Endless Virginia Climbs: The Trek

Russell and Jessie wake up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and head toward Apple Orchard Mountain, a climb they’ve feared for weeks.

June 11 and 12, 2026

The Appalachian Trail along the Blue Ridge Parkway seems to be designed specifically to give you as few views as possible. Instead, the highway has panoramic views of mountains and ridges that span most of its length. The trail guides you through dense forest and rocky terrain while the road maintains a nice flat, gradual slope.

Jessie with her backpack on, watching the cloud inversion.

After waking up to a beautiful sunrise and the clouds settling like a sea beneath the mountains, we decided to walk the path. I managed to rationalize this with myself by saying that it’s the exact same mileage with a better view and that if it strays too far off the trail, I’ll just get back on the trail.

The crew walking along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We ended up walking down the road for about 4 miles and saw some great views along the way. As the sun rose, the road got hotter and the bugs got worse. I was also getting to a point where the road was starting to look significantly easier than the trail and that felt like too much of a trap to me.

Big Dripper walking around the overlook.

Jessie and I headed back into the woods and walked the rest of the way along the old path. That day, we planned to stop at a shelter just before beginning the climb up Apple Orchard Mountain.

The two-story shelter with our net tent set up on the porch.

I had seen this mountain on the elevation map weeks ago and, frankly, I dreaded it. It was a 5,000 foot climb over the course of nine miles. Not to mention, it had been in the 90s for the past week, and the climbs were starting to feel like hell on the body.

For this reason, we chose to wake up and be on the road by 6:00 am and finish most of the mountain before the heat of the day settled. The shelter itself was an interesting building with two stories and a pretty bad bug problem.

Normally I’m someone who preaches «you’re outside so expect bugs» but this went beyond a couple small bites. If you left the safety of your mesh for even a few seconds, you would be attacked by no-see-ums, mosquitoes, and midges; a trifecta of itching that could make a grown man scream.

Some souls were brave enough to leave their things exposed in the shelter and try to sleep. Jessie and I, knowing we had a big day ahead of us, decided to set up our tent on the porch. There was no way we were going to sleep with the constant biting. The hope was that as night came, the air would cool and the insects would dissipate.

Unfortunately, it only settled at a cozy 85° that night and the bugs were active all night. All the people who were brave enough to set up shop at the shelter were setting up their tents with us on the porch at 1 in the morning. The next morning, there were reports that the bugs had gotten under their shirts and pants and bitten every square inch of their bodies.

It was now 5 in the morning and time to start climbing. The group had a pretty decent understanding that today was everyone for themselves. (Obviously not from a safety perspective. We were all in contact with each other throughout the climb.) Each person was going to go at their comfortable pace and climb that mountain as fast as they could to beat the heat.

A federal (?) radar tower that sits on top of the mountain. Everyone just calls it the orb.

I took it as a personal challenge: to get there as quickly as possible with no brakes in between. I left camp around six and ended up summiting around 10am. I spotted the famous orb at the top and set up the tent to avoid the bugs while I waited for the others.

I ended up falling asleep for a good hour before I heard Jessie approaching me. Neither of us were particularly happy with the climb, but we were very excited to put it behind us. We were counting the remaining useless ups and downs until we reached Shenandoah.

A rock feature called guillotine that we saw on the descent from Apple Orchard.

Another hour later, Salamander and Dripper met us. We then proceeded to take a long rest at the top before someone decided it was worth continuing on. Once again a storm was forecast for the afternoon and no one was interested in going much further.

A strange light like that of a storm was approaching during the evening.

We ended up setting up camp at a spring and doing our best to stay cool for the rest of the afternoon. It’s hard enough camping when the only activity that doesn’t cause you to overheat is staying completely still and trying not to focus on the sweat dripping from every pore on your body.

We are praying for cooler weather soon.

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