Brumley Mountain
The views at the overlook of this trail are amazing! And, it's a fairly easy trail with not much elevation gain and about 3 miles round trip. After the one mile marker, there is a trail that branches to the left - this is what you want to follow to get the overlook. There are some rocks you have to scramble over and navigate at the end. The best time to do this hike would be in the spring and maybe fall. Late spring and summer and you have a lot of overgrowth on the trail. It is still easy to follow, but there are blackberry vines and stinging nettle that hang into the path. I would not recommend this one in the winter. We attempted it once and even though there was no snow on the ground in Abingdon, when we started up the road, it got steep and icy real fast and the van we were in did not make it up and barely made it down.
The Great Channels of Virginia
At the other side of the Brumley Mountain Trail are The Channels, which is such a neat place! It's kind of like a slot canyon and is a lot of fun to explore. You can actually hike from Brumley to the Channels, but it's a 13.5 mile hike and if you don't have anyone to pick you up on the other side, then you gotta hike back. The Channels is a bit of a challenging hike, as it is uphill most of the way and is 6 miles round trip. But it's not very steep, so if you take your time, it's very do-able. Most of the trail is wide and easy to follow and not real exciting on the way up, but makes up for it when you get to The Channels. A couple of things to keep in mind is that you need to put The Channels TRAILHEAD in your GPS or you'll end up on the backside and there is a gate across the gravel road. Something else to keep in mind is that you want to try and get there early. There are only 10 parking spaces and a ranger that watches them. IF you get there and they are full, you just have to wait for someone to leave before you can start hiking.
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