Hiking in Blacksburg

When I was a younger, I enjoyed going to Massanutten and exploring some of the mountains there with my father. I remember one time we took a day trip to the Appalachian Trail and hiked a few miles. I really enjoyed hiking, but it wasn't really a hobby I could pursue in my bay side hometown. The other day I stumbled across some pictures of my friends on top of a mountain near JMU. The thought struck me that now that I'm living in Blacksburg, there's probably numerous places to explore and hike. After doing some research, I found a website called weasleworks.org. The name may sound very strange but the site is actually very informative. It shows the location of numerous trails near Blacksburg and features detailed topographic maps of most of the routes. After browsing the site for a while, I decided that I would try out the Pandapas Pond trails. This system of trails is a short, easy drive from Tech. I hopped on 460 and headed North over Brush Mountain. After passing over the ridge, Pandapas Pond is on the left. After parking, I examined the trail map at the parking lot and decided to try out the trail called, "Horse Nettle". Yes, the name seems very strange, but the trail was actually very nice. I brought along a friend because I didn't want to venture out into unknown territory on my own. We had a great time on the trail and passed a few other hikers along the way. We headed back to the truck but there were still a few hours of daylight left and neither one of us had any homework to do. I decided to drive up one of the Forest Service Roads on Brush Mountain. I had actually found out about the road on the U.S. Forrest Service website. They have a map of all the different service roads in the National Forests. This particular road went to a cell phone tower but also linked to some of the trails from Pandapas pond. The road was very steep in some places and had some small washouts, but it was a fun drive in my truck. The view at the top was amazing, we could see Lane stadium and Cassell Coliseum. After driving back down the service road, we headed back to Tech. I enjoyed my small hiking trip and I plan to explore more of Blacksburg's trails in the future.