Douthat State Park - Beards Mountain Trail

Douthat State Park is one of Virginia's jewels. Voted as one of the nations 10 best, the park has over 43 miles of trails. With Blue Suck Falls, Tuscarora Overlook and the Beards Mountain loops, the park has two beautiful day hike circuits.

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Author:	roanokeoutside3
Date:	10 Aug 2009 12:00:00 PM
Source:	on my Verizon phone
Activity:	Hiking ActivitySearchHiking
State:	Virginia (VA)
Distance:	Total: 5.86 mi Active: 0 mi (Change units)
Difficulty:	6 / 10
Tags:	Day Hike, Douthat, Mountain Biking, overnight hiking, Roanoke, State Park, Virginia
Rating:	Unrated Rate it

Douthat State Park offers camping options as well as cabin rentals. The cabins were built by the CCC. There is a sandy beach for swimming, boat rentals, fishing, and incredible mountain biking and hiking trails.

Visit the official Douthat State Park website and/or Click here for a complete map of park trails.

The blue blazed Beards Gap Trail starts up right side of the Visitor Center, and initially passes over a wooden footpath. Follow the blue blazed trail as it heads up the gap. The trail will make several switchbacks before arriving at the ridge, and intersection of the Bushy Hollow and Mountain Top trails in 1.1 miles.

Turn left on the yellow blazed Mountain Top Trail as it continues to climb along the ridge. In 0.2 miles the trail will make a sharp turn to the right. To the left is a closed overlook trail. In 200 yards reach the 4-way intersection of the Buck Hollow and Mountain Side trails. Stay straight on the yellow blazed Mountain Top Trail and in 0.1 miles the trail will make a sharp turn to the right and pass the first vista of Douthat Lake. From this point, the trail will climb more steeply before leveling off and arriving a the circuit high point.

There is a marker for the GWNF here, and what a appears to be a trail continuing straight. Stay left downward on the yellow blazed trail as it follows the ridge, before descending more steeply and passing the best vista of Lake Douthat. The trail will now turn back to the left and in another 0.4 miles reach the intersection of the Ross Camp and Mountain Side trails.

Turn left on the white blazed Mountain Side Trail and reach the third vista in 0.9 miles. From this vista the trail will gradually begin to climb back to the ridge and reach the 4-way intersection of the Mountain Top and Buck Hollow trails in 0.4 miles.

Turn right downhill on the blue blazed Buck Hollow Trail as it steeply descends the mountain reaching an Overlook Trail in 0.5 miles. The Overlook Trail is a 0.5 miles out/back that takes you to a panoramic vista of the park. Continue down on the Buck Hollow Trail for 0.4 miles to the next 4-way intersection with the Ross Camp and Wilson Creek trails.

Turn left on the white blazed Wilson Creek Trail, immediately crossing a small footbridge. The white blazed trail will pass a water tower in 0.1 miles, then turn left into the woods. DO NOT continue straight on the gravel road. Follow the white blazed trail for 0.3 miles where it crosses a camp road then ends at an stone chimney and The Lodge.

Pass around The Lodge, back to the Visitors Center and parking.

Position Format:	Datum:

Points of Interest

4-Way Intersection

Location: 37.899635, -79.786800
17-MAY-08 10:42:23AM

Parking

Location: 37.895755, -79.802069
Visitor Center

Beards_View.JPG

Location: 37.911701, -79.782822

Beads_walkway.JPG

Location: 37.900256, -79.801490

Beards_Chimney.JPG

Location: 37.896734, -79.801748

Routes

Beards Mountain

Distance: 5.86 mi

Distance	Name	Location	Distance to next
0.00 mi	Parking	37.895755, -79.802069	Then go 0.07 mi
0.07 mi	NationalPark	37.896132, -79.800827	Then go 0.21 mi
0.29 mi	Trail	37.895536, -79.796993	Then go 0.22 mi
0.51 mi	Trail1	37.895477, -79.792932	Then go 0.13 mi
0.63 mi	Trail2	37.895934, -79.790672	Then go 0.03 mi
0.67 mi	1640ft	37.896155, -79.790131	Then go 0.09 mi
0.76 mi	NationalPark1	37.897008, -79.788821	Then go 0.03 mi
0.79 mi	1804ft	37.897451, -79.788841	Then go 0.05 mi
0.84 mi	NationalPark2	37.896940, -79.788214	Then go 0.07 mi
0.91 mi	NationalPark3	37.897871, -79.788509	Then go 0.06 mi
0.97 mi	Trail3	37.897253, -79.787728	Then go 0.04 mi
1.01 mi	1804ft1	37.897761, -79.788036	Then go 0.05 mi
1.06 mi	Trail4	37.897502, -79.787117	Then go 0.03 mi
1.09 mi	NationalPark4	37.897556, -79.786600	Then go 0.09 mi
1.18 mi	1969ft	37.898798, -79.787069	Then go 0.08 mi
1.25 mi	NationalPark5	37.899267, -79.788318	Then go 0.08 mi
1.33 mi	Trail5	37.899572, -79.786919	Then go 0.03 mi
1.36 mi	NationalPark6	37.899952, -79.786600	Then go 0.11 mi
1.48 mi	NationalPark30	37.901444, -79.787363	Then go 0.08 mi
1.56 mi	NationalPark7	37.900677, -79.786202	Then go 0.09 mi
1.65 mi	NationalPark8	37.901074, -79.784623	Then go 0.07 mi
1.72 mi	NationalPark9	37.901403, -79.785924	Then go 0.03 mi
1.76 mi	NationalPark10	37.901772, -79.785507	Then go 0.02 mi
1.78 mi	NationalPark11	37.901649, -79.785109	Then go 0.04 mi
1.82 mi	Trail6	37.901948, -79.784468	Then go 0.06 mi
1.88 mi	2461ft	37.902772, -79.784946	Then go 0.37 mi
2.25 mi	NationalPark29	37.906085, -79.779729	Then go 0.03 mi
2.28 mi	NationalPark12	37.906454, -79.779625	Then go 0.16 mi
2.43 mi	NationalPark13	37.908371, -79.781135	Then go 0.09 mi
2.52 mi	Trail7	37.909632, -79.781303	Then go 0.06 mi
2.58 mi	NationalPark14	37.910466, -79.781742	Then go 0.07 mi
2.65 mi	Trail8	37.911426, -79.781492	Then go 0.08 mi
2.73 mi	2297ft	37.912319, -79.782308	Then go 0.06 mi
2.79 mi	Trail9	37.912960, -79.783115	Then go 0.09 mi
2.88 mi	NationalPark15	37.911698, -79.782835	Then go 0.08 mi
2.95 mi	NationalPark16	37.911260, -79.784137	Then go 0.10 mi
3.06 mi	NationalPark17	37.909836, -79.783668	Then go 0.07 mi
3.13 mi	1969ft1	37.909698, -79.784970	Then go 0.08 mi
3.21 mi	Trail10	37.909878, -79.786477	Then go 0.14 mi
3.35 mi	NationalPark18	37.907878, -79.785837	Then go 0.10 mi
3.45 mi	1969ft2	37.907091, -79.784271	Then go 0.05 mi
3.50 mi	Trail11	37.906635, -79.784881	Then go 0.03 mi
3.53 mi	1969ft3	37.906185, -79.784896	Then go 0.12 mi
3.65 mi	NationalPark19	37.906276, -79.787000	Then go 0.12 mi
3.77 mi	NationalPark20	37.904743, -79.785924	Then go 0.19 mi
3.96 mi	1969ft4	37.904883, -79.789457	Then go 0.05 mi
4.01 mi	Trail12	37.904105, -79.789479	Then go 0.17 mi
4.18 mi	1969ft5	37.902019, -79.787865	Then go 0.05 mi
4.23 mi	1969ft6	37.901648, -79.788648	Then go 0.12 mi
4.36 mi	Trail13	37.900376, -79.787051	Then go 0.05 mi
4.41 mi	4-Way Intersection	37.899635, -79.786800	Then go 0.07 mi
4.48 mi	1969ft7	37.899626, -79.788018	Then go 0.05 mi
4.53 mi	Trail14	37.900087, -79.787285	Then go 0.10 mi
4.62 mi	1804ft2	37.900621, -79.788908	Then go 0.04 mi
4.66 mi	NationalPark21	37.900198, -79.788492	Then go 0.16 mi
4.82 mi	NationalPark22	37.900691, -79.791285	Then go 0.06 mi
4.88 mi	1640ft1	37.900665, -79.792393	Then go 0.23 mi
5.11 mi	Trail15	37.902156, -79.796190	Then go 0.08 mi
5.19 mi	NationalPark23	37.902977, -79.797192	Then go 0.07 mi
5.26 mi	NationalPark24	37.902854, -79.798528	Then go 0.08 mi
5.34 mi	Trail16	37.901815, -79.799175	Then go 0.13 mi
5.47 mi	1476ft	37.900678, -79.801121	Then go 0.09 mi
5.57 mi	NationalPark25	37.899719, -79.802293	Then go 0.14 mi
5.71 mi	NationalPark26	37.897693, -79.802050	Then go 0.07 mi
5.78 mi	NationalPark27	37.896803, -79.801321	Then go 0.05 mi
5.83 mi	NationalPark28	37.896187, -79.801824	Then go 0.03 mi
5.86 mi	Parking	37.895755, -79.802069