Fairy Stone State Park: Oak Hickory Trail (Blog Hike #299)

Trail: Oak Hickory Trail

Hike Location: Fairy Stone State Park

Geographic Location: northwest of Martinsville, VA (36.79144, -80.11457)

Length: 1.1 miles

Difficulty: 3/10 (Easy/Moderate)

Dates Hiked: April 2010, May 2014

Overview: A short forest hike with great interpretive signs.

Park Information: http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/fairy-stone.shtml#general_information

Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=940882
Photo Highlight:

Directions to the trailhead: From Martinsville, go west on SR 57 to SR 346.  Turn right on SR 346, which dead-ends at the park entrance.  Pay the nominal entrance fee,  then bear right at the first intersection.  Park in the first (gravel) picnic area parking lot on the left.

The hike: For my general comments on Fairy Stone State Park, see the Little Mountain Loop blog entry.  While this trail is hardly a hiking destination by itself, it makes a nice add-on if you are coming to hike either of the two main attractions (the Little Mountain Loop or Stuart's Knob).  Even better, it makes a great add-before, as the large number of informative interpretive signs on this trail will help you better understand what you see on the other longer trails.

Trailhead: Oak Hickory Trail

            Begin by walking back out to the paved park road and turning left, looking for a wooden footbridge off to the right of the road.  The trail starts by crossing this footbridge and then immediately heading uphill.  After only a couple hundred feet, the trail forks to form the loop.  The interpretive signs are meant to be read on a clockwise hike, and hence this description will turn left here and use the right trail coming downhill as the return route. 

The trail begins climbing gradually with the park’s campground road and a small stream to your left and the hillside rising to your right.  All along this trail interpretive signs tell you not only about the plants and animals around you but also about how people work to maintain this trail and its habitats.  At 0.3 miles, the trail joins an old logging road as it curves right away from the park road to remain beside the stream.

Stream beside trail

Joining the old logging road

            At 0.6 miles, the trail crosses the stream, curves sharply right, and begins climbing a more moderate grade.  Now roughly 180 feet higher than the picnic area at which you started, the trail reaches the highest point of the hike before descending into another steep ravine.  Now heading downstream, the creek here is quite a bit wider than the one you were following earlier.

            Just when you think the trail might follow this creek all of the way back to the campground, the trail curves right and climbs moderately to reach a point along the rim of the ravine.  A sign here describes mountain laurel, the shrub that surrounds you at this point along the hillside.  This would be a very nice spot when the laurel blooms in June.

Descending over wooden waterbars

            Past the sign, the trail curves left and continues its downward course, this time over some wooden waterbars.  All too soon, the loop is closed as the outbound trail comes in from the right.  Retrace your steps first to the park road and then to the picnic area to complete the hike.