Parc d'État de Grayson Highlands - Mouth of Wilson, Virginia

Kaitlin Morris

Beautiful campgrounds and hiking trails, plus there are wild ponies! Much colder than the surrounding region due to its elevation. The camp hosts were lovely and there was a little country store with the essentials at the hickory ridge campground. We stayed in mid October and brought our dog.

Donna Bollenbach

We visited Grayson Highlands in Virginia while camping in North Carolina. We paid a $7.00 parking fee to enter the park. It seems like a lot, but the park is clean and well-maintained, and dogs are allowed on all the trails, which is important to us. There is one main road in the park with spurs to the horse camp and the Homestead Stage, a venue for music events, but we were there to see the wild ponies.

We hiked the most popular trail from Massie Gap to the park boundary via the Rhododendron Trail and the Appalachian Trail. The fresh pink and white Mountain Laurel blooming along the Rhododendron Trail was beautiful, as were the views of Wilburn Ridge and Mount Rogers. We were really excited to see wild ponies grazing in a wildflower meadow. Despite a short up-hill climb in the beginning, the 3-mile hike seemed easy.

After our hike, we visited the large visitor's center, which was large and choked full of park theme merchandise. It reminded me of a Cracker Barrel store but with a nature theme.

While we only explored one of many trails in the park, we were impressed by the scenery and look forward to returning there in the future.

Paula Bonna travels

One of my absolute favorite places to go! I stopped by this weekend - there were so many wild flowers. It was beautiful! The wild ponies were out on the trails which is the main reason I go here. There are public restrooms and many trails. The pathways are a little rough for anyone who has stability issues.

CornBread !

Really nice State Park. Alot of hiking trails, beautiful scenery, and a really nice gift shop. Camping is available here but it is small and usually already taken. Make your reservations well ahead. Park has alot of parking and the amount of people on the trails is sometimes too crowded. Park is kept up pretty well with little to no trash on the grounds. Nice park, will be back many times in the future.

Abigail Redman

No matter where you go in this park, there are stunning views (and wild ponies). We parked at Massie Gap and the trailheads were easy to spot. We did two hikes in one day: Haw Orchard Mountain and Twin Pinnacle Loop and then Wilburn Ridge via the Horse Trail, the AT, and Wilburn Ridge Trail.
Twin Pinnacles takes you through a fairyland forest directly off the road/parking area. The 544 foot climb was rocky, mostly stone steps, up to Big Pinnacle overlook, probably the best view of the hike and only half a mile in. Further on was the Massie Gap overlook and Little Pinnacle, and then an easy woodsy loop back to Big Pinnacle and the hike down to the parking lot. 2 miles total.
Next we headed through the gate that keeps the Wilburn Ridge ponies contained to the Ridge and Mount Rogers, and we headed up the Horse Trail to Wilburn Ridge. Rather than turning right onto the AT at the first junction (which is a longer and apparently less scenic route to the Ridge), we stayed on the more direct Horse Trail (gravel and loose rock was hard on the soles of the feet) until we met the AT and the Rhododendron Trail at a second horse gate. From there it was a short climb, first on the AT (white blazes), then left on the Wilburn Ridge Trail (blue blazes) up to the first set of boulders that make up the ridge. If you're comfortable with boulder scrambling, you can climb up and over this first ridge and then hike a short distance to the next and taller ridge. The views are spectacular and sublime. The wild ponies are the cherry on top. Round trip of 4-5 miles, depending on how far up the Ridge you hike.

M. M.

Honestly, one of my favorite places now. It's so gorgeous no matter where you are there, the hiking is easy to moderate, the wild ponies are amazing to see in person and even the occasional bear.

Hannah Pevarnik

I highly recommend this park to all those awesome families who love enjoying the big, beautiful outdoors together. This park is clean & the other campers always show consideration for others. The Creeper trail is a must-do & the wild ponies are a must-see! Enjoy! ?

Jennifer Owens

Stunning park with amazing views... but... the trails are horrendous as far as footing conditions, and nothing is marked well at all. In desperate need of some grooming and maintenance. The visitors center on the top of the mountain is great and the hike to Pinnacle peak is WORTH it... but if you bring horses here, have all 4 hooves booted and know that you will get one day of riding and your horse will be tapped out from struggling on these creek bed trails.