Pinnacles of Dan up and back (?). About 5 miles.
After we climbed Grandfather Mountain a couple of years back and found it to be as difficult as anything we'd done, we put out a call, in Blue Ridge Country magazine, for views from hikers on if there were rougher trails in the Blue Ridge region.
Six-time Appalachian Trail thru-hiker and guidebook author Leonard Adkins suggested the Pinnacles of Dan as a particularly tough hike.
Photo atop Mt. Pleasant looking southwest toward the Peaks of Otter by Ken Knott.