I have never been tent camping a day in my life, Blake has been tent camping almost his entire life. We decided it was time for me to give it a go. Blake talked to his brother Ty and he wanted to go with us. We left after I got off work and headed to Piney River in Amherst County, VA. Ty was picking up firewood and meeting us up there.
The campsites at Piney River are all first come first serve. We got up there around 8:00-9:00 pm Friday night. We set up our tent and got it ready for the night and hung out until Ty arrived.
The next morning we had breakfast and relaxed around the campsite for a little bit. Blake and I then decided to go for a hike. Humpback Rocks pretty close by and we decided to do the hike.
Humpback Rocks
Humpback Rocks is a very popular hiking trail due to it only being only a little over a mile Out and Back hike and it takes you to a beautiful overlook of the mountains and rocks to explore. We chose to do the Humpback Loop Trail which goes up the backside of the mountain and connects to the AT and then takes the popular Humpback Rocks trail back to the parking lot.
Another thing about Humpback Rocks is that due to its popularity the parking lot fills up very fast so plan accordingly.
Porta Potties are in the parking lot for public use.
Hike:
Start time: 1:30 PM; End Time: 3:43
Distance: 3.8 Miles
Elevation Gain: 1102 Feet
We started our hike on the backside of the mountain and and connected with the AT. Once you connect with the AT, the trail follows a series of switch backs until the trail connects to the Humpback Rocks Trail. While hiking on the AT we met a couple of through hikers (hikes that are hiking the entire AT from Georgia to Maine). We chatted with them for a minute and we went on our way. The back side of the mountain is basically just hiking through the woods. Not much scenery but still a pretty hike.
We made it to the top of Humpback Rocks and sat down to have a snack and take in the views.
We hiked the rest of the way down back to our car.
On the way back to the campsite we decided to stop at Staton’s Creek Falls to take a dip. This is my 2nd time going down the natural waterfall slide. At least this time it was a little warmer than the 1st time I took the plung.
We got back to the campsite and met back up with Ty. We decided to go out to Bold Rock Cider that evening. https://boldrock.com. We each enjoyed a tasting flight before heading back to camp for dinner.
Blake and I at Bold Rock 
Ty, Kenny (Dog) and I
Once we got back to the campsite we had dinner and lit a fire and sat around the fire until it was time to go to sleep.
The next morning we got up and had breakfast. Took some pictures while Ty’s dog Kenny explored the mountains some more before we pack up for the weekend. I will admit, these were 2 of the best nights of sleep I have had in a long time. We had Ty take so pictures and he decided to take a selfie of himself for me to find later.
On the way out and since it was on the way, we decided to stop and see if Big Foot was still hanging around the area and indeed he was. This was the perfect opportunity to get a picture with a legendary Big Foot.
Before heading home, we stopped by Lovingston Winery https://lovingstonwinery.com to have a wine tasting. We purchased a couple of bottles to enjoy later.
We had a great weekend and I had a fantastic time for my first tent camping experience.
Nic of Time - Travel 