Crabtree Falls to The Priest

Crabtree Falls and The Priest

Lower Falls

When I moved down to Lynchburg about a year ago, I was told tales of the mighty Crabtree Falls. Billed as the tallest waterfall East of the Mississippi, I thought this would make a great day hike. On that cold dry February day, I began my ascent up the side of the mountain, stopping to take in the falls piece by piece, much too large to see it all at once. After I got to the top, I decided to continue on and see what else lies on top of the mountain. Eventually I found myself at the top of The Priest with one of the most epic mountain views I ever saw. From that moment on I was hooked.

A year and half later I am now on my 99th hike, and with the company of Hunter, we decided to tackle that same route. Of course, the trail might be the same, but the experience was completely different.

The drive to Crabtree Falls on route 56 is one heck of a beautiful drive. That is if you have clear skies, on this day we had we had thick layers of gray clouds that completely covered the mountains. This meant that the views were going to pretty dismal at best. But, walking through the forest in the clouds is a wonderful experience.

All right, let's get on with the hike.

Crabtree Falls hike is pretty straight forward hike. The trail Zig-Zags up the side of the mountain, and there's plenty of spots to take pictures of the falls along the way. With the overcast day, the pictures of the waterfalls came out pretty nice. 

Middle Falls

Besides the waterfalls, there are many other things to check out along trail, such as caves, overlooks, and wildlife.

Now Crabtree Falls is a great hike, but Hunter and I weren't just out looking for some hike to do. No, we were in need of adventure, and the Priest was going to fill that need. So at the top of the falls we continued on the Crabtree Creek trail till we got to Crabtree meadows.  At Crabtree meadows, we climbed a steep Jeep trail till it intersected the AT. Lots and lots of people climbed Crabtree Falls, but it is here, when you feel the solitude of hiking. We took a little break at this intersection and the began the long ascent up to the summit of the Priest. 

Tombstone of The Priest?

It was about this time that we started hiking in the clouds. It was eerily beautiful hiking in the mist. Towards the top of the Priest is a large rock formation, how it got there boggles my mind. In the mist the rocks looked like giant tombstones. As expected, there was no view from the summit of the Priest, just a big gray white nothing in front of us. We ate lunch up there, Hunter of course ate his peanut butter. 

We returned back on the same route and passed a couple of Jeeps on the Jeep trail. All in all this was a great hike. There's a reason why this is my fifth time climbing the Preist, it just impresses me every time. Although we didn't get to see the Grand View at the top, I'm going to leave you with this view of Hunter I caught while climbing the Priest. Just look at it.

Seriously, Look at it!

Stats:
Date of hike: 7/21/2012

Length: 9.2 Miles
Difficult?: Yes
Worth Seeing?: Yes

Directions: Get on route 56 towards the Blue Ride Mountains. Look for the signs for Crabtree Falls parking lot off of 56. (Do a google search for Crabtree Falls, and you'll get much better directions ;)

Bottom line: This hike is amazing in any type of weather. Dry clear skies gives you the best views in the Blue Ridge, humid overcast days offer clear pictures of waterfalls and mystical forest walks.