Peaks of Otter

One of the sweetest things about living in the area is being close to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I would love to drive down the entire Parkway someday. There are beautiful overlooks and places to visit along the way.

The Peaks of Otter are at mile 86 on the Parkway. On a clear day, you can see the Peaks of Otter from McAfee's Knob.

We've been wanting to do these two hikes for awhile. It's only about 1 hour and 15 minutes from Blacksburg. There are 2 peaks: Sharp Top and Flat Top. Both are fairly strenuous uphill hikes.

We stayed at the campground right at the base of Sharp Top, near Abbott Lake. (There is no camping along the two trails.)


In the morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and hiked Sharp Top.

At the trail head, there's a little nature center and restrooms.

The trail is only about 1.5 miles, but it is almost all uphill. We broke a sweat in less than 5 minutes. At times it felt a like a 1.5 mile stairmaster.


It was a really warm, humid day, so it was pretty hazy. Sharp Top is the more popular hike out of the two, because it has an awesome 360 view.

The top of the mountain is all rock, with a cabin (no camping in the cabin...I guess it's for protection against weather if you're on top). We'll have to go in the fall when the view is clearer.







We stopped by the Nature center on the way down.


We were planning on doing Flat Top after lunch, but while we were eating lunch, a huge thunderstorm rolled in and it poured all afternoon. Maybe next time!