One of my spring break goals last week was to explore a new part of Virginia. (Along with “go for a hike with my wife” and sit on my butt and binge watch Daredevil)
I looked up “hikes around Blacksburg” because it is a part of the state I had never explored and “Cascade Falls” was recommended again and again along with “Barney’s Wall”. Lucky for me these are both essentially in the same location so you can knock them both out on the same trip.
Travel Time: 2.5 hour drive from Danville
There really is no convenient way to get to Blacksburg- you either drive north to Roanoke and than south from there (I did this in the morning before the sun was up because its on easy-to-drive highways) or you head straight through the windy roads of the mountains (how I got home- extremely beautiful but would have been a pain in the ass in the dark).
Trail Head: Drive through the town of Pembroke, Virginia. It’s about a mile through the town.
Hike:
The hike can be split into two distinct sections: The gorge up to Cascade Falls and the uphill to Barney’s Wall.
The winding stream to the falls is one of the prettiest sights I have seen in Virginia. It was 2 miles of fallen trees covered in moss, giant boulders and mini waterfalls- I loved every second of this section. I started hiking (trail running) at 7 in the morning and had the area completely to myself. It was incredibly peaceful.
Once I got to the waterfall (also beautiful) I took a left directly up the hill and began the hike up Barney’s Wall. The 2 miles up to the scenic overlook was pretty uneventful (aka nothing really to see). For awhile you are heading up this old fire road (preservation road) before you are solely following the signs for Barney’s Wall. The trail was really well marked and easy to find. The view from Barney’s Wall was pretty awesome (similar to most views out here).
Total Time: 2 hours (I ran it so I would estimate it taking 4 hours if you were hiking)
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