Cameron Mountain Road to Doughton Park Picnic Area, eastbound
November 17, 2025. This was planned as a 12 mile hike, but things don’t always go according to plan!
Sunday after church we drove up to the mountains to Laurel Springs, where we had dinner at Freeborne’s and spent the night at the motel next door.
Monday morning, and it’s still a bit chilly at 7am—only about 36 degrees. My mom knit me those wool gloves about 50 years ago!
After dropping me off at Cameron Mountain Road, the husband-shuttle spent the morning birding at New River State Park, beginning with two Bald Eagles.
Meanwhile, once more into the woods, my friends!
As the sun rose, it warmed up to the 50’s, and besides, hiking keeps you nice and cozy. I shed all the wool layers pretty quickly.
Although the Tropical Storm damage from last year had been cleared away, there was a good amount of recent windfall on the trail. I cleared some of the smaller branches as I went.
The route intersects with the Blue Ridge Parkway in several locations, which gives this old lady solo hiker a level of reassurance that help could reach me quickly if I ever needed it.
The trail crew had made themselves this little bench!
Cows. On. Hillside.
And there’s Freeborne’s Restaurant and Motel! I’m about halfway through the hike. I might have been tempted by a cup of coffee, but they’re closed on Mondays.
I try to estimate how long a hike will take, so Loren can be in place at the finish point, but this one went much quicker than anticipated, because there were several miles of road-walking, and even the trail didn’t have much elevation gain or loss.
When the route finally began to climb, I didn’t mind at all, because the woods were simply so beautiful.
The climb up Bluff Mountain was the only serious elevation gain for the day.
And the view was splendid!
Descending on the other side of Bluff Mountain, I expected to see Loren waiting for me at the picnic area, but there were no cars there at all.
….and this is why!
Fortunately, I had a cell-phone connection at the picnic area, so I could read Loren’s texts and understand that I had to walk to where he was parked on the other side of the gate.
And that added an extra mile to the hike, for a total of 13.5 miles for the day.
Loren walked down the entrance road to meet me, and we saw two Bald Eagles, finishing off a glorious day with a flourish!
My.Bird.Walks. 