started hiking before 8AM. The trail rolls over minor bumps along the ridge. The elevation never seems like much of a change. The rocky formations along the trail kept the route interesting. A few nice views opened to the east from the ridge.

Passing through a rocks

Rock overhanging the trail

Carvins Cove Reservoir

Pretty morning view with lingering fog

More rock features along the AT

The rock formations lined the AT numerous spots along the trail. After bouncing along the ridge the past three miles, the AT climbs modestly as it gains about 800 feet over the last 1 1/2 to Tinker Cliffs. With fresh morning legs, the climb went by pretty quickly.

The sticks blocking an old route through
a large rock overhang

Unlike McAfee Knob, which consists of one main perch, Tinker Cliffs stretches out for what seems like a 1/4 to 1/2 mile along the top of the mountain. The AT mostly runs along the cliff band. As you hike along the cliffs, you have countless viewing platforms to take in the view. With probably dozens of spots with a view, you can likely get a spot to yourself. Since I was there around 9AM, I had the entire area to myself.

First view from Tinker Cliffs

The AT route along to McAfee Knob

North Mountain over the Catawba Valley

McAfee Knob

Looking back over the cliffs toward McAfee Knob

North Mountain (my route yesterday morning)

The AT following the cliffs

The view from Tinker Cliffs focuses on the Catawba Valley. You get a nice look of the farmland below. Hay bales can be seen in the fields and cows are dots that you can barely make out. You can even hear the cows mooing in the valley below. You have a nice view of McAfee Knob and North Mountain as well. 

Looking back across a clearing on the cliffs

The cliffs stretching out through the trees

View directly from the AT

I stopped at just about every spot along the cliffs with a view to take in the scenery. After leaving Tinker Cliffs, the AT drops a little over a half-mile into Scorched Earth Gap. Here I departed the AT for good and began my descent back to the valley on the Andy Layne Trail.

Leaving the AT at Scorched Earth Gap

The home stretch- the final few miles

Pretty section of the Andy Layne Trail

Generally the Andy Layne Trail descends for the next two miles or so as it drops to Catawba Creek. There was one short, but steep climb that caught me off guard. It wasn't that bad, I just wasn't expecting it. After crossing Catawba Creek on a nice bridge, the trail goes through a couple of stiles as it makes its way through meadows. I didn't see any cows, but heard they are pretty common in these meadows.

Catawba Creek

Bridge over Catawba Creek

One final meadow crossing

The trail climbs away from Catawba Creek for about a half mile as it makes its way to the road. Just before 11AM, I reached the Andy Layne Trailhead and finished my hike. I completed my trip of the Virginia Triple Crown Loop. I changed out of my hiking clothes into something less sweaty and began my drive home. 

Crossing a field of wingstem

I am glad I decided to hike this loop and revisit this part of the AT. After 26 years, I didn't remember this area that well. And as I mentioned before, I ran out of film before I reached this stretch of the AT, I do remember sitting on Dragon's Tooth during my thru hike with another thru hiker named Seeker. We came upon box of trail magic on the descent with snacks. I took a Kool-Aid packet from the box, the kind you add a cup of sugar to make. I didn't have sugar, but the box had Pixie Stix. I remember drinking a bitter batch of Kool-Aid from a Nalgene made with the Pixie Stix. Later than night, we camped at the store in Catawba. At the time the owners allowed thru hikers to camp behind the store. I cowboy camped and woke up soaked in dew.

I vaguely remember McAfee Knob and taking a break there. Of course I didn't have the iconic photo everyone takes since I had no film. I also vaguely remember walking along Tinker Cliffs in the morning the next day. A couple days later I stopped at an AYCE pizza and pasta buffet in Troutville and left dangerously full, struggling to keep it down on a hot climb out of town. This trip I took plenty of photos and can always revisit this write up to refresh my memory of this area.

 

A rare Tomcat selfie taken along Tinker Cliffs

While this trip is fairly straightforward to plan as a loop, there are a couple considerations. Camping is limited to shelters and campsites on the eastern half of this loop. Most of the campsites on the western half of the loop are dry campsites. Water sources are limited on the North Mountain section of the trail and be prepared to filter water shared by cows if you need water in the valley. I hiked during a dry spell and the water sources at Catawba and John's Spring Shelters dried up. For the most part, don't expect to have too much solitude. All three of the main attractions, especially McAfee Knob, see a lot of hikers. The area is only about 15 minutes from Roanoke and a quick hiking getaway for the city. 

Another shot from the Dragon's Tooth

Virginia has a reputation as a somewhat boring state along the AT. The Virginia Triple Crown section crams in a lot of iconic AT views in a short distance. I highly recommend this hike if you want a nice taste of the AT in Virginia. It's manageable distance is easy to tackle over a long weekend for most hikers. Perhaps its second only to the Grayson Highlands for scenery on the Virginia section of the AT.

One more shot from McAfee Knob

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