Hungry Mother State Park

File:Placeholder.JPG Trail Name Hungry Mother State Park Nearest City Marion State Virginia Trail Marking {{{Marking}}} Trail Use/Features Difficulty Rating Medium Hiking Time 0.50.5 Hours <br />0.0313 Days <br />30 Min <br /> Distance, round-trip 0.650.65 mi <br />1.046 km <br /> Climb/Descent Elevation ~1300"~" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property. / {{{Elevation Loss}}}"{{{Elevation Loss}}}" is not a number. High Point 32473,247 Feet <br />1,082.333 Yards <br />989.686 Meters <br /> Nearest Medical Marion, VA Trip Reports Click Here Loading map... {"type":"ROADMAP","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"270px","height":"180px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":8,"layers":[],"controls":["zoom"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":36.885484149999996361657395027577877044677734375,"lon":-81.5210298884272930308725335635244846343994140625,"icon":""}]} Show Large Map

Trail Overview

Hungry Mother State Park offers eight hiking trails covering around 12 miles running along the lake, through woods, and up to park's 3,270 feet highpoint.

How to get there

From the TriCities area:

1. Take I-81 up to Exit 44 (US-11/Marion).
2. Turn right/NE on US-11/Lee Highway and proceed into town just over three miles.
3. Turn left/NW onto VA-16 and continue another four miles.
4. Turn right/NW into state park.
5. Day parking for the main trails on right below dam - and back by the CCC cabins.

Route Description

The following trails are available in Hungry Mother State Park.

Trail	Miles	Blaze	Difficulty	Usage
CCC Trail	1.0	Orange	Medium
Fisherman's Run Trail	1.1	Lt Green	Easy
Lake Trail	2.9	Dk Blue	Medium
Middle Ridge Trail	1.2	Yellow	Medium
Molly's Knob Trail	1.6	White	Difficult
Molly's Vista Trail	0.4	Purple	Medium
Old Shawnee Trail	1.0	Green	Medium
Powder House Trail	1.0	Red	Medium
Raider's Run Trail	0.9	Royal Blue	Difficult

An interesting loop hike through the forest with both summit and lake views could be created. Start by parking in the back by the cabins at the trailhead for Molly's Knob Trail (coordinates in infobox). After mile and quarter travel, take left and up 0.4 mile Molly's Vista Trail to the 3247 ft summit. Back down and left to finish out the third mile remaining on Molly's Knob Trail to the intersection with CCC Trail. Take a left for a mile until Lake Trail is reached. Following the winding Lake Trail back to parking lot.

Typical Conditions

Being a VA state park, the dirt and gravel trails are kept in excellent condition. Some of the trail sections do narrow to a tight single-track, but adequate use of switchbacks keeps the elevation change reasonably gradual. Most of the trails are in the forest, some with lake views.

Maps

<googlemap version="0.9" lat="36.8818" lon="-81.529" type="terrain" zoom="14" width="700" scale="yes" icons="http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/marker{label}.png"> http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/Hungry_Mother_SP_loop_hike.kml

(G) 36.88597,-81.5212 Molly's Knob Trailhead (G) 36.88243,-81.50953 Molly's Vista trailhead (E) 36.8839, -81.51027 Molly's Knob (G) 36.88117,-81.51055 Molly's Knob and CCC Trail intersection (G) 36.87365,-81.51063 CCC and Lake Trails intersection (A) 36.8853,-81.52175 Parking Area </googlemap>

Park Trail Map Note that this map does not have "Lake Loop" broken up into now Lake, Fisherman's Run, and Powder House trails sections.

Photos

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