While visiting friends recently in Nelson County Virginia, I drove up Rt 56 towards Montebello at night. It is a paved road, full of curves, and once past Tyro, it climbs all the way to the top of the mountain,  crosses the Blue Ridge Parkway and winds back down the west side into Raphine. As I started the climb fog pressed in around me and the headlights did little to penetrate the soup. I took it slow and was glad I was one of the few on the road.

Montebello sits below the ridge on the East side of the ridge, and the fog stopped right there. It was clear the rest of the way up. I spent the evening visiting, sipping wine,  and soaking in my friends hotub followed by a nice relaxing sleep.

In the morning I had time for a hike, and was steered towards the nearby Spy Rock Trail, which intersects with the Appalachian Trail , or AT on the ridge above, and south of, Crabtree Falls.

Note: August 2020. Spy Rock is currently only accessible by hiking in about 3 miles from the AT  trailhead on Meadows Lane Road, off Route  56.   Meadows Lane is a long, one lane access road  and is known to be rough and narrow and not suitable for regular cars, or people without back road experience. It is not passable in bad weather.

For a longer hike and no treacherous driving, you can also park and hike in from the bottom of Crabtree Falls, which is strenuous, but cooler than most places on a hot day. The falls are gorgeous and there are many along the way.

It was beginning to look like a storm was blowing in from the southwest and I was hoping to not get drenched. Three sets of people passed by heading down. It was such a beautifully comfortable Fall day.

When I got to the rock outcropping there was a woman standing there looking perplexed. She asked me if I knew the way to the top of the rock and was hoping to find her husband up there. It was not difficult  to find the trail off to the left around the base and she followed me up. She was worried it was going to get dark before they managed to get back to their car, They had walked in from the top of Crabtree Falls, parking in the Meadows up top and it had taken them more than 2 hours. I suggested they walk back on my shorter route and offered to give them a ride back to their car.

The view was spectacular and the slanting light through the storm clouds intensified the colors.  There was still no sign of the husband so I gave a good holler, which traveled out over the mountains ahead of me.

We walked around the bald granite rock but did not linger long with the storm clouds looking so ominous.

Back down at the rocks base we saw her husband, who had done a clockwise loop around the base, emerge from the Rhododendrons. He was glad to see us and was relieved to find there was a way to get back before dark or the storm.

Note: Unfortunately, this shorter route is now closed due to private property issues. Lawyers are involved and you do not want to go there.East of Spy Rock

We only got sprinkled on a little as we quickly hiked down the forest road and my little Honda Fit negotiated the 2 small creek crossings on the Crabtree Meadow Road with no problems. Sometimes that road is impassable without 4-wheel drive and better clearance, so I was glad it was in such good shape.

It was the tail end of a sunny evening down on the East side of the mountain and I continued  towards Arrington and Freshwater Cove for my next visits of this trip. Nelson County was home to me for 12 years and it still holds me tight.

Wendy lee, writing at Edgewisewoods, Gardens and Critters