In November, I took a trip to Virginia to visit my twin brother. His dog, Adlai, had his fourth birthday earlier in the month, so I planned a birthday adventure for him.  From Lexington, VA, we drove about 45 minutes west into the George Washington & Jefferson National Forest to Roaring Run Day Use Area. 

The trail is a loop trail and about 1.5 miles in total. We hiked it in a clockwise direction. 

From a gravel parking lot, the trail follows a native trout stream. This area is gorgeous and what I would think of as your quintessential mountain stream.

Cascades dot the landscape and gradually get larger as you hike farther up the trail. We stopped at one, and I gave Adlai his birthday treats and toy. 

The trail will come to a “T” where the trail to the right will start the loop back to the trailhead. But before you do that, be sure to head left to see Roaring Run Falls. 

The base of these falls is beautiful. We took a moment to sit on the rocks and just enjoy the natural beauty. 

There is a stairway to the right of the falls. Be sure to head up that way as the trail continues on for quite a bit to the top of the falls.

This was my favorite part of the trail since you could get up close to the falls. The pools of water and narrow rock channels were really neat to look at.

Be careful hiking around on the rocks up here as they can be a bit slippery. When we were there in November, all the leaves had fallen off the trees, and I slipped and fell into a hole that was covered by leaves 🙂 

From here, we headed back to the main trail, which begins to climb high above Roaring Run Creek below. 

The last notable feature on the trail is the historic iron furnace. It was built in 1832.

I really enjoyed this trail since it packed so much beauty into a shorter trail. Be sure to check it out if you are in the area!