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I told Chad I would put on my wetsuit and take a jumping pic outside. Okay, I wasn't feeling QUITE that brave, but I did put it on and make some muscles! Bringing FLEX-Y back. Woo woo!
At the top of Clinch Mountain near Abingdon VA in the Channels Forest Natural Area Preserve, are the Great Channels. The Channels are a maze of sandstone boulders that geologists believe were formed over 400-million years ago during the ice age. Permafrost and ice wedged and shattered the sandstone cap-rock to form the Channels. The pathways between the boulders in the Great Channels wind and turn and some of the stone forms caves of a sort in some places.
To hike to the Great Channels, take exit 24 west off of I81 in Virginia. Follow route 80 for about 14 miles where you will find a small parking lot on the left and the trail head. (If you start to descend the mountain, turn around you've gone too far.) The trail is about 3 miles each way, begins on an old fire road and is marked with miles-markers about every 1/2 mile. You start at marker 13.5 and count down. Shortly past mile-marker 11 to get to the Channels follow the Great Channels spur trail on the left side (there is a marker sign). Pass the abandoned fire watch tower and follow the arrows to get to the "entrance" to the Great Channels.