Douthat State Park - Beards Mountain Trail

Douthat State Park - Beards Mountain Trail

Douthat State Park is one of Virginia's jewels. Voted as one of the nations 10 best, the park has over 43 miles of trails. With Blue Suck Falls, Tuscarora Overlook and the Beards Mountain loops, the park has two beautiful day hike circuits.

Author:	roanokeoutside3
Date:	10 Aug 2009 12:00:00 PM
Activity:	Hiking ActivitySearchHiking
State:	Virginia (VA)
Distance:	5.86 mi (Change units)
Elevation:	No Elevation Data
Difficulty:	6 / 10
Tags:	Mountain Biking, Day Hike, State Park, Virginia, Douthat, overnight hiking, Roanoke
Rating:	Unrated Rate it

Douthat State Park offers camping options as well as cabin rentals. The cabins were built by the CCC. There is a sandy beach for swimming, boat rentals, fishing, and incredible mountain biking and hiking trails.

Visit the official Douthat State Park website and/or Click here for a complete map of park trails.

The blue blazed Beards Gap Trail starts up right side of the Visitor Center, and initially passes over a wooden footpath. Follow the blue blazed trail as it heads up the gap. The trail will make several switchbacks before arriving at the ridge, and intersection of the Bushy Hollow and Mountain Top trails in 1.1 miles.

Turn left on the yellow blazed Mountain Top Trail as it continues to climb along the ridge. In 0.2 miles the trail will make a sharp turn to the right. To the left is a closed overlook trail. In 200 yards reach the 4-way intersection of the Buck Hollow and Mountain Side trails. Stay straight on the yellow blazed Mountain Top Trail and in 0.1 miles the trail will make a sharp turn to the right and pass the first vista of Douthat Lake. From this point, the trail will climb more steeply before leveling off and arriving a the circuit high point.

There is a marker for the GWNF here, and what a appears to be a trail continuing straight. Stay left downward on the yellow blazed trail as it follows the ridge, before descending more steeply and passing the best vista of Lake Douthat. The trail will now turn back to the left and in another 0.4 miles reach the intersection of the Ross Camp and Mountain Side trails.

Turn left on the white blazed Mountain Side Trail and reach the third vista in 0.9 miles. From this vista the trail will gradually begin to climb back to the ridge and reach the 4-way intersection of the Mountain Top and Buck Hollow trails in 0.4 miles.

Turn right downhill on the blue blazed Buck Hollow Trail as it steeply descends the mountain reaching an Overlook Trail in 0.5 miles. The Overlook Trail is a 0.5 miles out/back that takes you to a panoramic vista of the park. Continue down on the Buck Hollow Trail for 0.4 miles to the next 4-way intersection with the Ross Camp and Wilson Creek trails.

Turn left on the white blazed Wilson Creek Trail, immediately crossing a small footbridge. The white blazed trail will pass a water tower in 0.1 miles, then turn left into the woods. DO NOT continue straight on the gravel road. Follow the white blazed trail for 0.3 miles where it crosses a camp road then ends at an stone chimney and The Lodge.

Pass around The Lodge, back to the Visitors Center and parking.

Position Format:	Datum:

Points of Interest

4-Way Intersection

Location: 37.899635°, -79.786800°
17-MAY-08 10:42:23AM

Parking

Location: 37.895755°, -79.802069°
Visitor Center

Beards_View.JPG

Location: 37.911701°, -79.782822°

Beads_walkway.JPG

Location: 37.900256°, -79.801490°

Beards_Chimney.JPG

Location: 37.896734°, -79.801748°

Routes

Beards Mountain

Distance: 5.86 mi

Distance	Name	Location	Distance to next
0.00 mi	Parking	37.895755°, -79.802069°	Then go 0.07 mi
0.07 mi	NationalPark	37.896132°, -79.800827°	Then go 0.21 mi
0.29 mi	Trail	37.895536°, -79.796993°	Then go 0.22 mi
0.51 mi	Trail1	37.895477°, -79.792932°	Then go 0.13 mi
0.63 mi	Trail2	37.895934°, -79.790672°	Then go 0.03 mi
0.67 mi	1640ft	37.896155°, -79.790131°	Then go 0.09 mi
0.76 mi	NationalPark1	37.897008°, -79.788821°	Then go 0.03 mi
0.79 mi	1804ft	37.897451°, -79.788841°	Then go 0.05 mi
0.84 mi	NationalPark2	37.896940°, -79.788214°	Then go 0.07 mi
0.91 mi	NationalPark3	37.897871°, -79.788509°	Then go 0.06 mi
0.97 mi	Trail3	37.897253°, -79.787728°	Then go 0.04 mi
1.01 mi	1804ft1	37.897761°, -79.788036°	Then go 0.05 mi
1.06 mi	Trail4	37.897502°, -79.787117°	Then go 0.03 mi
1.09 mi	NationalPark4	37.897556°, -79.786600°	Then go 0.09 mi
1.18 mi	1969ft	37.898798°, -79.787069°	Then go 0.08 mi
1.25 mi	NationalPark5	37.899267°, -79.788318°	Then go 0.08 mi
1.33 mi	Trail5	37.899572°, -79.786919°	Then go 0.03 mi
1.36 mi	NationalPark6	37.899952°, -79.786600°	Then go 0.11 mi
1.48 mi	NationalPark30	37.901444°, -79.787363°	Then go 0.08 mi
1.56 mi	NationalPark7	37.900677°, -79.786202°	Then go 0.09 mi
1.65 mi	NationalPark8	37.901074°, -79.784623°	Then go 0.07 mi
1.72 mi	NationalPark9	37.901403°, -79.785924°	Then go 0.03 mi
1.76 mi	NationalPark10	37.901772°, -79.785507°	Then go 0.02 mi
1.78 mi	NationalPark11	37.901649°, -79.785109°	Then go 0.04 mi
1.82 mi	Trail6	37.901948°, -79.784468°	Then go 0.06 mi
1.88 mi	2461ft	37.902772°, -79.784946°	Then go 0.37 mi
2.25 mi	NationalPark29	37.906085°, -79.779729°	Then go 0.03 mi
2.28 mi	NationalPark12	37.906454°, -79.779625°	Then go 0.16 mi
2.43 mi	NationalPark13	37.908371°, -79.781135°	Then go 0.09 mi
2.52 mi	Trail7	37.909632°, -79.781303°	Then go 0.06 mi
2.58 mi	NationalPark14	37.910466°, -79.781742°	Then go 0.07 mi
2.65 mi	Trail8	37.911426°, -79.781492°	Then go 0.08 mi
2.73 mi	2297ft	37.912319°, -79.782308°	Then go 0.06 mi
2.79 mi	Trail9	37.912960°, -79.783115°	Then go 0.09 mi
2.88 mi	NationalPark15	37.911698°, -79.782835°	Then go 0.08 mi
2.95 mi	NationalPark16	37.911260°, -79.784137°	Then go 0.10 mi
3.06 mi	NationalPark17	37.909836°, -79.783668°	Then go 0.07 mi
3.13 mi	1969ft1	37.909698°, -79.784970°	Then go 0.08 mi
3.21 mi	Trail10	37.909878°, -79.786477°	Then go 0.14 mi
3.35 mi	NationalPark18	37.907878°, -79.785837°	Then go 0.10 mi
3.45 mi	1969ft2	37.907091°, -79.784271°	Then go 0.05 mi
3.50 mi	Trail11	37.906635°, -79.784881°	Then go 0.03 mi
3.53 mi	1969ft3	37.906185°, -79.784896°	Then go 0.12 mi
3.65 mi	NationalPark19	37.906276°, -79.787000°	Then go 0.12 mi
3.77 mi	NationalPark20	37.904743°, -79.785924°	Then go 0.19 mi
3.96 mi	1969ft4	37.904883°, -79.789457°	Then go 0.05 mi
4.01 mi	Trail12	37.904105°, -79.789479°	Then go 0.17 mi
4.18 mi	1969ft5	37.902019°, -79.787865°	Then go 0.05 mi
4.23 mi	1969ft6	37.901648°, -79.788648°	Then go 0.12 mi
4.36 mi	Trail13	37.900376°, -79.787051°	Then go 0.05 mi
4.41 mi	4-Way Intersection	37.899635°, -79.786800°	Then go 0.07 mi
4.48 mi	1969ft7	37.899626°, -79.788018°	Then go 0.05 mi
4.53 mi	Trail14	37.900087°, -79.787285°	Then go 0.10 mi
4.62 mi	1804ft2	37.900621°, -79.788908°	Then go 0.04 mi
4.66 mi	NationalPark21	37.900198°, -79.788492°	Then go 0.16 mi
4.82 mi	NationalPark22	37.900691°, -79.791285°	Then go 0.06 mi
4.88 mi	1640ft1	37.900665°, -79.792393°	Then go 0.23 mi
5.11 mi	Trail15	37.902156°, -79.796190°	Then go 0.08 mi
5.19 mi	NationalPark23	37.902977°, -79.797192°	Then go 0.07 mi
5.26 mi	NationalPark24	37.902854°, -79.798528°	Then go 0.08 mi
5.34 mi	Trail16	37.901815°, -79.799175°	Then go 0.13 mi
5.47 mi	1476ft	37.900678°, -79.801121°	Then go 0.09 mi
5.57 mi	NationalPark25	37.899719°, -79.802293°	Then go 0.14 mi
5.71 mi	NationalPark26	37.897693°, -79.802050°	Then go 0.07 mi
5.78 mi	NationalPark27	37.896803°, -79.801321°	Then go 0.05 mi
5.83 mi	NationalPark28	37.896187°, -79.801824°	Then go 0.03 mi
5.86 mi	Parking	37.895755°, -79.802069°