Latest / Virginia Outdoor Adventures: Hiking, Camping, Kayaking, Local Travel and more! / Breaks Park Hiking Guide: New Trails, Swinging Bridges & Hidden Places You've Never Been Before, with Rangers Daniel Flores and Ronnie Hylton (Ep 89, Part 1)

Transcript

Breaks Park Hiking Guide: New Trails, Swinging Bridges & Hidden Places You've Never Been Before, with Rangers Daniel Flores and Ronnie Hylton (Ep 89, Part 1) · Virginia Outdoor Adventures: Hiking, Camping, Kayaking, Local Travel and more!

• 0:01
  Jessica Bowser: From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia is a mecca for outdoor travel and adventure. Virginia Outdoor Adventures podcast is your local guide for hiking, camping, kayaking, travel, and so much more. Get the information and the inspiration to plan your own adventure right here in Virginia, I'm your host Jessica Bowser. What if I told you there are places inside one of Virginia's most spectacular landscapes that no hiker has ever been able to experience?
• 0:31
  Jessica Bowser: Until now, we're heading to Brakes Park, known as the Grand Canyon of the South, where several brand new hiking trails and trail improvements are opening up parts of the park that visitors have never been able to explore before. From hiking along historic logging routes leading deep into the gorge to discovering a breathtaking new overlook, crossing swinging bridges beneath towering sandstone cliffs, and exploring forests rich with wildlife and Appalachian history, there's never been a better time to visit the breaks. Joining me are Senior Ranger Daniel Flores and Chief Ranger Ronnie Hilton, two people who know these mountains, trails, and the stories behind them better than almost anyone.
• 1:14
  Jessica Bowser: They'll take us behind the scenes of these exciting new projects, share the history that shaped this incredible landscape, and help you plan your own unforgettable hiking adventure in the heart of Appalachia. Let's go, Daniel and Ronnie. Welcome to Virginia Outdoor Adventures.
• 1:35
  Unknown: Glad to be here.
• 1:36
  Unknown: Hey, thanks for having us on.
• 1:37
  Jessica Bowser: What brought each of you to the breaks?
• 1:39
  Unknown: Well, I was born just like two miles down the road from here, so I've been stomping these parks since I was a little baby. I actually have some strong family ties to the breaks. My fourth great grandfather was the one who first settled the park. So you know, my family's been around here for a long time, and it's kind of been part of my life.
• 1:58
  Unknown: Yeah, so I'm kind of on the opposite end of Ronnie, I'm kind of a outsider. I come from Flatland. I'm from West Texas, a place called San Angelo, Texas, kind of in the oil patch. And then you know I've been here in Appalachia for seven years, and I went to school at the University of Pikeville in Pikeville, Kentucky. Got my degree in biology, and I was fortunate enough that my mentor and advisor and one of my professors happened to be an interpretive ranger at the park during his college education. He introduced me to the position, and this is my third year now, and I'm happy to have accepted a new position as a full time ranger at the breaks.
• 2:39
  Jessica Bowser: Both of you have really unique connections to this place, so I want to just dive a little more into your break story. What makes the park special to each of you personally?
• 2:49
  Unknown: I mean, it's just home for me. I mean, I like I said, grew up around here. You know, my mom was walking these trails with me when I, you know, was just a little baby. I about drowned in Russell Fort twice when I was five years old, it was the River Trail. Then was bottom of the breaks now. You know, hiked that when I was five with my uncle. The breaks Interstate Park. I mean, it's just it's imprinted in who I am.
• 3:11
  Unknown: I have always been an avid outdoorsman, hiker, hunter, fisher, and so when I moved to the breaks, I always enjoyed that this area was really wild and a place to roam and explore.
• 3:23
  Unknown: And I, I joke with my wife that one of the first places I came when I moved to Southwest Virginia and Eastern Kentucky was was the breaks. And I went to all the overlooks and stuff.
• 3:34
  Unknown: And ever since I was a little boy, I've also wanted to be a ranger. And my whole point of being in school was try to work towards an education to be able to work in a state park as a ranger. So, like I said, this is really a hidden gem of Virginia, and I would say a hidden gem of America. There's so much history here. It's truly a wild place.
• 3:50
  Unknown: When you're here, you feel like you're in a wild place. And I've been a biology nerd since birth, so this is by far one of the the coolest places in the world to be if you love the outdoors and just are a plant nerd and animal nerd like myself,
• 4:04
  Jessica Bowser: I love that you say it's so wild because I feel like that's something that I hear a lot of people say about the breaks, which is interesting because there's actually a lot of infrastructure there for visitors and guests, and yet when you're out on the trail, it feels like you're in the middle of nowhere, and it is a very geologically unique and beautiful place, so it does seem to still have that really wild feel
• 4:28
  Unknown: to it. Yeah, we we talk about that all the time, especially when we're doing trail work, or you know, even just doing guided programs. It's something I mention all the time is like how truly wild you feel and how small you feel when you're standing in the belly of the canyon, 1000 foot walls of sandstone above you, out there, surrounded by the the sound of the river and the noise of the canyon is pretty pretty amazing.
• 4:49
  Jessica Bowser: Do either of you have favorite memories from the breaks, either growing up or working there?
• 4:54
  Unknown: It used to be a place my family always came to. You know, my dad, who's now passed away, used to bring me up here quite a bit. My uncle, who who first took me down the bottom of the brakes trail when I was five, has passed away now.
• 5:06
  Unknown: Growing up around it as a teenager, coming back up here, and then when I left the service after some time overseas, you know, came here and just really kind of seen it with new eyes. I said, I don't know if I have one single memory. There's there's really just a a number of memories that kind of compound with each other to just make this place special to me. A lot of my memories that are my fondest to me are definitely when working the trail crew.
• 5:31
  Unknown: Everyone always asks me what my favorite part of my job is, and I definitely say trail work just because the guys that we're with and the work that we're doing and the places we're going, we walk in the footsteps of people that haven't laid foot there in over 100 years, doing a lot of kind of similar work, and you really do kind of feel one with the breaks when you're out there working in the breaks and kind of cutting country and being out there. I'd say my favorite trail memory would have been this last year. We were out there working on a trail that we gonna talk about later, PB Hook Pass, and it was kind of a cooler day.
• 6:06
  Unknown: It's usually kind of cool down in that little drainage when we're doing trail work, and it was lunchtime, and there's just kind of this perfect spot on the hillside beneath the towers, and we were kind of all just sitting there on this hillside, sitting and eating lunch, and I don't know. There's just something about that moment that stands out to me. Like I said, it goes back to that truly wild feeling.
• 6:26
  Unknown: It just felt makes you feel really small in such a big place. Just kind of the camaraderie of hanging out with the guys there too is also really fun.
• 6:34
  Jessica Bowser: As somebody who has done trail work, I feel like you get to know people when you're out there investing the time and the energy and the heart into building something that you know that other people are going to get to enjoy. So I'm sure it's that bonding too that you're experiencing.
• 6:49
  Unknown: Totally, you put in the hard work, and you know everybody's everybody's biting into the suck pretty good. And then at the end of the day, you kind of look back and see everything that you were able to accomplish. And then you know over a period of weeks, months, that all comes together, and then you know the big finale. You see people out on the trail, and they're they're happy with it. They're they're they're singing its praises, and you know it's like it feels pretty good to to be able to do that.
• 7:15
  Jessica Bowser: Cutting new trails and maintaining trails are especially challenging in the breaks because of the rugged terrain, and I have such an appreciation for what both of you have done at the breaks and your contribution to it. And I cannot wait to talk about some of these new trails that have been brought to the breaks thanks to you guys. But before we get into the specifics about the individual trails, what makes breaks a hiking destination in the heart of Appalachia.
• 7:43
  Unknown: Well, we've got a little bit of everything for everybody. If you're just looking for a general, nice hike, we've got you know some trails. They're relatively flat for the break. So I mean, if you're coming from Eastern Virginia, there's nothing flat here. But we got sections of the park that are flatter than the canyon. Go through some old homesteads where people used to no farm agriculture. So a lot of historical ties there. Kind of get to see some forest and regeneration, and then you can move out closer to the canyon.
• 8:15
  Unknown: And you know, as as you go on down through the canyon, the trails become progressively more difficult. I mean, they're rocky, they are steep, they're rooty. We've tried to do the best with what we can with our limited staff, but like I tell everybody, in the end, it's a canyon, and you're going to climb, and you're going to you're probably going to fall a couple times. If I mean, if you could take all the trees off of it, you know, you'd be looking at something like you'd see out in Utah or Colorado, just a big box canyon in the east.
• 8:46
  Unknown: Yeah, and it's totally a different feeling, a different vibe when you're in the canyon.
• 8:50
  Unknown: Me and Ronnie talk about this all the time. Like the best time to hike is you know that early winter through when the leaves kind of fall off, and early spring, before leaves really start coming on, but they're just starting to bud because you can really see down in the canyon, and you're walking on these benches that go in between cliff faces, and then if the foliage is on like about like about this time, foliage is real thick, real lush. You can't really see the scale of the canyon that you're walking. It's really remarkable. Like I said, I'm a flatlander, and so I have, and you know, I've hiked quite a bit of Virginia. I've hiked, you know, a lot of the sections of the AT through Virginia, a lot in the Smokies, that kind of stuff. And there's just nothing like the canyon. Like when you're in a big gorge that's a giant around you, there's no scenery like it. And the Russell Fork River, where you can get peeks of it through the canyon running below you. That I don't even know how to describe the color. It's kind of a unique bluey green color. It's still got a lot of clarity to it. It's really remarkable as it cuts through the canyon. And then, like I said, I'm a plant nerd and a biology nerd. And the things that you see on the canyon and around. Around the canyon and in the breaks are really unique to this area because of the geology with Pine Mountain and Virginia and Kentucky all meeting right here.
• 10:10
  Unknown: It's just really, really remarkable. Just views and biology is just the best.
• 10:14
  Jessica Bowser: I couldn't agree more. And I want to thank both of you for hosting me at the breaks recently. We had two awesome days of hiking in the park, and when I was asked to do a podcast episode about these new trails, I thought, "Oh, we'll get them all done in a day. I'm glad we broke it up into two separate days. It gave us time to really enjoy the trails, but also to stop and talk about a lot of what we were seeing. And we were stopping a lot. We were looking at the plants, and we were looking at salamanders, and we were looking at rock formations, and talking about the history of the trail and taking in the views. I mean, there was there was really a lot, and I'm glad that we got to take the time to do that because it's so unique and so remarkable. Your adventure starts in the heart of Appalachia. Hike and bike through breathtaking mountain landscapes. Paddle peaceful rivers winding through hidden hollows, or cast your line in crystal clear streams teeming with trout. Craving something truly unique? Hop on an ATV and ride the rugged Spearhead Trail, some of the best in the East.
• 11:19
  Jessica Bowser: Take a scenic drive through winding back roads, explore the Grand Canyon of the South at Brakes Park, or go on an elk tour and witness these majestic creatures roaming free. Whether you're looking for heart-pounding outdoor adventure or peaceful moments in nature, the heart of Appalachia has got what you need. Dine, celebrate, shop, and rest well in the heart of all things fun-the heart of Appalachia, Virginia's treasured Southwest. Begin your mountain escape by clicking on "Heart of Appalachia" in your show notes.
• 11:56
  Jessica Bowser: So let's talk about the evolution of hiking at the break. So for listeners who have never visited, what should they know before planning a hiking trip to breaks?
• 12:05
  Unknown: One of the big things, you know, we get a lot of people in here. Do you have any easy trails? And I mean, we do have a few, and you're probably going to be able to do all those in about two or three hours. But if you're looking for, you know, a little bit more of a challenge, and like I said, if you're if you're in decent physical condition, there's no reason that you couldn't complete any of these trails. But come prepared, you know, trekking poles, hiking sticks are a big help in the canyon. I mean, it's kind of like having a third and fourth leg. It really takes a lot of weight off the knees and the ankles. Bring plenty of water, some type of electrolytes, Gatorade, a mix.
• 12:39
  Unknown: You know, bring you plenty of high calorie snacks. I mean, you're you're going to be burning the calories out there.
• 12:44
  Unknown: So I mean, don't bring junk food, but you know, bring plenty of peanuts, trail mix, beef jerky. You know, I always tell people make sure that they have some sort of flashlight and not the one on on your phone. That's that's not going to be adequate if something goes awry and you're stuck down in the canyon in the dark. You know a map. You can stop by the visitor center and pick up a paper map, or you can go to breakspark.com and look at our trails page and be able to download a georeferenced PDF map directly from there. And if you were to download the Avenza app or any other GPS-related app that would accept a PDF, you'll be able to load that up into your phone and track your progress, whether you have service or not. You know, another thing that people need, you know, we we do have insects that sting and bite, and we've got creepy crawlies that sting and bite too. So, if you know you're allergic to you know yellow jackets, wasp stuff, bring your EpiPen with you. Some of the places that we've got here, although it may just be a mile and a half, it may take us two or three hours to get to you. But you know, come with a good attitude, a can-do attitude, and not a I can't attitude. You're going to put in the work, but I promise you, you're not gonna. You'd be hard pressed to find any scenery like we've got anywhere in the eastern U.S.
• 14:05
  Unknown: Like Ronnie said, we have some creepy, some some crawlies. You know, this is a park and it's in a remote area, so you know wildlife is to be expected. So you know, just don't be approaching wildlife. Give them space. If a bear is walking a trail, you know, make sure that they know you're there. You know, don't don't get freaked out. Don't run away. You know, announce to yourself in a loud, assertive way, "Hey, bear! Like, or just you can really say whatever. Bears can't really speak English, so you know, holler at it, scream at it, do whatever you want. But just don't run away. Don't be afraid.
• 14:33
  Unknown: If you are getting approached by a bear, that's a different story. In the park, we do not restrict the use of bear spray.
• 14:39
  Unknown: We're not going to make fun of you if you bring bear spray, but I will say most black bears don't attack you, so I really wouldn't worry about it. But if you're just nervous, you know bear spray is by far the most effective deterrent. I hear a lot of people say that they would pull out a firearm. Number one, it's legal to discharge firearm in the park, but also it doesn't work nearly as effective. As as bear spray, so if you're scared of bears, don't worry about it, and just pick up your trash and don't be setting the woods on fire. We don't need you painting on our rocks or carving up our trees. You know we love the woods just how they look. We're glad that you're here, but I think it's a good saying: is take only memories, leave only footprints. is a great rule of thumb when you're coming out to visit our trails.
• 15:22
  Unknown: It is a a kind of a sensitive habitat in some areas, and so you know you never know you could be the reason a plant or an animal that is on the verge of extinction that is uniquely Appalachian that you should be proud of as an Appalachian is because you want to throw your monster can or whatever it may
• 15:39
  Jessica Bowser: be. Brakes already has an incredible trail system. How many miles of trails are available right now?
• 15:45
  Unknown: Just a little under 26 miles, and I mean, if you included some of the Kentucky side, you know, you'd probably push that over 30 over on the Pine Mountain State Senate Trail.
• 15:57
  Jessica Bowser: So there's been an addition of several new trails. Why does the park continue to invest in trail development?
• 16:03
  Unknown: When I came on board here about six years ago, you know, digging through the history of the park, you know, I don't think there may have been any new trails constructed within 20 years. Some of those are mountain bike trails, but besides like any canyon trails, you know, we've got 5500 acres in the park, and we probably had trails on you know seven, 800 of it. So the way I viewed it, you know, this this is the people's park, and there's definitely some really great scenery here and some really amazing places.
• 16:34
  Unknown: Let's see what we can do to try to you know expand access so so people can get even better appreciation for this place. The way it kind of been laid out is everything was kind of centered.
• 16:45
  Unknown: You know, we got the lodge and the restaurant and everything, and everything just kind of centered around that. And it's like, well, let's get outside the box. Let's let's get deeper into the canyon. Let's let's push a little farther and see what we can find. And as you've seen when you were here, we were able to find some pretty awesome places and get a fairly decent trail out to it. I mean, some of the views you're going to get here, you know, especially when you you know Daniel's referred to the bottom of the canyon. You know, he calls the Grand Canyon of the South, but when you're when you're sitting down there in the bottom, it's kind of like the Appalachian Yosemite. You're looking up at all these sheer cliff faces, you know, 500 to 1000 feet tall, and it's just a whole different experience.
• 17:27
  Jessica Bowser: It is a remarkable experience, and what I love about these new trails that I got to experience with the two of you is that they're expanding access to previously unseen areas. So we got to go to the bottom of the breaks, which is not an area that people could really get to previously, there's such amazing history, which we're going to get into here in just a moment, which I think is just fascinating. And then there's like new viewpoints and just new hiking experiences through this rugged terrain. So I was really excited because previously I had hiked every trail in the breaks, except for one, and now I can say that I have hiked all of them, and there's something unique about each of them.
• 18:07
  Unknown: That is a huge part of why I really love doing programming in the breaks. You know, if I want to do something that is more flower-based, you know, we have the wildlife viewing station here. If I want to do something more, you know, really river-focused or hydrology-focused, we can go to Camp Branch, or we can go down to the river. Like tonight, for example, I'm doing a sunset hike, which is kind of two and one. You know, we get to watch the sunset, but it's also kind of a canyon rim tour because we take the overlook tour, and I talk about right now the blueberries are starting to come in, and the hydrangeas are starting to bloom, and the rhododendron is starting to bloom. So, like the the per the goal is sunset, but we get to show off all these different features of the park on these little things, and that's what's it keeps it fresh for everyone on the visitor side, but also on the ranger side because you know you're always stepping somewhere new, even if you're walking the same path, like something changes. It's really unique here in the breaks.
• 19:01
  Jessica Bowser: I'm excited to share some incredible news.
• 19:04
  Jessica Bowser: Virginia Outdoor Adventures has been nominated for three Signal Awards, a prestigious and highly recognized honor in the podcasting industry. The show was nominated in the categories of travel, solopreneur podcast, and sustainability and environment. This is one of the biggest achievements of my career, and it's made possible by listeners like you. What began as a passion project has grown into a platform that promotes tourism, economic development, conservation, and stewardship across Virginia through stories that connect people to the outdoors. As a solo entrepreneur, every episode is researched, recorded, produced, and promoted by me.
• 19:44
  Jessica Bowser: Your contributions through Buy Me a Coffee have helped fund travel, equipment, production costs, and the countless hours required to create the show.
• 19:51
  Jessica Bowser: Your encouragement has turned Virginia Outdoor Adventures into an award-nominated platform that is making a. To celebrate this milestone and help fuel the next season of adventures, I hope you'll consider supporting the podcast through Buy Me a Coffee.
• 20:06
  Jessica Bowser: Just click Support the show Buy Me a Coffee in your show notes to make a contribution today.
• 20:14
  Jessica Bowser: Thank you for listening, sharing episodes, and being part of this incredible community. Your support helps make the next season of adventures possible.
• 20:22
  Jessica Bowser: Daniel and Ronnie, let's start to share some of the brand new trails at the breaks. I just wanted to make sure that listeners who maybe haven't been following for a while realize that there is another podcast episode that I did about last year about hiking at the breaks, and that episode covers all of the trails at the park. And so, for the sake of this episode, we're just going to cover the new trails that have been added.
• 20:49
  Jessica Bowser: So, for anybody who's looking for info about the other trails, just go down to your show notes, and I will link that episode there. Okay, let's jump into the new ones. So, I think we should start with the Camp Branch Historical Trail because that's the first one that we did on my visit to the breaks. What makes this trail so significant?
• 21:10
  Unknown: You know, we've always had the Camp Branch Trail, which was you know a half a mile down to the river, half a mile back, and then you know over the period I was doing some research about the park, I came across a article in 1910 about the logging history in the park.
• 21:23
  Unknown: Make a long story short, started reading about all the stuff that happened in Camp Branch, and then you know started looking on GIS, and we started locating all these old logging paths and roads in the Camp Branch drainage. And Camp Branch was already beautiful. I mean, it was just a you know an absolutely fabulous half mile hike, but then you know we got to you know finding these old mule roads and log skid trails and jammer log jammer paths, and then we're like, oh man, this is just this is leading to even better places in Camp Branch, and then we were able to find some old pictures, and so we were able to take that trail from a half a mile in length to now it's you know three and a half miles in length, broken into different sections. You know the original Camp Branch Trail, now PV Hook Pass, which includes a spur trail to the Camp Branch Landing, and then we've got the 48 Mule Mountain section, and that connects up to the Camp Branch Overlook section.
• 22:23
  Unknown: Ronnie kind of mentioned there.
• 22:23
  Unknown: It is just a beautiful drainage in Camp Branch. I mean, it is nothing but really mature hemlocks and mature beaches.
• 22:28
  Unknown: It's probably one of the best drainages of just mature beach and hemlock down through there.
• 22:36
  Unknown: That follows this pristine, gorgeous little creek all the way down to the river, seem like you're in Jurassic World. So it's just a really scenic part of the park that has some really, really pretty woods and just amazing flora and fauna through there. Just absolutely one of the most productive spots in that kind of front.
• 22:55
  Jessica Bowser: I was absolutely fascinated with the logging history on this trail. I knew that there had been logging in the park before it was a park, but I wasn't that familiar with the history. And just walking along with you guys and the new signage that was added, like really opened my eyes to what it may have looked like there about 100 years ago. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?
• 23:17
  Unknown: The logging operations in Camp Branch probably took place between 1906, 1910.
• 23:19
  Unknown: company that did it was the Yellow Poplar Lumber Company.
• 23:24
  Unknown: They harvested all virgin mature poplar in that drainage and and in around the park. If we were to step back in time, say 1900 late 1800s before it was discovered, we would we would see these giant tulip poplar or yellow poplar trees that were you know 4567 some in some cases eight feet in diameter and you know growing in excess of 150 to 200 feet tall. Unfortunately, you will not see any of those today. Those were those were hauled out with the logging days. What they did was basically building an extensive camp in camp branch, and they would move from drainage to drainage about every year or two, depending on how much timber was in that drainage. And what this, there was no roads or no access, no railroads into the park at the time. So these, this company was hauling all their materials and supplies in on mules and wagons, and this included locomotives. So they were they had about 26 miles of narrow gage railroad built throughout the drainages in and around the breaks, and these rails were made of wood that they would they would actually split and do themselves, and then they would haul in their little steam locomotives, which is called a Shea locomotive, and it was kind of like the the four wheel drive little steam engine that could it could navigate steep terrain, slightly off slope across creeks. So they would haul these things in, assemble them. Crews would move in. You know, your fellers would start. Well, first they would build the roads, which is what gave us a lot with what we have in Camp Branch. And then the guys would move in and fell, and then they'd load all this to either a steam engine or a mule tram, which was they basically would just have rails, and mules would pull pull the rail cars with logs down to the river, and at a point in between 1906, 1905, 1909, there was a drought in the area, and they had all these yellow poplar logs piled up in the breaks. I don't, I don't have a number, but 1000s upon 1000s upon 1000s of logs, and they could not get them to market due to the rough terrain of the canyon. So what happened was they started building the world's largest splash dam about three miles upstream of Camp Branch. The 40-eight mule section in Camp Branch was actually the Mule Hall Road that was used to haul materials for seven months straight from Elkhorn City, Kentucky, to Bartlett, Virginia, to build this world's largest splash dam.
• 26:09
  Unknown: You know, I think they hauled over 800,000 tons of concrete over that little over that little road, and unknown how much steel and everything else that they they hauled, but in the winter of 1909, they they did their first splash where they backed up the river, probably 10s of 1000s of logs, if not hundreds of 1000s, and they blew this dam, and this sent a 25 foot wave of water running through the breaks, and you know washing all the logs down through, and and they'd gather them down in Elkhorn City and then tie them in the rafts and ride them down to Cold Grove, Ohio, to their meal.
• 26:49
  Jessica Bowser: When we walked on this trail together, you were telling me all of this, and and also there is really beautiful brand new signage too that informs hikers about this history. Ronnie, I think you made those signs, didn't you?
• 27:01
  Unknown: I did. Yes.
• 27:02
  Jessica Bowser: Yeah, and the photos on them. When you like read the information and you look at the photos, it's just mind blowing. Like the size of these logs. Tulip poplars, when they're mature, are massive trees, and like here are these enormous logs, and they're all jammed up. And and to just like imagine what that must have been like when they blew that dam, and it had enough power to wash 1000s of huge, huge trees through the gorge. I mean, I just can't even wrap my mind around it. It's completely mind-boggling.
• 27:34
  Unknown: Yeah, Ronnie was kind of said a little bit about the size of the trees, but they were like eight foot in diameter was some of the biggest ones, and then 250 foot to the first limb.
• 27:44
  Unknown: There was still quite a bit of lumber above that limb, but 250 feet is a pretty huge tree. They would create a pond that was 85 acres backed up when they did the splashes to move all that water. It's just absolutely insane. And some of those mules, I mean, we're talking about mules that were 16 hands. So to to to be hired on through the Yellow Poplar Lumber Company, your mule had to be at least 16 hands to make the team. So you're talking about a really really sizable horse, if you will, mule.
• 28:15
  Jessica Bowser: It's difficult enough to hike on that trail as a hiker today with all of the gear and with the trail cleared for you, I mean it's rugged terrain, and I'm trying to picture this 100 years ago when they had to cut all of that road and bring the mules in and bring the 1000s upon 1000s of pounds of concrete, and it's just I just can't even like yeah it's so amazing yeah it's so amazing.
• 28:43
  Unknown: Yeah, and you consider that they fail. They fail everything with the axes and cross cut saws. I mean, this is before the days of chainsaws, and then they were building these yarder systems, which is you know like a kind of like a big zip line for hauling logs, and they were hauling steam engines down into the canyon and bolting them into rocks, and it was really you know I think it was around 500 people that worked for Yellow Poplar, so it was a you know a big source of income locally when they were here, but unfortunately you know you know a kind of double-edged sword. You know they they did wipe out all old growth virgin poplar, which I would have loved to have seen some of those. But on the other hand, what they did leave us was that they thought some ranger would come by, you know, 100 years later, and it's like, hey, they built us a road here. Let's just cut this rhododendron out and move some of these rocks, and we'll see where these guys went to.
• 29:44
  Jessica Bowser: Well, you make it sound so easy, but when we were hiking the trail, and you were actually describing to me the process of having to figure out where the road had been, and then how it had obviously completely grown over in 100 years, and having to clear it out again-I mean, that's no small feat. Like that was a lot of work, you guys. Put into that.
• 30:01
  Unknown: Yeah, the the first time I went down Pigu Hook Pass, I followed a deer and a bear trail that was going through there, and I literally I would say 40 to 50% of that hike I was crawling on my belly through the rhododendron, but but had located that old trail bed there, and I just kept following it, and then I think we told you the story. I flagged the route out with this bright blue flagging tape, and we came back one day, and my flagging tape was gone. I was like, "There's no way anybody came back here. I was like, "This is-I mean, like nobody would go through this.
• 30:33
  Unknown: But ends up, you know, it's this big old black bear that lives down in Camp Branch, and he apparently didn't like me flagging his route, so he ripped them all down, and you can see the teeth marks and the flagging tape. So it's a, it's just been a, it's been a, it's been a really fun process getting those trips
• 30:55
  Jessica Bowser: and worthwhile process, I'm sure. When we hiked it, this trail had just opened to the public that week. So, is it fair to say that, other than the trail crew and the park staff, that I may have been one of the first people to be on that trail in almost 100 years?
• 31:11
  Unknown: Oh yeah, definitely.
• 31:12
  Unknown: Yeah,
• 31:12
  Jessica Bowser: that's awesome.
• 31:12
  Jessica Bowser: I love that so much. I don't know why, but I feel like that is just so cool.
• 31:19
  Unknown: One of the first times I took I took my wife back there when before it was open because you know Ranger privileges I took her down there and we were looking on the bank and we she saw something bright blue like cobalt blue in the river and she says can you dig that out of there for me so I just like reaching on the bank just like pull it out of the sand and it was this insulator it's probably about three inches long it's a cylinder and it's got three grooves in it and two holes on each end, so you can nail it into a a wooden post. But it's an insulator they use for the telegram and the telephone for the logging operation. And they stopped making that kind of insulator in 1910. So that insulator is pretty close to 120 years old now, and it's now in the visitor center up here at the park, and I think Ronnie can tell you another historical artifact they found up there in the namesake of PV Hook Pass.
• 32:08
  Unknown: Of course, we don't know what it was called back when Yellow Poplar was using it to paint in the Hindion Trail, probably because those guys were packing a lot of stuff over it. But we were down there doing a reroute one day, and we actually right near the beginning of PV hook actually uncovered an old PV hook. Of course, the handle was rotten off, and for people that don't know what a PV hook is, it's it's basically it's this big steel cone with a spike on the end of it that you have like a a wooden handle that would be resembling of a long baseball bat, and it's got a swivel connected to that cone, and it's got like a little hook for the claw, and that's what the loggers would use to roll logs off the landing or roll them down to the river. So I mean, we were we were actually doing a trail ref down there, and the hole hits a hits a piece of steel, and we dig it up, and it's it's the head of an old PV hook, and we've actually got that recovered and have it hanging up here at the visitor center now, so that's that's how that trail got its name. Is a PV hook was found right there, and we decided to call it PV hook pass. And it's hard to you you can't show it on camera or video doesn't capture it, but that trail goes up in between. Like you start going between these two cliffs, and you're on this little narrow strip in between these two cliffs, and you're looking down the whole time, like the river just keeps getting further and further down there, and you know, and then you look up, and there's this giant cliff above you, and you you're just threading the needle through this little pass in the canyon, and it's a it's quite the experience. It
• 33:36
  Jessica Bowser: was quite the experience, and I enjoyed every minute of it, because once we got to the end of the trail, we were down at the bottom of the canyon looking up, and you know, for all the times that I've been to the breaks, I've never really experienced that before. So that was unique, and I'm really excited that visitors will get to have that experience now too.
• 33:56
  Unknown: It's like I said, it's got a little bit of everything.
• 33:58
  Unknown: You know, it's it is more difficult trail, and then the ending is just a. I mean, it's icing on the cake. You get we got little kind of river overlook built right there above a pretty large rapid. Well, we didn't build it. It was it was there. We just we just put a little blue paint on it. But a great place to stop, take lunch, just see all the signs. I mean, great place to watch birds. I mean, and you're sitting right at the base of the towers. I mean, it's a just a phenomenal place. If you come to the park, of course, you're going to come through the gate, and if you're staying with us, you'll get settled in. But in order to access the Camp Branch trails, you'll have to come back out of the park. If you're leaving the park, turn right on the Highway 80 East towards Hayside, Virginia, not Haysie. It's Hayside, and you'll go down the mountain close to a mile. And as soon as you get to the bottom of the mountain, you'll you'll literally stop going downhill and it'll flatten out. There's a gravel road on the right hand side. That's Garden Hole Road, and you can follow that road out about half a mile. And we have a very. Small parking area out there. Hopefully, we can get to fix that here shortly. But got enough for about three or four vehicles if you really squeeze in, and you'll see the signs, and you can access everything from there.
• 35:14
  Unknown: Yeah, I think another really great addition to the Camp Branch Trail System is also just for like the scenic quality is the Camp Branch Overlook Trail.
• 35:21
  Unknown: It's a short little trail. It's I think it's like 0.3 miles, just about that, to out out to the overlook and then 0.3 back.
• 35:27
  Unknown: So it's a nice, easy hike. It's doesn't have it has a little bit of up and downs, but nothing nothing really crazy, and it's kind of cool because you're going across the top of this little ridge, and on both sides you are these nice and steep slopes under this really mature forest of oaks and junipers and locusts and hemlocks, and it takes you out to this undisturbed and unbaricaded overlooked. It's on this crop, this little outcrop of sandstone, and you know everyone thinks of the breaks. They think of you know towers overlooked, the the typical horseshoe shape.
• 36:00
  Unknown: Where now you get the kind of rear perspective, and the real I think the real shining star of the Camp Branch Overlook is actually the one that usually takes the the back seat, typically, and Chimney Rock there is just that's a really great way to see Chimney Rock and kind of see the shape of it, and it looks kind of small in perspective to Towers Overlook, but from the Campbridge Overlook, you see how big the chimneys is and how jagged the towers are. So I think that's really really cool. And like I said, it's perfect for if you want a little hike and kind of get away from the crowds of in the park, but you still want the overlook. This is this is definitely for you. It's it's a beautiful little trail.
• 36:40
  Jessica Bowser: Can we talk about the value of getting away from the crowds? I feel like yeah, totally. I mean, I think the three of us were talking about that when we were up there on Camp Ranch Overlook, and just talking about how the views are just equally as spectacular, but you don't have all the people because, first of all, nobody knows yet about this trail since it's new, but also you have to go outside the park and drive down the road just a little ways, just to access the trail.
• 37:05
  Jessica Bowser: So most people aren't going to do that. Most visitors are coming into the main area of the park and they're just going to hit all of those traditional overlooks, and that's fine. But this gives you a different experience.
• 37:15
  Unknown: Yeah, some people don't want to share an overlook, and you know we don't blame them, and so this might be a good place to get out there and sneak away from the crowds and get a get a view away from everyone else and kind of have a little bit of solitude out on this really beautiful sandstone outcropping that overlooks Camp Branch and the river and the towers and the railroad track there below you. So, it's got a lot to offer for just a little bit of a very minimal amount of effort, very very easy and walkable trail.
• 37:43
  Jessica Bowser: Yeah, you're able to see the lodges from that side, right? Yep. So we were like looking out, and I was thinking to myself, okay, so if I was having lunch in the restaurant right now, I would be looking down on this, but now I'm on the complete opposite side, and you get to see the back side of the gorge that you can't see from the main entrance,
• 38:02
  Unknown: exactly. That's why it's so cool. I mean, it's just something a little bit different. It
• 38:06
  Jessica Bowser: is, and I can only imagine sunrise and sunset there. I think we were there towards the end of the day, weren't we? We
• 38:12
  Unknown: were starting to get yeah. It was starting to come.
• 38:13
  Unknown: The sun was starting to set a little bit. It was still kind of high, but it was starting to get evening, and it was really, really nice. The bank swallows were flying up on the air, and the tree swallows were out, and it was. If you're a birder, that's going to be a really good spot. I mean, I was down there on the river below that. I was just below that overlook. I was down there on the river on the beach, and there was these really two big raptors. I couldn't tell if they were young bald eagles or red tails. I didn't have my binocular or anything, but they were soaring where you. If you would have been up there on Camp Ranch, you definitely would have been able to to tell because they would have been flying, you know, maybe 50 yards from you. So it's a really cool spot.
• 38:50
  Jessica Bowser: The raptors seem to really like the towers. They like to circle above there. And then we saw some migrating warblers coming through. And also, when we were down at the bottom of the gorge, we saw a sandpiper. Remember, you and I were both like, "What's that? We
• 39:04
  Unknown: were completely shocked because I've never even seen that bird, and we're like, "It's all by itself, and was kind of beat bopping around the rocks.
• 39:10
  Unknown: It was a solitary sandpiper,
• 39:13
  Jessica Bowser: I think, or was it spotted? It was spotted.
• 39:16
  Jessica Bowser: Yeah, yeah. Ended up
• 39:17
  Unknown: being, but yeah, like I said, and that was like where Ronnie said, "That's right there at those rapids that PV hook leads you down to, and you may have not ever, maybe you know, you probably wouldn't have seen that bird anywhere else except those those rapids because of how they're kind of set up. So, really cool, really cool,
• 39:32
  Jessica Bowser: really a unique opportunity, and I just love that you have that different viewpoint because I had never seen that viewpoint after all my visits to the breaks, so it was really cool for me to go and be like, "Wow, here's something new that I've never experienced here before, and I really enjoyed that.
• 39:49
  Unknown: I think a lot of people enjoy it. The breaks is kind of known for its overlooks, and so this is like kind of a a little ode to that. So we're the only place we want you to overlook
• 39:59
  Jessica Bowser: us. We've explored the newest trails, but the biggest adventure is still ahead. Next week in part two, rangers Daniel and Ronnie take us across the park's spectacular new swinging bridges, hike the 48 Mule Mountain Trail, and venture even deeper into one of the most spectacular landscapes in Appalachia, Virginia Outdoor Adventures is inspired by and supported by listeners like you, which is why your messages and feedback mean so much to me. You can text me directly by clicking on Send Jessica a text message in your show notes. I answer questions, respond to comments, and share your feedback on the show. Never miss a new episode.
• 40:41
  Jessica Bowser: Sign up for my email newsletter and receive my listener resource guide with the top podcast episodes, a Virginia Outdoor bucket list, and exclusive brand discounts for my listeners.
• 40:53
  Jessica Bowser: Click on newsletter sign up in your show notes or visit VirginiaOutdoraAdventures.com.
• 41:01
  Jessica Bowser: Thanks for listening. Until next time, Adventure on.