[at-l] Roanoke area hike in March

[athiker at smithville.net (Felix J. McGillicuddy)]

Eric Collins wrote:

>Hello,
>I'm visiting some relatives near Bluefield, WV starting March 16, and I have
>ten days to visit them and hopefully do some hiking.  However I've never
>hiked east of the Mississippi, so I don't really know what to expect at this
>time of year (though I've gathered that "rain" may be a popular answer).  In
>particular, I'm wondering how long it might take to hike the ~115 miles from
>Helveys Mill Shelter (http://www.cs.utk.edu/~dunigan/at/m.php?wpt=HelveysM)
>to  Roanoke (e.g. the Catawba Mountain Shelter,
>http://www.cs.utk.edu/~dunigan/at/m.php?wpt=Catawba)?  For reference, my
>longest hike was the ~100 mile Wonderland trail last summer in 6 days.
>Additionally, I would like to find out: 1) Is the terrain there particularly
>easy or difficult?  2) Is the scenery particularly worth/not worth visiting
>(and if not where in the vicinity might be better?) 3) are there likely to
>be any other hikers around during this period?
>

I'd say start at the crossing of 220 (Cloverdale) and hike south to 
Pearisburg. Should be about 90 miles...or, 6-ish days. If you want to 
push onto I-77 (near Helvey's) it's another 40-45 miles. It's not easy, 
not hard. It has some nice views (McAfee Knob and Tinkers and Dragon's 
Tooth) and some nice woods walking, nice pasture walking and just 
pleasant hiking all the way around. This is an outstanding section of 
trail.