VNPS Southwest Virginia Trip

Trip Dates: Sunday May 10 to Saturday May 16, 2009

Join VNPS on an excursion to the southern Ridge and Valley of Virginia, a place of high mountains and diverse valleys. We will visit National Forests and Recreation Areas, Natural Area Preserves and a State Park, and will see some of our tallest mountains and a natural limestone tunnel. The Southern Appalachians are a hotspot of biological diversity, and our tour will include parts of the Clinch River drainage, noted for diversity of aquatic species and home to state and globally rare plants and habitats.

Although in mountainous terrain, the hikes will be very moderately paced and will focus on the plant life. However, some hikes will be a few miles in length at high altitude, so some physical stamina is necessary. Naturalist led tours in the morning to early afternoon will be followed by leisurely explorations later in the day. 

We will spend half of the week in Abingdon and half in Big Stone Gap. Cost of the trip is $500, which includes a $100 donation to VNPS.  Price includes lodging (2 people per room), tours and lunches. Travel to and from the trip is on your own. We will do our best to arrange carpools from our lodgings to the sites each day to minimize fuel use and parking needs.

There are more places to visit than we can see in a week, but if you extend your trip we will have information about some of the places we have not been able to schedule. Be aware that the racetrack in Bristol can make reservations scarce.

Please reserve by sending a deposit of $100 by Monday, March 23 to 

VNPS SWVA Trip, 400 Blandy Farm Lane #2, Boyce, VA 22620. 

Full payment is due by April 24, due to required cancellation notices for rooms.  You may choose to pay the entire fee as deposit.

More information: 

Shirley Gay at shirleywg@verizon.net or 

Sally Anderson at rccsca@comcast.net