Tinker Cliffs
Limestone Cliff Line On Tinker Mountain In The Jefferson National Forest, On The Appalachian National Scenic Trail; One Of The Three Virginia Triple Crown Peaks · Catawba, Virginia
Half a mile of limestone cliff edge running along the top of Tinker Mountain at about three thousand feet, and the third of the Virginia Triple Crown. It is the one nobody photographs and the one walkers tend to prefer. McAfee Knob concentrates everything into a single slab and a single picture; Tinker gives you a continuous rim to walk, with the Appalachian Trail running right along the lip for a sustained stretch so the view changes as you go - Catawba Valley and McAfee Knob itself across the gap on one side, the Roanoke Valley opening out on the other. The usual approach is the Andy Layne Trail, about three and a half miles up with roughly seventeen hundred feet of climb, crossing open pasture and stiles at the bottom before it gets into the woods and starts working. It is the least crowded of the three by a wide margin, which on an October Saturday when McAfee has a queue for the rock is the entire argument for coming here instead.
Andy Layne Trail, Route 779, Catawba, Catawba, Virginia, 24070, United States
Trail open at all hours, year round, and free - there is no gate and no fee. The Andy Layne trailhead lot on Route 779 is small and fills on fine weekends, sharing the Triple Crown parking problem flagged for McAfee Knob. NO water, NO toilets and NO facilities at the trailhead or on the route. The lower approach crosses working cattle pasture - close gates behind you.