My husband and I like to hike so on our recent visit to Roanoke we started exploring options. We…read morelearned that McAfees Knob is the most photographed spot on Appalachian trail. We were a bit nervous about an 8 mile hike, but decided we were going to take it on. That hike was no joke, it kicked my butt. However, I did it and I am not someone in amazing shape by any means. There were some very steep/uphill parts and some stretches that were mostly flat. Trail was well marked. I was happy for the variation and we stopped as needed. It is doable, its just long. They say it takes you about 4 hours, which was accurate for us as we arrived around 10am, finished about 2pm. We did the AT trial up and decided to go for the fire road (runs basically parallel but isn't as strenuous) back as we were already tried. I highly recommend this if you not a serious hiker. Most everything I read kept saying you need to get their early as it gets so busy. That wasn't our experience, but it was an unseasonably colder, windy day so that probably deterred people. We also went on a Thursday to help reduce crowd as recommended. Note there are no bathrooms near parking. We found an outhouse near one of the camping sites about 2/3 way up, which we were grateful for. I am not sure it is being maintained regularly, so bring your own TP and hand sanitizer. Now, the view once you get to the top is absolutely beautiful. You can see out so far while you sit/stand on the rocky overlook. I even slowly inched my way out to the very tip of the rock to get the full 360 view. Breathtaking! We brought some snacks to eat up there to replenish (do this) and enjoy the views. We didn't stay up there as long as I would have liked as it was quite cold with the wind when we no longer had the tree cover. Dress appropriately! After we finished the hike, we took a long nap at our Airb&B. I am not sure I would choose to do it again, but I feel very accomplished that we completed this trail and enjoyed the views and our picutres very much.

What an awesome hike. Our new Thanksgiving tradition has been to go on a hike and this was our pick…read morethis year. We got there around 10am since it's a 3 hour drive from Charlotte. I thought it would be empty on Thanksgiving, but it was pretty crowded. We got a parking spot just fine, but the lot was fairly full. The hike is rated as strenuous, but I thought it was moderate. It's about 4 miles to Mcafee Knob from the parking lot making it 8 miles round trip. We took the Appalachian Trail on the way there and the fire road on the way back. The fire road is flatter and wider--an easier hike overall. Parts of the AT were covered in leaves making it a bit hard to hike. Everyone says the last mile is hard. It's uphill but I didn't find it to be too steep. The views at the end are gorgeous. Luckily it wasn't too crowded and we didn't have to wait to get our picture. We didn't stay at the top long because it was incredibly windy which made it pretty cold even though the rest of the hike was comfortable. The whole hike with stops took us just under 4 hours. With views and difficulty combined, we thought it was a great hike!

This huge park has a great view of the mountain range and at sunset, the sun was nearly blinding…read more Absolutely beautiful. The park features a 2/3 mile walking loop around the perimeter, which I enjoyed very much. On the way around, baseball fields, picnic shelters, playgrounds, a soccer field, tennis courts, picnic areas and tables and a building with restrooms. I saw their disc golf course and a boardwalk area over the Walrond Pond. Lots of parking and the picnic shelters can be reserved with the city. [Review 13804 overall, 1125 of 2020, number 1238 in Virginia.]

Walrond Park in Roanoke County, VA always conjures up nostalgic feelings of when I played…read morerecreational sports in elementary school. They have baseball, football, and soccer fields to host all the North Roanoke County recreational leagues that I so enjoyed as a child. In addition, they have a lot of tennis courts for enthusiasts to practice their shots. They also have several different sized picnic areas and shelters for cookouts with family and friends. My wife and I often enjoy walking the scenic trail in the evening. My only complaint is that the trail is showing a lot of over growth of weeds through the gravel. All in all, Walrond Park is a beautiful place for the local community to enjoy.

My friend, Amanda and I went on April 17th and timed it just right. The pink azalea was amazing,…read morethe white quite beautiful and the lone orange was really cool. I saw several wild flowers, the wild geranium or "cranes bill" was my fave tho, seeing each vein running through the petals gives my heart a good feeling! I'm sure there are some stragglers but there is always beauty to be seen there. The red bee balm puts on an amazing display too. Mark your calendar now and enjoy every day from now to then!

Most of the area is private residences, but if you work your way up onto the hill, you can find…read morethis park. The parking area was not huge, but it's unlikely to be crowded outside of perhaps a few peak times. There wasn't a map and the trails weren't entirely well marked. Near the parking area was a nice boardwalk over the creekbed which eventually leads to a set of paths that cover hilly terrain. There are some interesting views and it's quality nature. I'm still looking for spots that have a better ratio of amount of trails to amount of time spent driving from downtown Roanoke to get to them, but the aesthetics here were worth a drive.

Wasena Park is a big multipurpose park in a Roanoke subdivision called Wasena, and one of many that…read moreRoanoke River Greenway runs through (Smith Park is just to the east of Wasena Park). Roanoke River Greenway, in turn, is one of almost a dozen Roanoke Valley Greenways, and extends over many miles of paved trails. The park has several entry points along Wiley Drive SW with plenty of parking spaces to accommodate the locals and visitors here to enjoy what the park has to offer: the skate park is a clever use of bridge bases (pictured); the baseball and basketball courts seem popular and are often nicely crowded; several picnic areas have tables, bench seats, water fountains, and more; and the children's playgrounds are usually filled with little ones. The trails are paved all the way through, and the Roanoke River is never more than 20 metres away. Enjoy!

Pleasant, pretty quiet park in Roanoke that has trails for walking, jogging, biking whatever is a…read morenice place to come for a peaceful hike. Located along the Roanoke river, there is some nice scenery to make it more enjoyable. Nice park to come when it's not too humid and recommended.

For a greenway, this is very short: half a mile. For moms with young children, the elderly and…read morebeginning joggers or rollerbleading / frisbee loving kids, it is just right. The paved path is very wide and fairly level. There are lots of wide open spaces to run around in. It is a good place to go during weekdays, in the Cave Spring area , when you need an easily accessable, quiet spot with a few ammenities and a level, paved walkway. The parking lot is medium siz

I'm always in favor of more green space, but this isn't the best trail I've ever seen. The views…read moreare modest, and it runs through residential areas but doesn't really connect to much of anything. There's only one real parking lot in the middle, and I see people sitting in their cars for unknown reasons or an abandoned car that was just stuck there once. It's not a great vibe. The trail is paved, but not lit, and some of the isolated parts just didn't feel that safe to me in the fading light. To be useful, the trail needs to be cleaned up and livened up.

Parts of it are very pretty, it can be a bit creepy in some parts for a woman alone. The area just…read moreover the bridge from Valley View is quite isolated, and I've observed men hanging out there near the woods or the stream. A woman by herself was assaulted there not long ago. I no longer walk that section of the greenway.

Closes at 8 monday - thursday, 7 on fridays, and 5 on the weekends. The courts are only open on…read moremondays with classes taking over both courts basically every other day besides the weekends. Staff will kick 30 people off the court for 2 people to play pickle ball for 15 minutes then leave and won't let anyone play basketball again for the rest of the day. Worst establishment

Stopped here on a rainy Saturday afternoon with some friends and family. The indoor water park is…read morekinda joke. The outdoor side looks like it could be fun. I was visiting from North Dakota and expected something a little better given the price paid for a day pass. The venue does offer workout facilities and a couple basketball courts. The chlorine levels here were incredibly high and burned my eyes from the fumes. I could see smaller children liking this place and could see it would be a reprieve from the winter but probably wouldn't come back in the summer. It's also the first time I've experienced a place that charges different rates if you're not from the county or community.

Very nice big clean park. My boys enjoyed a good run and playing. Great fencing and water large…read morewater bowls.

Amazing and well maintained dog park! Headed to TN for a road trip with our Belgian Malinois and we…read morewere lucky enough to stumble across this place. Only a few miles off 81 and definitely worth the stop. Half a dozen dogs of all sizes and wonderful people. Highly recommend!

Great stadium in a beautiful setting. Great place for families and businesses…read more Watching the Salem Red Sox takes me back to when baseball was simple and didn't rely on high paying players and stadiums with techno features. Here you have a simple open stadium with the natural beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop. The fans are a wide range of ages and peoples all having a good time watching baseball and, if they are old enough, drinking local craft beers or eating really good food. For a business event I rented a 50 person club room. What a bargain. Room, food and lots of beer and sodas for 50 people and it all came in under $2000. Our server, Rachael, was fantastic. She worked the room by herself but always made sure we were stocked up in food and beverages. I got a lot of positive feedback from the group and will definitely do this again!

We chose to use a sky box at the Salem Red Sox ball park to host a Birthday party for my 90 yo Mom…read more The staff offered to.let my Mom through out the first pitch. She did this!!. All the Red Sox staff made her feel celebrated and welcome. I was blown away by how gracious the crowd was at the ball park. People kept stopping my Mom and wishing her happy birthday!