2025 Road Trip: Part 2 (The Channels)

Virginia to North Carolina
The Channels Natural Preserve

Day 2
5.23.25

Our second day of the adventure was to include an interesting hike I've had starred on google maps for a couple years called The Channels in southwestern Virginia, which is a unique hike featuring large sandstone blocks with deep crevasses or slots that you can walk through and explore like miniature city blocks. Today's plan was to rise relatively early, head over to The Channels, about 80 miles southwest, and then finish the day at Benny's family's mountain house in Franklin NC in the evening for dinner.

We were up by 6:45 and packed up camp, opting to have a quick snack along the road instead of unpacking the kitchen kit for a full breakfast to save a little time. As always, the distance to our trailhead seemed to take much longer than I had anticipated, however this gave an opportunity to do some cow-spotting, and considering the winding nature of the roads in the area, it took us about two hours to finally get to our parking spot. The Channels seems to be a hidden spot that perhaps isn't too popular, as there are a strictly enforced ten parking space limit here, seated atop one of the most intense paved mountain roads I've ever experienced in my life. This would be VA-80 of course, and the turns are so tight that it seems one might fall off the edge if you lose focus for a mere second. We saw a Jeep convoy headed down as we went up, so it seems to be a popular road for this community, and I second this rating!

Yilin and I got ourselves ready for the hike, packed some brunch in our bags, and headed up the old road that leads into the preserve around 10:30. I had downloaded the AllTrails map beforehand as I usually do, however it wasn't super clear where exactly along the trail the main feature of the hike would be, and I thought it was about 2.5 miles in, with a fire lookout tower at the end of the trail. The trail begins along an old gated road bed, however several cars did drive up past us to some cabins that are hidden up in the mountains here, so they must get special access to drive here if renting one of the cabins.

Trailhead for the Channels hike

Past a rustic cabin property, the trail becomes narrower and only allows foot traffic, snaking its way up the side of the mountain with some switchbacks. We chatted with a couple coming down with their dog and asked where exactly we could encounter the main "channels" area, and they informed us that it's actually a short walk beyond the fire tower, and the tower itself is no longer open. This added some mileage to our original plan, not the greatest news for Yilin who had mentally prepared for a shorter hike based on what I had known about the trail before....oops.

Bench #2 of 3 along the way

It's important to note that hiking is very much more my thing than hers, and she prefers a museum adventure in most cases, so I may or may not have been threatened with some museum trips in the future. Finally we saw the sign for a short spur trail that leads up to the summit area with the disused tower and the channels. Turning the corner, we saw a tower with the lowest set of stairs removed to dissuade people from attempting to climb it anyway, despite no floor on the cabin above.

Fire tower sadly closed and unclimbable :(

Continuing just a minute further, we saw a small sign indicating the Channels, with a small viewing area to the left on the top of one of these stone towers. It was chained off, and rightly so, since the crevasses between the field of towers while narrow, are 30-40 feet deep, and a misstep would be very nasty here. Going instead to the right will descend into the labyrinth of narrow passageways. This was amazing, and definitely beyond what I had expected, even having seen some pictures posted online! It's not large enough that you'll get lost inside the maze, but there are some small arrows pointing to the way out if you do get turned around.

Inside the labyrinth of The Channels

We found a small clearing to enjoy our brunch before winding our way back toward the tower and back down to the trailhead. The way down always seems to feel longer even though it takes less time to descend...we made it back by 3pm and decided that we'd go for the fastest route along the interstate to the mountain house in North Carolina in the afternoon so we wouldn't arrive too late. I had asked Benny to curate a list of things for us to do together in the Franklin area, and he suggested a local fire tower hike that he's done a number of times before when visiting the mountains. Due to my misjudgment of the hike length though, we'd be getting in a few hours later than expected, so Benny suggested we meet directly at the trailhead and then convoy back to the house afterward. He nonchalantly texted me mentioning that the access road would be gravel, which was no concern after yesterday's adventure up the crazy "road".

After snaking our way down VA-80 to Meadowview, we got our second jaunt of interstate on our trip, blasting (relatively speaking) down I-81 toward the Tennessee border. We stopped at the welcome center for a pit stop and free map, and noticed some musical notes painted on the sidewalk every few feet, which I found quite entertaining! It reminds me of a rhythmic training exercise I might do with some of my younger students.

We wound through the Smoky Mountains on I-26, climbing to a pass at the TN-NC border, and enjoying endless mountain views in all directions. I think we spotted North Carolina's high point Mt. Mitchell just to the east in the distance at one point, perhaps a future trip and I can go hike this one. Back into the valley we passed by Asheville, which likely deserves its own visit one day as well, but this of course is the one downside of any road trip - you have to decide what to stop and see and what you may have to skip, since seeing everything is impossible. As the sun got lower, the twisting mountain roads were in and out of the shadows, causing us to constantly adjust sunglasses and the car visors around every bend. Finally, after crossing the Little Tennessee River at Tellico Bridge, we found the winding road up to Wesser Bald Fire Tower, whose trail is actually is short portion of the Appalachian Trail.

The pavement ended and we followed the power lines up to a steep mountain pass with switchbacks for something like 7 miles. Somewhere along this stretch, we passed the largest corkscrew sculpture I've ever seen. Further up, recent rains had even caused half the road to collapse into the abyss in one spot—along with one of the warning cones placed there to warn drivers. I was wondering if I'd be able to get up this road without a Subaru honestly, but the AWD got us up no problem, and at the top we spotted Benny there waiting for us with a picnic bag, surprising us with dinner packed for us to eat at the top!

Who needs the whole width of Tellico Road anyway?

Here began a reunion after a decade, since the last time we had met up was interestingly on my 2015 road trip, where I stopped in at Union College in NY to visit. Once again, we put hiking shoes back onto our tired feet, and tried our best to keep up with Benny as he fired questions at me to catch up on ten years of history since we last saw each other. I guess we should keep better in touch?

Our timing ended up being impeccable, as once we rounded the top, the sun was just minutes from sinking below the endless sea of mountains. Visibility was about as good as it gets, with an orange sky to the west and a deep blue to the east, and small lakes dotting the valleys below. We decided to eat our picnic below the tower due to a chilly wind, exchanging fun stories of our time together at Union, and what had transpired in each of our journeys since then.

Sunset at Wesser Bald Fire Tower

We descended by headlamp, and followed Benny back to the house, where we received a grand tour. Built with timber-frame construction, I instantly took a liking to the style, as it blended the framework of my family's barn with an interior featuring plenty of natural wood, not unlike the cabin I grew up in once moving to Maine, as well as a living area open to the second floor. Benny's family built the house when he was young, and shared some pictures from the construction process hung on the wall, along with a raised topographic map of the area in the stairwell. Many bedrooms lined far ends of the house, with a huge kitchen designed for feeding the usually much larger crowd that visits the house.

The beautiful mountain house!

A screened porch and open deck hung off one side, both of which we made use of the following day to get some fresh air while eating and cooking dinner. For now, we discussed some options for how to best spend our day in Franklin, having opted to spend two nights there. Our general plan was to explore the quaint downtown area shops, check out a local waterfall, and spend the evening cooking dinner together.

Day 2 Route map: 314 miles
Total mileage: 717