By Stella Lane
Buffalo Mountain
Natural Area Preserve
890 Moles Rd SW
Willis, VA 24380
Directions to the trail head: From Roanoke, Virginia, take the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway south to mile marker 174. Turn right on Conner Grove Road. Take a left on Halls Store Road and another left on Moles Road. Look for brown ‘Natural Area Preserve’ signs. The next turn becomes gravel and ends. Take a right up the long, single lane drive way to the small parking lot.
The hike from there is one mile up. Backtrack it on the way down.
The ascent is a steady rocky switch-back single track through young and old growth. The fresh air of autumn is cool and crisp, with the crunching of leaves underfoot. Sunlight glints between tree trunks and rhododendron leaves while wet springs flow on uneven paths lined by Blue wood-aster, a small and wild daisy-like flower.
Steep angles reach far below and above the trail, as the surrounding mountains reach eye level in the distance. Sharp boulders stand outcropped, and large broken gray chunks line and cross the walkway, in piles that have slid like a river, hardened yet still unstable.
The sky, the blue that only October brings in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with wispy and few clouds.
The view, all around from atop the solid rock summit, is warmed by the sun.
Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, to the south is distinct on the horizon. Roanoke’s Peaks of Otter’s, two pointed tops to the north, among the rolling hills, blue and green with hints of the season’s changing event.
The mountain — the destination is like a stage set with unique and sparse vegetation.
Secret spaces hide around curves in each direction where memories, independent of sounds except of nature, offer moderate and extreme risks for those sure of themselves, the sure-footed, the amazed.
A simple picnic is recommended. Include water (at least 16 oz), grapes/raisins, cheese sticks, apples, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (or crackers), fig Newtons/other cookies.
The Buffalo Mountain Natural Area Preserve in Willis, in Floyd County, is 3,971 feet elevation.
Email questions/suggestions to: Stella Lane—email: stellatripsfordays@outlook.com.
