The first thing we learned about Poor Mountain...it was anything but that. It is known for its poor soil that's weathered from sandstone bedrock; yet ironically famous for having a variety of lush native plant species. This ridgetop is primarily a xeric (dry, requiring little moisture) Table Mountain pine and oak woodland. If you're hiking during the right time of the year, you'll be delighted to see a number of huckleberry and wild blueberry bushes. A number of rare plants & shrubs call this mountain home, specifically one called piratebush. The Poor Mountain Preserve contains the world's larges population of this globally rare shrub; confined to a select few mountains in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. After researching this mountain, I quickly learned that piratebush was the main attraction here (picture below). This shrub is described to be parasitic in nature; because it requires less chlorophyll than most other plants, its foliage is pale green in color. The leaves of this rare shrub turn a bright, brilliant yellow in the fall; unfortunately we were about 2-3 weeks too early to see the color change.
Back to the hike...this was another completely new one for the three of us...well, 4 of us if we count Samantha's dog Bob. After driving up a windy & narrow road up the mountain, we finally fell upon the start of the trail. The preserve covers 925 untouched acres consisting of a few interconnecting trails: Overlook Trail, Canyon Trail, Cascade Trail & the Piratebush Loop. We took the main overlook trail loop, close to 4 miles long; which took us about 500 vertical feet down the mountain then back up. The trail led us through steep windy paths with spectacular overlooks of the scenic vista peeking through the lush forest trees. We were welcomed with a little ravine (which Bob throughly enjoyed splashing around in) at the base of the loop.
As far as difficulty goes, I'd rank this as moderate to slightly difficult terrain...the difficult part being the burning of our thigh & glute muscles during the steep climb back up the ridge! All in all, this is a beautiful hike that should probably be done during the mid-late summer; and then again in the fall while the leaves are changing. One more peak checked off in our challenge...5 more to go! (up next is Read Mountain)
If you're interested in checking out the preserve, here's a link to a helpful printout & area map.
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| Mid-hike Overlook |
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| Leaves of Fall |
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| Piratebush |
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| Bob's turtle discovery |
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