Pink Beds Loop Trail Map
Route map of the Pink Beds Loop Trail as tracked by the Gaia GPS app and depicted a la Google Earth...
Route map of the Pink Beds Loop Trail as tracked by the Gaia GPS app...
Pink Beds Picnic Area Trailhead -- 3,300'
The entrance to the Pink Beds Picnic Area and Trailhead along US-276...located approx. 3.5-miles south of 276's junction with the Blue Ridge Parkway....
Pink Beds Picnic Area Trailhead -- 3,290'
The picnic area adjacent to the trailhead is quite large and, despite what you see in this shot, typically quite busy...
The trailhead at the picnic area is marked by this wooden sign which displays the trail system circling the Pink Beds...
Pink Beds Loop Trail -- 3,290'
The trail shortly reaches a split, with the main path bearing left and the right one being a connector to the nearby picnic area...
Pink Beds Loop Trail -- 3,280'
Descending slightly the trail arrives at its crossing of Pigeon Branch. You can see the bridge with which the trail passes over it on the right...
South Fork Mills River -- 3,280'
Pigeon Branch is the primary tributary feeding the South Fork Mills River. Just downstream the river officially begins where two smaller tributaries also join the main channel...
Pink Beds Loop Trail Split -- 3,280'
Just after the crossing the trail arrives at the start of its actual loop. In this album we'll follow it by heading left, completing the loop in a clockwise direction...
Pink Beds Loop Trail -- 3,270'
Heading clockwise, the trail immediately crosses the first of six grassy fields between here and the north junction with the Barnett Branch Trail...
As you can see already, simply by its width, this is a very popular footpath...
Within a minute the trail is back out in the open again, this time into a very long and narrow opening...
The path as it continues along the lengthy second opening...
In the woods briefly...
...and then back out again into a third grassy opening...
Water weight from heavy rains can push the ceilings of these rhododendron tunnels a bit lower at times...resulting in lots of ducking for us taller folk...
Pink Beds Loop Trail -- 3,260'
Breaking out into the fourth opening, which is the smallest yet...
Looking back across the tiny fourth field...
The trail now climbs a bit, crossing the small rise to the south of Bearwallow Brook...
Pink Beds Loop Trail -- 3,250'
Just before dropping to Bearwallow Brook, the trail passes alongside a fifth field...
Pink Beds Loop Trail -- 3,240'
The trail as it now drops to Bearwallow Brook...
Pink Beds Loop Trail @ Bearwallow Brook -- 3,230'
Crossing the interesting L-shaped bridge over Bearwallow Creek, at around the one-mile mark...
The dreary day these shots were taken on belie the beauty of these wildlife openings...
