Big House Mountain is a landmark mountain overlooking the Lexington area of south-central Virginia. It is neither a county highpoint nor a 2,000-foot prominence peak, so what interest would I have in hiking this peak, you may be wondering. It has, in the words of my buddy Scott Casterlin of Tucson, a high “wow” factor. It is a thoroughly impressive peak with a nice shape and an excellent trail network, and is arguably the finest mountain hike in and around Lexington. Beth lived here while she attended Washington & Lee University in the late 1980s and hiked the peak at least twice a month on a regular basis, according to her reckoning. Work that out over five years and she can confidently claim at least one hundred ascents, and probably close to one hundred fifty! When we started to plan our yearly Virginia trip, we made sure to hold a day in reserve to make a hike up this peak. Beth assured me it would be worth every step.

As it was we planned this hike more toward the end of our time in Lexington, partially owing to the rainy weather that came and went on a regular basis. The weather people were forecasting mostly clear skies for Saturday so we decided to make that our Big House Mountain Hike day. The mountain is no more than a few miles outside Lexington along US-60 and a pair of local county roads (Jacktown Road to Saddle Ridge Road). We parked at the small trailhead parking area on Saddle Ridge Road, got geared up and started our hike around 1:30 in the afternoon in beautiful weather. The skies were blue and the temperatures were in the low 70s with a gentle breeze.

The first half-mile simply follows the rest of Saddle Ridge Road to its end, passing by a few homes along the way. At the end of the maintained portion of the road, an older forest road continues off to the west and shortly comes to a simple gate and a kiosk; this is evidently the “trailhead”, even though we had already walked nearly a mile to get here. An informative sheet described the recent past regarding the House Mountains and how they came to be open to the public and not razed for development. Beth recalled in her time that there was no set publicly-accessible route into the mountain—you took your chances with the private landowners or, as Beth did, got to know some on good terms who allowed passage to the old roads into the range. Now, the public has an easement into the range, the road we were following now. An image of this sheet is in the photos sidebar to the left.

Past the gate the road gains moderately westerly across the south flanks of lower Little House Mountain. The road itself is hardly an eyesore (as roads sometimes are): it was covered over in a mat of leaves—maple down low, sycamores higher—and was very pretty. The forest cover was moderately thick but on occasion we had some nice views in breaks in the trees. The House Mountains were once homesteaded and we noticed some very old rock walls and possible foundations up on the immediately hillsides above the road. These were probably some old homes from the 1700s-1800s (?). Eventually the road starts to bend around Little House and approach the saddle between the two peaks. We reached the saddle around 3 p.m., having covered about two miles and gained about 1,000 feet. The road/trail was pitched so moderately that we hardly noticed the gain at all.

At the saddle there is a broad meadow with Little House visible immediately east, and Big House to the west. Another informative sign stood in the field (photo at left), and we took a break here with a group of four local college kids who were hiking the peak. The saddle used to be homesteaded too, and there was once an orchard up here, too, but we could see no evidence of either. Instead, the meadow was covered in tufty grasses and stands of trees, with beautiful views of the two peaks as well as to our north at the mountains beyond. Evidently camping is allowed here and it would seem to be a wonderful place for a short overnight backpack. An Appalachian Trail-style shelter is also located on the west end of the meadow. For many, the meadow is the destination, and not the summit. After about a half hour, we started the last leg to the top. According to the signs, we had three-quarters of a mile and 800 feet of gain to go, so it would be steeper but no too bad.

We took the road/trail slow and it was considerably steeper than before, but again, well maintained and easy to follow. The route goes on like this for the first 600 vertical feet, the levels for about 150 feet, then gets very steep and rocky for the remaining 200 feet to the summit area. We were obviously on an old road, which begged the questions: who put it in here, and why? I have no answer to either. Mining doesn’t seem to be a good answer. Perhaps there was an old lookout up top. The level stretch of road would seem (to me) to be where vehicles would stop and somehow turn around, but I’m only guessing at that. In any case, we tackled the remaining 200 feet.

The last bit was short but steep, and Beth had to really go slow on this stretch to watch her ankles and knees. The college foursome were relaxing on rocks beside the “road” and Beth struck up a conversation with them. We finally surmounted the remaining few feet of road onto the short summit ridge. The road/trail ends a few hundred feet ahead near a dilapidated shelter of some sort. I commented it looked like the one in Blair Witch Project. Beth sat and enjoyed an extended break, celebrating her first ascent of Big House in about 18 years, while I celebrated my first ever. And yes, it was worth every step! The views were partially limited by tree cover but the views were amazing, and we could see bits and pieces of Lexington off in the distance, as well as the innumerable hills and ranges that run throughout the region. While Beth relaxed, I ventured south along the ridge a few hundred feet to seek the benchmark. The summit has two contours of 3,640 feet; the shelter (and Beth) were at one, the benchmark within the other. However, the southern area was overgrown and rocky, not to mention brushy and steep. I scrambled up some rock piles, avoided brush and did my best to walk the immediate area “to be sure”. I never did find the benchmark, but then again, I was pushing my luck traipsing around in thick brushy snakey poison-ivy terrain, so I called it good after five minutes and returned to Beth. It was a bit after 4 p.m. when we started down.

Beth was required to butt-scoot down the rocky bits, which went real slow, but once past that, she could walk the rest, with me offering help on the steeper sections. We walked slow and enjoyed the scenery as we slowly egressed back to our car. Our walk out took about an hour, maybe a bit more (we came to our car about 5:30 p.m.). After changing into dry clothes we rewarded ourselves with Calzones from Frank’s in Lexington, another place Beth visited often in her college days. We were both pretty tired but very pleased the hike had gone well and that the weather had been so nice. Beth was especially pleased that her body allowed her the energy to make the summit, something she wanted to do very badly after all these years. I was very happy for her, and she was glowing. Big House was worth every minute, and I can understand why she climbed it so often!