Dylan, you'll enjoy visiting Warbler Road in early May. To answer your specific
questions:
If you're interested in either camping or just relaxing at a campfire, you have
a couple choices. As you mentioned, there are areas where dispersed camping is
allowed (mostly in the northern part, on the forest road across from North
Creek campground), but you can only have fires if there is a fire pit. Luckily
you can probably find a site where a pit has been established and use that. Of
course, there is North Creek campground itself, which is at the northern end of
Warbler Road; it has about sixteen sites and is very private and scenic. No
reservations are taken so getting there early on weekends is advised. You can
also camp and have fires at Peaks of Otter, which is north of the start of
Warbler Road about ten miles down the Blue Ridge parkway.
Secondly, yes, you'll want to drive down the road. On weekends, there are lots
of birders, and you can usually benefit by stopping where you see them stopped
to see what they are seeing. There are lots of places wide enough to pull over
and stroll. I'd also advise checking out "Radar Road", a one mile spur at the
highest elevation; it branches to the right just after the gates from the Apple
Orchard Mountain pullover, which is where Warbler road starts. It typically has
a good variety of birds, including Canada and other Warblers, Veerys, and more.
The map at the link below is the best guide I've seen to navigating the road.
http://roanokevalleybirdclub.com/Warbler%20Road%20&%20Area%20Map.pdf
Dan Fortuna
On 4/24/21, 10:32 PM, "va-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of Dylan
Slusarz" <va-bird-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of dtslusarz@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi yall,
I was thinking of taking a trip to "Warbler Road" in the Jefferson Natl
Forest/Blue Ridge Parkway sometime soon and had some questions if anyone
experienced with the area could help me with. First, is there anywhere
close by where there's already an established campfire? I know car
camping/dispersed camping is legal in National Forest land, but would like
a fire to tend to/cook on before resting. Secondly, I saw online that
Warbler Road is a ~13 mile journey, is it typically hiked through the
roads, or do people typically park, bird around a bit, return to their car,
and find another place to park and bird along the route? I'm trying to get
an idea of what to expect to get the best birding I can done!
Thanks!
Dylan Slusarz
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