Buzzard Rock on Whitetop Mountain

The first big view in Virginia is reached at Buzzard Rock, on the slopes of Whitetop Mountain. Whitetop is the second highest peak in Virginia and like Mt. Rogers the highest peak, both are tree covered at the summit. Luckily, both have some open slopes down lower. There is no campsites on Buzzard Rock but you can find just enough space to put a human body and be somewhat level, assuming you have a good pad situation. It was a bit over 20 miles to hike here from my hotel in Damascus.

Although I could have used 2 more hours of daylight hiking, this site was too good to pass up. I needed some no trees time. Once I had camp set up, I realized there was another tent on the ridge several hundred yards in the distance. It looked like a tent and after talking to the owner the following day, his speciality tent was designed to fit into the landscape on purpose. Near sunset, a family came to the rock to enjoy the sunset. They kept their distance from me but I ended up going over and talking with them. It was a favorite place of theirs to come and take family pictures, so I was able to help out with those. By chance, I had already been to the top of Whitetop Mountain the previous year. I had driven up with a vehicle after getting Mt. Rogers the State Highpoint. I had some extra time during that visit, so I drove my rental car up Whitetop. This definitely saved me some time and energy today because I surly would have hiked up to the summit had I not already done it. In the morning, I was able to just skirt by traversing under the peak with no guilt of missing anything.