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Read Mountain is Roanoke County's newest and largest park! Most of the 243 acres are forested, preserving a natural environment the public can enjoy for generations. The main feature of the park is a 1.9 mile trail to Read Mountain's summit at Buzzard Rocks. The trail is moderate to strenuous difficulty, and will take the average hiker on a 2.5 hour round trip. The view from the top is one of the best in the Roanoke Valley!
Directions from Downtown Roanoke: Take US 460 East towards Bonsack. Shortly before you reach the Bonsack Walmart, turn left onto Huntridge Road. Travel 1 mile to left on Crumpacker Road. Look for park entrance on the right, just past Tolman Circle.
Directions from Interstate 81: Take the Troutville exit and turn onto US 220 South (Cloverdale Road). Travel 5.5 miles to a right onto Hillview Drive. After passing Cortland Road, take second right onto Crumpacker Road. Look for park entrance on the right, just past Tolman Circle.
You can also click on the marker on the map to get Google directions to the trailhead.
We just did this today. We got there about 6:15pm and were back at our car by 7:45pm (with a good 20 min. rest at the top). We only saw 2 groups of people (one 2 person group coming down as we were going up, and another 3 person group at a viewpoint) so the solitude was very nice. We had a very vigorous pace up the mountain, and ran part of the way back down it. The trail is really nice tho, and very easy to follow with the blue blazes every few trees. There is mountain laurel blooming EVERYWHERE up there right now, and alot of sassafras. The trail and all the plants are so pretty! At the top we actually came upon a black vulture (Buzzard Rock and all ;) ) that was very upset that we were up there. I think we were close to her nest or something cuz she started growling at until we left and wouldn't fly away. The view at the top is beautiful, but faces the west, so if you are there at sunset the sun will be shining directly in your face. This is a really nice, short trail that would be really fun for trail running, and is definitely worth a couple hours of your time.
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