trips - KIMBERLING WILDERNESS - TheBackpacker.com

Trip Info

Dates: 3/27 - 3/29/10
Trip Organizer: Refrigerator
Location: Jefferson NF

Number of Attendees: (view all)
1 yes
0 maybe

Description

Another wilderness area in Virginia with no trails. I have scanned the latest map availiable to e mail you if interested.
This trip involves stream crossings, navigating with map and compass, GPS.
If you want a wilderness experience off the beaten path then this trip is for you.

The United States Congress designated the Kimberling Creek Wilderness in 1984 and it now has a total of 5,542 acres.
Very few people visit Kimberling Creek Wilderness, which has no parking lots and no maintained trails. In fact, except for a couple of old, long-abandoned dirt tracks there is little evidence that anyone has ever walked this land. Kimberling Creek, fed by Kimberling Springs by way of Sulphur Spring Fork, just touches the southernmost portion of the area. The Wilderness lies at its lowest elevation on the creek at 2,282 feet and rises to 3,200 feet in the northern portion on Hogback Mountain. Most of the terrain is steep and dissected. There are no system trails within this wilderness.
You'll find a forest of mixed hardwoods with white and yellow pine scattered throughout, and an understory of dogwood, sourwood, red maple, mountain laurel, and rhododendron. Wildlife, primarily deer, wild turkeys, grouse, and smaller non game species, is abundant. None of the streams support trout. It's just a piece of wild Virginia at its untrammeled finest.

Directions; Take I 77 to exit 52 Bland. Take rt 52 North through Bland and stay on Rt 52. Take rt 612 following Kimberling Creek for several miles. Take forest service rd 281 on your left at the fork of 612 and 281. Follow 281 to the end