Rocky Knob Visitor’s Center and Picnic Trail

 

Blue Ridge Parkway.

Rocky Knob Visitors Center.

On our Blue Ridge Parkway outing, we stopped at the Rocky Knob Visitors Center.

Located at milepost 169.0, it is open Friday-Monday from 10-4. There are bathrooms located here as well.

If you are traveling this way, always be sure to check the U.S. National Park website as most things along the Blue Ridge Parkway are not open year round and days and times might change in the future.

Trails.

The Visitors Center was where we discovered that we should check out the trail at the Saddle Overlook. There is also a one-mile loop trail called the Rocky Knob Picnic Area Trail whose entrance is located the Visitors Center.

We arrived here right at noon and were starting to get hungry. Our final destination of Mabry Mill was still another 7 miles up the road. Given the fact that paving was being done along the Parkway, slowing down the traffic, we decided to head south to get lunch.

But not before I captured some photos of the forest dappled with sunlight.

This shed is located right across the parking lot from the Visitors Center. I thought of all my Thursday Door  people, even if the door has a tendency to blend into its surroundings.

I only meandered a slight way onto the trail since we needed to continue along on our journey.

Nothing like this sign at the entrance to the Picnic Area to remind you that we are not alone.

The forest is home to many animals….and some of those animals would like to eat your stuff!

Rocks.

I love all the giant rocks located in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I climbed over many of them when I hiked Dragon’s Tooth.

However, on the Rocky Knob Picnic Area Trail, I just admired them.

Lichens, Ferns, and Moss.

I have always been fascinated by the lichen, ferns, and moss that grow in the forests of Virginia.

They add to the ambiance of the enchanted forest feeling you get when traveling through this woodland.

The rocks along this trail were covered in lichen.

Lichen is quite amazing. It’s a fungus and algae or cyanobacterium (sometimes both) living in a symbiotic relationship. Fungi are incapable of photosynthesis and so in this relationship, these lichens are able to live in places where they would not have been able.

Nature never ceases to amaze me!

With its symbiosis and cycles…always reminding us of our own place in these things.

Let your light shine!

Amy