Helton Creek/ Helton Spur Trail

Hike Name: Helton Creek/ Helton Spur Trail Location: southwest VA Length: 2.5 miles Submitted by: Jason Fox Date Submitted: 0/0/00 Rating:	more Virginia trail reviews Virginia national parks Virginia state parks
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Description
Most every trout fisherman in NC and VA has heard of Helton Creek. The Helton Creek trail begins in a cow pasture at the end of Helton Creek Road & follows upper Helton Creek. The pasture sections offer some interesting remenants of past farm life. On this section there are also some beutiful rare Aspen trees, beaver dams, and giant cows that make the trek more interesting to say the least. The Helton Creek Spur trail may be the worst trail I've ever hiked. It is designated as foot and equestrian. The horses have literally destroyed the trail, leaving 1.3 miles of ankle deep mud. The hike offers about a 1500 foot elevation increase from the trail head to the intersection of Viginia Highlands Horse Trail. With a fully loaded pack, you can imagine the difficulty. Walking on the sides of the trail, road apples, mud & elevation increase makes this hike numbing. The out standing paneramic views at the top of the trail would be well worth the hike, if there was not an Appalachian Trail / VHHT parking area .25 miles away! (The AT is on the other side of the horse trail thru the pature. We stumbeld upon it). Also water is extreamly scarce or polluted from cows/ horses, although there is a fenced in spring in the pasture. I recomend starting at the AT/ VHHT parking area for a quick camp or hike avoid the spur trail at all costs with a heavily loaded pack.

Directions to Hike
Helton Creek Trail: Helton Creek Road. Near Whitetop Community. AT/ Virginia Virgina Higlands Horse Trail: Hwy 600 to access this section of the trail.

Contact Information
Mailroom_R8_George_Washington_Jefferson@fs.fed.us

Mount Rogers National Recreation Area
3714 Highway 16
Marion, VA 24354-4097

276-783-5196
800-628-7202

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