Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 29, 1995 TAG: 9510300069
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
On an autumn weekend, when you park along Virginia 311 on Catawba Mountain in Roanoke County and hike north to the knob, you spend much of your journey greeting people : ``Hi.'' ``Pretty day, isn't it?'' ``How you doing?'' ``Nice day for a hike.''
There is an endless string of hikers coming and going, retirees and teen-agers, youngsters and dogs, seasoned hikers and red-faced visitors who haven't spent much time beyond the hardtop since the previous fall.
Like the Peaks of Otter and Mabry Mill, McAfee has become an autumn day-trip destination, a place crowds gather to see hardwoods streaked and splashed with color, to feel the cool breezes that sing in the hemlocks. A few mountains in the distance - say the Hoop Hole trail near Craig Creek - you pretty well can have autumn to yourself, but not here.
On sun-bathed Saturdays and Sundays, it can be a standing-room-only experience on the knob, a craggy Silurian sandstone precipice with God-like views of Catawba Valley, where black cows graze in green meadows fringed with hardwoods.
If you like a hint of danger with your outdoors, there's that, too. Not from falling off the knob or being attacked by a bear or getting lost, though. It is the parking lot and the crossing of busy 311 that can do you in.
Even on a rainy weekend, and we've had our share, the lot can fill rapidly. When there is sunshine and blue sky, the 30 parking spaces are taken early. The overflow spills down both sides of 311, where the shoulder is narrow and fast-moving vehicles suddenly pop out of the valley like deer jumping a fence.
Last year came word the National Park Service had allocated $170,000 to widen 311 atop the mountain for a clearer view of traffic. That was expected to be completed in time for fall hikers. Beyond that were plans for enlarging the parking lot.
Those plans have been abandoned. As it turns out, hikers aren't the only ones who have valued this mountain saddle. So did American Indians.
While doing preliminary studies of the highway project, archeologists found a nearby Indian site. The site could have been relocated, but that would cost money and go against the philosophy of the National Park Service, said Ginny Williams, who works out of the Appalachian Trail Project Office of the National Park Service in Harpers Ferry, W.Va.
``This is pretty much a preservation-oriented agency,'' she said.
Officials looked into re-routing a short section of 311 where the trail crosses, but that turned out to be a very costly proposition, Williams said.
``So, at this point, the sight-distance problem probably is not going to be improved anytime soon,'' she said, adding officials continue to have serious concerns about the safety of hikers.
``But we have not completely abandoned expanding the parking lot,'' Williams said. ``We are hoping to get some designs done, maybe in 1996.''
It is more common for Indian sites to be found in the valleys, where water sources are available, Williams said.
``It just so happens that this site is in the saddle of the mountain, and that is the easiest place for anybody to cross. It was the easiest place for Native Americans to cross over that ridge. And today, it is the easiest place for the road to go through.''
This crossing of cultures adds fascination to the McAfee section of trail and should bring to remembrance something everyone's mom taught them: ``Look both ways before you cross the street.''
by CNB