Sweet P Bupkiss is practicing for his AT thru-hike and I am teaching Ember to be a well-behaved trail dog, so the three of us met up in the Peaks of Otter off the Blue Ridge Parkway to train body and dog. We hiked Flat Top Mountain. Flat Top was once believed to be the tallest mountain in Virginia (4004 ft) and despite the name of this trail and the mountain it traverses, there is nothing flat about it. Like nearby Sharp Top Mountain, the mountains in the Peaks of Otter are not the mountains that stretch on for miles with no easily discernible or precisely defined summit. No, Flat Top is a roughly mesa-shaped massif that tapers upward toward a distinct point, reminding me of the way I drew mountains with crayons in grade school. It's so perfectly shaped, I can excuse our Founding Fathers for thinking it was the tallest mountain in Virginia. For those of you focused recreationists, the Virginia stone in the Washington Monument came from Flat Top and is inscribed: From Otter's summit, Virginia's loftiest peak, to crown a monument to Virginia's noblest son.
The ascent of Flat Top Trail wore lil Ember out, but at the summit P and I enjoyed the views. It was a little hazy to make out all the sights visible on a clear day. Nonetheless, I think we could see at least 50 miles as the crow flies. Directly south we saw Sharp Top, farther south we could see Macs, and looking north on the Blue Ridge we could see Little Stony Man and Mary's Rock in SHEN.
We had the summit all to ourselves and so we did something we do best - enjoy the sun's rays and lounge on the rock outcrops like lizards. This hike was a sensational success at our quest for solitude and blood-pumping, muscle-strengthening exercise.
Princess and P Bupkiss on the Trail
South is Sharp Top Mountain; North are more Blue Ridges
After a long day on the Trail, Ember needed a ral and rest
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