Day Hike 2: Boone Fork Parking Area to Holloway Mountain Road Parking Area
Out to Pasture
Distance: 3.5 miles
- Difficulty: Easy. Gentle ascents through pastures.
- Camping: No.
- Land managers: National Park Service.
- Volunteer Task Force Leader: Randy Johnson, ranjohns@aol.com.
- Piggyback trail: Tanawha.
- Connecting trails: Tanawha.
Three meadows offer open relief on the trail between the Boone Fork Overlook and Holloway Mountain Road.
Wedged between the jumbled, rocky base of Grandfather Mountain (Day Hike 1) and the wet and wild Day Hike 3 is an oddly passive break, a pastoral oasis that rolls through three mountain meadows. On a sunny day under billowy white clouds you’re to be excused if, each time you emerge into one of these grassy breaks you go all von Trapp and belt out a rousing, “The hills are alive …”
Heading north, the MST goes through hardwoods & rhododendron. Just past the 0.2-mile spur trail to the Cold Prong access, you encounter your first meadow after squeezing through a tight stile. The trail isn’t always immediately obvious through these meadows. As a general rule, look for the MST’s white circle or the Tanawha Trail’s white feather symbol.
Hiked either direction, this is one of the easiest sections along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
For detailed hiking directions and parking information, download the Segment 5 guide from our Trail Guides page, using the “Primary Trailheads” section to pinpoint the location. You can also visualize the route on our interactive map; click “Day Hikes” to view the endpoints.
