VA-16 South · Marion to Grayson Highlands

The other half of VA-16, one way: from Marion the route heads south past the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area visitor center, through Sugar Grove and over Dickey Gap to Troutdale, and finishes at US-58 in Volney. It's 26 miles. Curves and few services the whole way: fuel up in Marion. The route turns at Volney on purpose: south of there, VA-16 continues to North Carolina. Leave the Mount Rogers forest roads alone, some of them are gravel.

South of Marion, VA-16 keeps curving, with less traffic than the Back of the Dragon to the north. A few miles out of town the route passes the Pat Jennings Visitor Center, headquarters of the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, with restrooms, maps and a short nature trail around two ponds (open weekdays). Then it climbs through Sugar Grove and crosses Dickey Gap, on the Tennessee Valley Divide, before dropping to Troutdale.

From Troutdale the road comes down to Volney, where it meets US-58 near Grayson Highlands State Park; from there US-58 west is The Twist, which makes this route and the Back of the Dragon one continuous run on VA-16. There are few services the whole way, so fuel up in Marion. The route turns at Volney on purpose: south of there VA-16 heads to North Carolina. The Mount Rogers forest roads that branch off along the way include gravel stretches, and the route doesn't use any of them. It's a one-way route.