Queen City Mischief & Magic returns to downtown Staunton on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 26 and 27. Admission is free. Volunteers run every part of it. And the crowd now tops 20,000 people a year, which is a lot of wizards, witches and flying monkeys for a few blocks of Beverley Street.

This year the festival has a companion website, and I built it. It lives at QCMM.app.

Some disclosure before I go further. I’m one of the volunteers who helps with QCMM, and I publish the Stauntonian. The app came out of my studio, BradThomas.io, and it runs as an independently operated companion affiliated with the festival. Official announcements still come from queencitymagic.com and the festival’s Facebook page.

A Paper Map Can Only Do So Much

Spend one festival weekend as a volunteer and you learn the questions by heart. Where is the sorting? When does wand dueling start? Which block is Ravenclaw? Is the BBQ place still open?

For years a printed map carried most of that load. Then the festival kept growing. The app now tracks 119 locations across downtown, from stages and event features to gift shops and restaurants. No sheet of paper holds that gracefully, and paper can’t tell you where you’re standing.

So I had three goals. I wanted visitors to find things on their own phones. I wanted to give our volunteers a break from pointing down the street all weekend. And I wanted the festival to feel a little more like a quest, because a town full of magic should reward the people who go looking for it.

Start With the Map

The Locations page shows every festival spot on an interactive map of downtown. Tap a pin and you get the name, the address, the block it belongs to and what kind of stop it is, whether that’s a stage, an event feature or a local business. A “Find me” button drops you onto the map so you can see what’s closest.

Each location also carries a status marker. Visit a spot, check in, and the app marks it as checked in. By Sunday afternoon you’ll have a record of everywhere you’ve been.

We’re building the groundwork for something much more interesting in the coming years.

Six Neighborhoods of Magic

The festival divides downtown into themed blocks, and the Collections page groups locations the same way. Gryffindor Block and Hufflepuff Block each hold 24 stops. Ravenclaw Block has 21, Slytherin Block has 14, and The Burrough has 11.

Oz Land brings 17 more locations of its own. Follow the yellow brick road through it and you’ll find the festival’s Oz crowd waiting.

Each collection works as a checklist. Try to check in at every stop in one block, or go for all six if your feet allow it.

Somebody Is Out There in a Cloak

My favorite part of the app is the Characters page. It profiles 67 costumed characters who will roam the festival this weekend, with a little background on each and a hint about where they might turn up.

You can sort the roster by group. There are professors and students, founders and supporting players, a trio from Beauxbatons and five baddies. The Oz contingent brings Dorothy, Glinda, Elphaba, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Lion and a Winged Monkey, among others.

The page puts the challenge plainly: “These characters are out there, somewhere.” Find one, add them to your roster, and you start collecting toward perks. Kids will take this very seriously. So will a surprising number of adults.

The Weekend, Hour by Hour

The Schedule page lists every event by day and time, along with where it happens. The fun starts Friday night, when Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic goes up at Silver Line Theatre Exchange at 7 p.m.

Saturday fills up fast. Wand Dueling Workshops run at Blackfriars Playhouse at several times through the day. A Wizard’s Magic Show plays at the Society for Victorian Arts and Culture Foundation, and Queen City Music Studios stages selected scenes from Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather at 12:45 p.m. Quad ball training and finals take over the Virginia is for Lovers Stage across both days.

Sunday opens with a Hogwarts Pancake Breakfast at Trinity Episcopal Church at 9 a.m., then the Official QCMM Sorting at Staunton Wharf at 9:30. After dark, the Queen City Ghost Tour leaves from the New Street Parking Garage on several evening runs.

Times can shift during a live event, so check the schedule the morning you head out.

How to Use It This Weekend

There’s nothing to download. Open QCMM.app in your phone’s browser, and add it to your home screen if you’d like it one tap away. It costs nothing.

A little planning helps. Look over the schedule before you leave the house and pick the two or three events you won’t miss. Pull up the map when you park so you know which block you’re in. Charge your phone, because between photos and check-ins it will work hard. And when you spot someone in robes near the Wharf, check the Characters page before you walk past.

I built QCMM.app for the people who come to this festival every fall, and for the volunteers who make it happen. If something on it breaks, or you think of a feature for next year, find me this weekend or shoot me an email at Brad@Stauntonian.com.

The Stauntonian is offering 25 percent off a new annual subscription through Sept. 30 as a festival special.

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There is a fire tower on top of Augusta County. Most people who live here have never seen it.

At 4,463 feet, Elliott Knob is the highest point in Augusta County and the tallest peak in the George Washington National Forest. The summit sits on the crest of Great North Mountain, and on a clear day the views stretch north toward Massanutten and south toward the Peaks of Otter. The fire tower at the top, a metal 14-by-14-foot live-in cab with catwalk atop a 30-foot steel frame built in 1948, replaced an earlier structure from the 1920s. It is one of only three lookout towers of its type remaining in Virginia. The gate has been reported open by recent visitors, though conditions change. Climb it if it is.

Getting there is another matter entirely.

Before You Go: Know Your Route

Multiple trails reach the summit, and the distances vary considerably depending on which trailhead you use. The most commonly described approach from Staunton is the Falls Hollow Trail off Route 42, south of Buffalo Gap. SummitPost lists this route as 4.25 miles one way with 2,425 feet of elevation gain. The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources describes the North Mountain Trail from a separate trailhead off SR 688 as approximately 4.6 strenuous miles to the summit. These are different trails from different starting points. Check your map and confirm your trailhead before leaving the car.

The George Washington National Forest North River Ranger District can be reached at 540.432.0187 for current trail conditions, seasonal closures, and fire restrictions. Call before you go.

The Falls Hollow Approach

The Falls Hollow trailhead sits on Route 42, approximately two miles south of Buffalo Gap, just past the entrance to the Shenandale Gun Club. It is a gated forestry road, and the parking is extremely limited. There is no formal lot. If you arrive and the pulloff is full, additional space can sometimes be found a short distance down the road near the fire road gate. Arrive early on weekends.

From the gate, the trail follows an old logging road, wide and gently graded, marked throughout with yellow blazes and yellow plastic diamonds. The first mile and a half are easy enough that you may start to wonder what the fuss is about.

Then the trail finds Falls Hollow Run.

For roughly half a mile, the path follows the creek through a narrow hollow, passing two waterfalls. They are not towering cascades, but in spring, when snowmelt fills the run and hemlocks line the banks, the hollow earns its reputation. Staunton Stays notes that creek crossings in this section can be weather-dependent and affected by current water levels or snowmelt. Watch your footing.

A critical navigation point: watch for three yellow diamonds on a tree marking a sharp turn where the trail leaves the creek. Multiple sources warn that missing this turn sends you into overgrown, unnavigable terrain. When the going suddenly gets hard and brushy, you have missed it. Turn back and find the marker.

Past the hollow, the trail narrows, the markers shift to yellow diamonds, and the grade increases through dirt and rock. This section is manageable. What follows is not.

The Road

The Falls Hollow Trail ends at a gravel service road. Turn right. This is the road the Forest Service uses to reach the transmission towers near the summit, and it is closed to public vehicles for good reason. Recent hikers describe the grade as roughly 18 to 20 degrees for a significant stretch. There are few switchbacks. The surface is loose gravel. It is fully exposed on warm days.

This is where the hike earns its strenuous rating. Take your time. The road eventually flattens at a small pond before the final push to the tower. Watch for the North Mountain Trail intersecting from the left and shaded campsites tucked into the trees in the upper section. Backpackers planning an overnight will want to note these.

The Summit

The fire tower appears after the final climb. A grassy open area with a stone fire ring and log seating sits in front of it. Two small groves of red spruce flank the summit. At this elevation, the mountain supports tree species normally found hundreds of miles to the north, with yellow birch and sugar maple also present in the upper canopy.

The tower is surrounded by a metal fence. Recent visitors report the gate open and the tower climbable, though the structure is aged and the stairs have been described as weathered. Climb at your own judgment. The Forest Service has left access open, and that trust is worth respecting: do not damage the structure, and leave nothing behind.

The telecommunications towers and antenna equipment near the summit are active, clearly marked, and off-limits.

What Lives Up There

The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources lists Elliott Knob on the Virginia Bird and Wildlife Trail. The elevation transition across the hike crosses multiple ecological zones. In the upper hardwood and spruce forest, look for scarlet tanager, black-throated blue warbler, and yellow-billed cuckoo during breeding season. Broad-winged hawks have been observed during fall migration. The DWR also notes northern copperhead snakes in the leaf litter of the woodlands. Watch where you step, particularly around rocky areas and stream crossings.

The area is documented black bear habitat. The Virginia Department of Natural Heritage has recorded rare plant species along the ridgeline.

Planning Your Trip

Distance and difficulty: The Falls Hollow Trail approach is listed by SummitPost as 4.25 miles one way with 2,425 feet of elevation gain, making the out-and-back roughly 8.5 miles. This is a strenuous, full-day hike. It is not appropriate for young children on a first outing or anyone not comfortable with sustained steep climbing on loose gravel.

Getting there: From downtown Staunton, take Route 254 west through Buffalo Gap, then continue south on Route 42. The Falls Hollow trailhead is approximately two miles past Buffalo Gap, on the right side of the road just past the Shenandale Gun Club entrance. It is a gated forestry road with no formal parking area. No fee is required.

What to bring: Carry water for the full day. There is no reliable water source on the upper trail without a filter, and the service road section is fully exposed on warm days. At least one account from a summer hike recommends 4 liters. Trekking poles are useful on the descent. Long pants help in summer when the hollow section can be overgrown. A map is essential: the Forest Service recommends all trail users carry a reliable map given the number of intersecting trails in the area.

Camping: Dispersed campsites with stone fire rings are available near the summit. Contact the North River Ranger District at 540.432.0187 for current fire restrictions and any seasonal closures before you go.

Best seasons: Spring and fall are the strongest choices. The hollow is at its best in April and May when water levels are high and wildflowers are out along the trail. Fall color on the ridgeline typically peaks in mid-October. Summer visits are feasible but demanding on the road section; start early and carry extra water.

Dogs: Allowed, but must remain on leash per AllTrails.

Trail and road conditions change. Verify all information with the North River Ranger District at 540.432.0187 before heading out. Hike within your ability and tell someone where you are going.

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