Hiking at Smith Mountain Lake State Park

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Planning our Trip to Smith Mountain Lake State Park

HOW WE DETERMINED OUR DESTINATION: smith mountain lake state park

We live less than an hour from Smith Mountain Lake State Park (and less than that from parts of the lake itself) in Roanoke and have rented houses on the lake with family two times in the past. We’ve also been out to hike at the Smith Mountain Lake State Park on a couple of instances. Read about our hike on Walton Creek Trail here.

With the number of trails in the park, we figured that would be lots of 90 minute roundtrip drives to hike them all so that renting a cabin in the park would be a great way to check out all the park’s hikes over a few days. And with one exception - a trail that has been closed for some time - we have now hiked all the park’s trails. All of the trails are marked easy or moderate and this is much more low-key hiking than many of our other destinations, so it’s a great spot for those looking to stretch their legs without, say, scaling mountains.

where is smith mountain lake STATE PARK?

Smith Mountain Lake State Park is located in southwest-ish Virginia, about 40 minutes east of Roanoke, 2.5 hours southwest of Richmond, 3 hours north of Charlotte. The lake itself is a man-made reservoir of immense proportions. The shoreline measures 500 miles and the lake is 40 miles across. In fact, in 2023, Travel + Leisure magazine, called Smith Mountain Lake (SML to locals) the “Lake Tahoe of the East”. The shoreline is dotted with homes for both locals and vacationers and is a popular spot for people to rent houses.

Smith Mountain Lake State Park is on a northern portion of the lake and is over 1100 acres. The closest grocery stores are a little over 20 minutes away in Westlake Corner, but there are some closer convenience stores for basics. White House Corner Store is one such spot, located about 10 minutes from the park, and a place where we picked up some items while there.

WHERE WE STAYED: CABIN ACCOMMODATIONS IN smith mountain lake STATE PARK

There are 20 cabins and a campground at Smith Mountain Lake State Park. All 20 cabins are grouped together, though spaced for ample privacy. Some of the cabins are close to the lake with either lake access or some views so if you’re looking for one of those, be choosy in your cabin selection!

We stayed in cabin 11, one with a water view, and enjoyed that location. Our cabin was a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom and perhaps a tad tiny, though functional, for 4 adults and 4 dogs. While other state parks offer larger cabins, most at SML are 2-bedrooms with only one 3-bedroom, which is ADA accessible.

Like other Virginia state park cabins, this one does not provide any linens. This means that visitors need to bring bedding, bath towels, and dish towels. The cabin is otherwise stocked with the basics in the kitchen - dinnerware, pots and pans, utensils, cooking implements. Because we planned to do some actual cooking, we brought our own skillet, which we were glad we did since theirs were a lot smaller than what we needed.

The kitchen has all the standard appliances but no dishwasher. Of all the cabins we’ve stayed in, only one has had a dishwasher and that was in Kentucky. Given that we don’t have one at home, this is not a big deal to us.

They layout of the cabin was such that the door opens right in to the kitchen and in-kitchen dining table. To the right is family room seating and a woodstove. That entire area is an open floor plan. Beyond the family room is a door out to the back deck. The deck was a great spot for hanging out and enjoying the spring weather. Straight back is a hallway with the two bedrooms and bathroom. One bedroom had a double bed and the other had two twins.

WHAT WERE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR TRIP TO smith mountain lake STATE PARK?

Hiking Turtle Island trail, which offers great views of the lake and a short segment out onto a teeny island
Seeing multiple Ospreys, including those nesting
Visiting nearby-ish Smith Mountain Lake Dam and the nice visitor center with regional information. We posted a blog post entirely dedicated to that spot, which you can read about here. This was the one activity we did outside of the actual park.
Enjoying many pleasant hikes through the woods with varying degrees of lake views

Hiking in Smith Mountain Lake State Park

trip overview

Smith Mountain Lake has 14 ‘named’ trails, some of which are short cut-over trails. The trails run from 0.1 miles to 3.1, with a total trail distance of just over 14 miles of hikes. This means that hiking the whole park in a few days is totally feasible, and it means that there are ample opportunities to combine multiple shorter paths to create longer loops, which is what we did.

The second longest trail in the park is the 3.0 mile Five Oaks Trail. When we headed over to hike it, we got a little ways down the path and came across caution tape and a note that the trail was closed. Upon inquiring at the visitor’s center, it turned out the path had been closed for quite a while (a few years even?). It was a tad frustrating that this information wasn’t more clearly highlighted on park signs, maps, or online and that you had to go a little bit down that trail before even learning of its closure.

In any case, that removed a sizeable distance from our list. Depending on how active you like to be, it’s reasonable to hike all the other trails in the park within 2-3 days in a way that is enjoyable. The loop trails we created means we back-tracked on portions of trails at times, but I’d always rather do that than an out-and-back.

Between visiting the Smith Mountain Lake Dam one afternoon and staying indoors due to rain another morning, we hiked all the trails over the course of 4 loop trails that we cobbled together.

Day 1: turtle island to opossum trot to beaver den trails and smith mountain lake dam

Having arrived the evening before, we were able to get settled in, enjoy dinner and relax on the porch before getting up in the morning ready to hike!

In the morning, we hiked a loop that was a little over 2 miles in total. The vast majority of this concocted loop trail was along the water and offered great lake views. Turtle Island is my favorite trail in the park and one I’d hiked a number of years ago with family during a Thanksgiving trip.

We started our trek by parking in the lot near the trailhead to Turtle Island Trail. Turtle Island Trail is a 1.4 mile loop and has a fun short bridge across to the small island called Turtle Island. Instead of connecting back to the parking lot and fully completing the loop trail for Turtle Island, we picked up Opossum Trot Trail (0.4 miles) that runs along the shore. Near the end of that trail, we got to check out an old tobacco barn along the road. From there, we hiked out to a spot near the Discovery Center (this wasn’t technically a trail but more of a picnic area) to check out an Osprey nest . Several Ospreys flew around and it was enjoyable to watch these large birds that aren’t typically so far inland in Virginia. From there, we caught the Beaver Den Trail (0.4 miles) that runs mostly along the road, and got back to our car.

After lunch, we drove over to the Smith Mountain Lake Dam. Even though it is only 25 miles away, the drive on rural roads took about 45 minutes. Most of the drive we were without cell service, so I recommend you have maps printed/saved as you may find them inaccessible like we did. For as long as we have lived in nearby Roanoke and technically knew that Smith Mountain Lake had a dam, we had no idea that it was a spot that you could visit and that had an interesting visitors center. The dam is truly off the beaten path but was easy to find with online directions.

Upon reaching the dam, visitors will first see an industrial/mechanical area with a large parking lot and it took a moment for us to realize that we could drive across the bridge in front of it and all the way up to be closer to the dam. At the top of the hill is a smaller parking lot, the visitor’s center, and an elevated walkway that goes up higher on the mountainside for fantastic views of the dam from both sides.

There was information on the building of the dam, including a portion of the train-like car that had been used to build it. Since we have a separate post entirely dedicated to the dam, I won’t repeat the information on it here, but please check that post out!

After our visit to the dam, we went in search of the Smith Mountain Lake Trail that I’d read about previously and offers aerial views of Smith Mountain Lake from atop Smith Mountain. This lead to us driving on more curvy country roads until we found the almost-miss-able trailhead and parking lot. By this point, it was late in the day, and visitors to the trail are required to get a permit, which could be purchased online. We decided it didn’t make sense to try to tackle the trail, but we now know where it is.

DAY 2: Chestnut Ridge to Buck run to beechwood trails

On our second morning, we woke up to pouring rain, which meant no hiking. Instead, we enjoyed a nice morning in the cabin with family. After lunch, we did a quick store run to White House Corner Store, the closest convenience store at about a 10-minute drive, to pick up a few items.

By early afternoon, the rain had moved on, providing an opening for an afternoon hike. We decided to combine three trails together for a longer hike of 4.3 miles comprised of: Chestnut Ridge (1.7m), Buck Run (1.7m), and Beechwood (0.9m). Because this would have us ending a mile or more away from our car, we coordinated with our co-hikers to take two cars and drop one off at our end spot to allow us a shuttle at the end. For others who do this hike without the ability to shuttle yourselves, assume you need to add another mile to the total hike distance.

Of the three trail sections, I enjoyed them all but would probably say that Chestnut Ridge was my favorite segment. Chestnut Ridge has two loops within it so while it’s mostly an out-and-back, it’s done in a way that you see a lot of new views along the route. The trail goes out along a narrow, squirrelly peninsula with nearly continuous views of the water. It is a relatively flat trail with some undulating on small hills.

Near the end/by the parking lot, we veered off to Buck Run Trail, which essentially skirts a deep cove, winding in and out along the shore, again with pretty views among the majority of it (though more tree hidden than the first trail). This trail was also relatively flat. It ends against Beechwood Trail, where you could turn left to the parking lot or – as we did, turn right to hike this final loop trail.

Beechwood was the most hilly of the three, though not excessively so. There were a few uphill/downhill sections and it was muddy from significant morning rain so the trail was quite slick in places. This trail is mostly in the woods with a small section near the terminus of the cove. This trail wasn’t labeled as well near the water, and it took a moment for us to confirm we were on the correct route, which crosses over some rocks near the shore. There are several bridges and small waterfalls along this route. So, while there were fewer water view opportunities, there were interesting features to make this hike enjoyable.

We wrapped up the day with relaxing porch time until the wind picked up and sent us indoors, where we enjoyed dinner and a fire in the woodstove.

DAY 3: CLYBURN RIDGE TRAIL

For our third and final day at Smith Mountain Lake State Park, we hiked a bit over 6 miles in total by creating two separate loop trails and concluded our goal of hiking all of the trails in the park during our visit (darn you, one closed trail that makes my statement feel like a lie!).

In the morning, we hiked a route we had previously done about a year prior and very much enjoyed. This approximately 3-mile loop starts at the visitor’s center parking lot, where you can pick up Walton Creek Trail (1.3m), connect to Osprey Point (0.4m), catch a portion of Striper Cove (a mile+), and then use the 0.2 mile connector trail of Turkey Foot (great name, folks!) back to the parking lot.

What I like about this route is that the first section on Walton Creek Trail offers beautiful shore and lake vistas while undulating through the small hills. Eventually you’ll come upon old stone walls that remind you that at one time this was all farmland and small towns before it was flooded to create the lake. What is now a hill over a lake was once a hill that swept down into a valley. The Striper Cove section has a totally different feel from anywhere else in the park, and there are informational signs about how they’re restoring that part of the woods. We wrote a separate post on this hike when we walked it before, so you can check out more details here.

In the afternoon, clouds had moved back in, but we decided to not let that stop us from tackling the final hiking trail: Striper Cove. In order to hike that route, we parked at the trailhead just up from the visitor’s center down Interpretative Road, hiked to the end, where we caught a section of Turtle Island, and then we walked back along the road to our car. Our travel companions didn’t accompany us on this hike so we weren’t able to leverage the same car shuttle option we had the prior day. We definitely got caught in a few short rain showers but nothing major. This hike was sort of similar to Buck Run in that it follows along the shoreline and coves, winding in and out with sections providing lake views and others entirely in the woods. I’d actually hiked this trail probably a decade ago with some friends but didn’t remember much of it after so long.

Would we return to Smith Mountain Lake State Park?

Yes - this is a great way to enjoy the lake while also getting some hiking in! The park has a lot of other amenities that we didn’t partake in but that make it popular among other visitors, including one or more beaches and swimming areas. There are multiple spots to enter the water in kayaks, canoes, or boats, playgrounds, picnic areas, and plenty of other activities in the nearby area (including wineries). If you’re looking for a more outdoorsy (and frankly, more affordable) way to visit Smith Mountain Lake, the state park is an excellent option!

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