The Christmount
trails offer many types of hiking experiences: from short and easy to steeper
and more difficult. Stop by the office for a Trail guide and enjoy hiking at
Christmount! We ask that you check in at the office before you go hiking
and when you get back.
Merry Lane Trail
This trail
begins just below the Guest House and is the easiest one. Part of it runs along
a level bank and trench made many years ago to carry water to the Guastavino
wash house. There are many different trees and wildflowers along this trail.
Old Cemetery Trail
The trail
begins and ends behind the campfire site which is across the creek at the
playground. Running beside a creek at the start and end, this trail is shaded
and cool.
At the top are
rough stones pointing up from the ground. This is an old graveyard discovered
by Christmount staff. There are about a dozen graves, with a sign telling who
is buried there.
Lee Moore Trail
This trail starts on the south
(right) side of Holly Road. It begins with a set of steps down to the creek and
then heads up to the top of the ridge. Here it meets Glade Mtn. Trail and the
short Blue Ridge connecting trail. The Lee Moore Trail climbs gently to the top
of the ridge and then descends steeply to Sourwood Road.
Azalea Trail
Azalea
Trail turns off the Blue Ridge Trail and follows a mostly level course. It
follows the boundary of Christmount’s property, coming down through thickets and
across the creek to an old road bed that ends on Magnolia Road.
Cascade Glen Trail
Cascade
Glen branches off the Lee Moore Trail. It passes a pile of rocks that used to
be a cabin before following a stream to an old logging road. After winding up a
steep bank, the trail passes below a cliff where there is a tiny waterfall. At
the top it connects to the Glade Mountain Trail.
Wildflower
Cove Trail
Wildflower Cove
Trail branches off the Blue Ridge Trail and follows the creek below a cliff to a
natural amphitheater of moss and ferns. It passes through a rhododendron
thicket before coming back to rejoin the Blue Ridge Trail.
Blue Ridge Trail
Starting at the
end of Pine Grove Road, this trail follows an old logging road. The remains of
a chimney indicate where a cabin was and where wildflowers and ferns now grow.
The trail comes
to Big Deep Gap (3220’ elevation) and travels along the Christmount boundary to
a telephone microwave tower where it joins the Glade Mountain Trail. (Going
down the hill, the gravel road leads AWAY from Christmount! Don’t do it! There
is an additional connection trail to Lee Moore Trail.
Rocky Knob Trail
One of
our most popular trails, it climbs to a meditation garden and scenic view of
Black Mountain, the Great Craggy Mountains, and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The
trail starts on Fern Way behind the Guest House (past the second house on the
left), and for much of the way the climb is fairly steep. (Do not go past the
sloping rocks with the view of town.)
To
return, go back to the top of the knob and take the trail which turns off to the
left. Follow down the ridge line to the watershed road. Turn right onto the
road and return to Fern Way.
Glade Mountain Trail
Climbing 1000
feet, this is the most strenuous of our trails. In the summer, the view is
obscured by the trees except to the south where rows of mountains and ridges are
revealed.
The Glade
Mountain Trail begins where the Lee Moore Trail turns on the ridge. It runs
east, climbing steeply to a level area. It continues east as the ridge becomes
steeper, more narrow, and thick with rhododendron. The trail levels some at the
Oval Mountain before turning south to go over the top of Glade Mountain, just
north of the telephone microwave tower. At the tower, it meets the Blue Ridge
Trail.
To return, take
the Blue Ridge Trail at the sign at the tower clearing. (After a short
distance, the gravel road continues AWAY from Christmount.)
