I've hiked this trail twice: once on Saturday, June 29th, 2019, and once five years later, on Saturday, March 8th, 2025.

This overlook along the Blue Ridge Parkway has a short nature trail which gives you access to several rocky outcroppings along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Both the official trail and the unofficial off-trail section requires a good bit of bouldering, but is manageable for most hikers and lots of fun.

From the Linn Cove Parking Lot, find the trail for the observation deck; this should be towards the western corner of the lot. From there, you can follow the Tanawha Trail, which in this section is paved.

You should be walking right underneath the Viaduct itself.

Eventually, the pavement ends and the wilderness trail begins. After hiking for maybe a quarter of a mile or less, follow a rock outcropping off the trail. You can follow a few side trails to get a nice closer look at the road. Once you've done that, you'll have access to some great views of the Viaduct from some of the rocks along the side of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Here is where my two treks diverged; on the original hike, we took a turn off trail at some point and did quite a bit of bouldering. I do not officially recommend that, especially since the area now (2025) has several signs indicating the spots we likely diverged at in the past are not part of the trail. You should not under any circumstance leave the marked trail; however, I have left the old images up for reference.

After about around 1-3/4 mi. of hiking, you'll have crossed two bridges and small streams, the second of which is shown below.

After another 3/4 mi. or so, going through one particularly poorly-marked rock field, you'll reach the final stony staircase to the view of the viaduct. Trace your steps about 2 mi. back to the parking area.

And, back to the divergent trail. You should be able to tell where the official trail ends and the bouldering begins.

According to one of my friends, if you keep following the rock outcroppings you can eventually reach Grandfather Mountain; I didn't do that when I was hiking, but I fully believe it's possible.

You can see additional pictures, as well as a few from the drive there, here.