Iron Mountain Trail - North

File:Placeholder.JPG Trail Name Iron Mountain Trail - North Nearest City Damascus State Virginia Trail Marking {{{Marking}}} Trail Use/Features Difficulty Rating Difficult Hiking Time 18+"+" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property. Distance, round-trip 2424 mi <br />38.624 km <br /> Climb/Descent Elevation 600-700"-700" is not declared as a valid unit of measurement for this property. / {{{Elevation Loss}}}"{{{Elevation Loss}}}" is not a number. High Point 4,6264,626 Feet <br />1,542 Yards <br />1,410.005 Meters <br /> Nearest Medical Abingdon, 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":36.47274919795771808139761560596525669097900390625,"lon":-81.9486516618309650539231370203197002410888671875,"icon":""}]} Show Large Map

Trail Overview

What is now the Iron Mountain Trail (IMT) was the route for Appalachain Trail until 1972 when a major relocation moved the AT over to the Grayson Highlands. Today, IMT offers a more secluded experience with spectacular overlooks. For this trail wiki, the trail is being listed as two major sections with the city of Damascus as the dividing point.

North of Damascus, the Iron Mountain Trail is multi-use, thus appears to be very popular with mountain bike riders as a technical challenge.

How to get there

Southern access is from Beartree Recreation Area, such as Lum Trail, which begins at the Chimpmunk Loop of the camground.

From Damascus, VA:

1. Head east out of town on US-58 for just under eight miles.
2. Turn left/north onto Beartree Gap Road and drive around three miles to campground.
3. Parking areas at each trailhead.

GPS address for Bear Tree Recreation Area is 20993 Beartree Gap Road, Damascus, VA 24236.

Typical Conditions

Iron Mountain Trail is located in Cherokee National Forest (known as Forest Service Trail 54) and maintained by the Mid-Appalachian Highlands and Johnson County Hiking (miles 11 thru 13) clubs. Typical condition has been reported as being in good shape with blowdowns promptly removed. There are no shelters, but several campsites exists. Available water supplies may be limited on the ridgeline. Another observation is that IMT has more ups-and-downs which would have been typical for the early AT route - before all of the relocations and improvements have smoothed out the latter trail.

Fees, Permits, etc.

No permits for hiking, horeseback riding, or backpacking, unless you are using a fee area to gain access to the Iron Mountain Trail. If so, day use fees run $3 per vehicle.

Maps

<googlemap version="0.9" lat="36.63977" lon="-81.75339" type="terrain" zoom="11" width="725" scale="yes" icons="http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/marker{label}.png"> http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/Iron Mountain Trail.kml

(G) 36.47278, -81.94861 Cross Mountain trailhead (G) 36.49722, -81.88639 Hwy 421 access point (G) 36.56667, -81.79333 Corinth Church access point (G) 36.59806, -81.75444 Camp Ahistadi access point (G) 36.625, -81.77222 Damascus trailhead (F) 36.637777, -81.713251 Saunders Shelter (F) 36.663040, -81.707572 Sandy Flats Shelter (A) 36.479887,-81.962247 AT Parking on TN 91 (3 spaces) (A) 36.538835, -81.948426 AT Parking on US421 at Low Gap (10 spaces) </googlemap>

Photos

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