Grayson Highlands State Park is a gem, and the summit is unspoiled by any tower, road, pavement, or structure of any kind. And there are wild ponies about.

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The venerable Appalachian Trail passes through Grayson Highlands on its way south to Springer Mountain and north to Katahdin. There is a little cave that you have to pass through mid-hike, and the white blaze is right there on the rock.

Several north-bound thru-hikers I've met over the years have told me this section of the AT was among their favorites. The trail undulates but is none too taxing, and the scenery recalls that of Ireland, with open vistas onto cropped meadows, weathered rocks, and low, colorful trees.

To get to Grayson Highlands, you usually end up on Route 58, most of which forms part of what is known as the Old Crooked Road, Virginia's turnpike of "old-timey" music soaked in country, bluegrass, and folk history. The road itself is indeed crooked, and certain sections are known to be more lethal than others. Bound up with the music was a history of moonshining and bootlegging. The bootleggers would whip around their cars in 180-degree "bootleg" turns and shine their headlights on pursuing revenuers in order to escape. More on the legacy of Virginia country music and bootlegging—the antecedent of NASCAR, some claim—can be found in this excellent article in Smithsonian magazine by Abigail Tucker (no relation), whence I poached some of the facts above.

I happened to catch Mount Rogers on a moody day of low clouds and mist, but there was little rain and the autumn colors were brilliant in the damp. The ponies were out, too, including a black-and-white fellow I nicknamed Freddy, who followed me around the pasture probably after smelling my peanut butter.

To reach the summit, you leave the AT and follow a short spur through a remnant spruce grove, an ecological island unlike anything else in the surrounding acreage. There are no views from the top, but in its isolation the summit feels secretly majestic, an Appalachian sacred glade.

Mount Rogers was the first highpoint my father and I did on our epic tour through the South in pursuit of six states in three days (VA, KY, TN, GA, SC, and NC). Dad is not much of a hiker, but you can glimpse him testing out the trail. I think he enjoyed Mount Rogers most of all.