Adam enjoys the view from Abbie Point. Below: The trailhead for this hike is along Hone Quarry Road; Colorful foliage, A campsite near the ridgeline.

Christine Says…

Last weekend, we had a perfect fall day – probably one of the last ones of the 2011 season – bluebird skies, temperatures in the sixties and glorious fall color.  We had obligations in Harrisonburg on Sunday morning, so we decided to choose a hike close to town so we wouldn’t miss out on such a nice hiking day.  We did some research and decided on the Hone Quarry Ridge Trail.  Its five mile length and close proximity to town made it perfect for a quickie hike squeezed into a busy day.

The hike was actually tougher than I expected!  The climb went uphill without many switchbacks which was a small part of the challenge, but most of the difficulty came from the tricky footing.  Large sections of the trail were covered with loose, pointy, ankle-turning rocks covered with a deep layer of dry autumn leaves.  I was so glad to have my trekking poles.  I am sure they saved me from turning my ankles multiple times.

The woods were so colorful – reds, oranges, golds mixed in with occasional evergreens.  On the climb up, we caught glimpses of views through the thinning trees.  We passed a few established backcountry campsites and enjoyed one gorgeous open view from Abbie Point.

Yellow blazes were few and far between. Below: Adam makes his way up the trail; A couple of the signs we spotted along the way. There were several trail junctions that were unsigned.

Hiking in George Washington National Forest can be a real adventure.  Some popular trails like Big Schloss and Kennedy Peak are as navigable and well-maintained as anything in Shenandoah National Park.  While other trails, like Hone Quarry Ridge, have very little foot traffic.  Not much attention goes into maintaining these trails.  The double yellow blazes were spaced pretty far apart.  Trail junctions were often unmarked, leaving us to consult a map and compass to decide our direction.  The signs that were standing were in relatively poor condition, slowly rotting into the woods.  Don’t let this deter you from trying the trail, just be prepared to double-check your navigation.

After enjoying the view from Abbie Point, the remainder of the hike was mostly downhill (with the exception of a few short uphills), along rocky and occasionally narrow trail.  We moved pretty quickly, because we were hungry and had exciting late lunch plans.  If you’re ever in Harrisonburg, don’t miss trying Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger Joint.  They have the best burgers made with American Kobe/Wagyu beef and the fries are always hot and perfectly cooked.  They always have plain burgers and one specialty burger on the menu.  I got a cheeseburger and a Crispin Hard Cider.  We sat on the heated outdoor patio and enjoyed our decadent lunch.

It was another great hike, with one downside.  I got the largest, most painful blister I’ve ever had in my life.  I really don’t know how it happened.  My boots were the same. My socks were the same.  I’m pretty sure I laced up the same.  I made it through the hike, but the half dollar sized blister on my left heel has been monstrously painful all week. It was so bad, that I ended up at the doctor’s office on Wednesday to make sure it wasn’t infected.  I could hardly walk and I couldn’t wear shoes.  We were supposed to hike with my parents the weekend before Halloween, but I still wasn’t ready to wear boots again.  It’s finally starting to feel better a week later.

Adam Says…

As Christine mentioned, this is a hike that I’m glad we have a few modern-day conveniences for hiking since leaves were covering most of the trail.  My GPS was handy to make sure we were going the right direction and our trekking poles helped to test the ground out and give some extra support with each step.

An example of the rocky trail conditions.

The trail started off shortly after the the Hone Quarry campground.  After crossing the spillway, we parked our car on the right where there is space for about 3 cars.  The trail starts off across the road and you should see a hiking trail marker on a fire road that shortly leads to a wider off-road parking spot.  You’ll see the trail marker go over a mound to the left and up the hill to start the hike.  In .1 mile, you’ll arrive at an intersection.  The left heads towards the Heartbreak trail and the right heads to the Big Hollow Trail.  Follow the trail to the right.  The trail begins to ascend going up a wider trail that follows a stream along the way.  At .8 miles, the trail will hit a switchback and start a steeper ascent up the mountain.  At the 1.1 mile mark, the trail will cross a fire road, but keep going straight.  At 1.4 miles, the trail rejoins the same abandoned fire road you joined (you’ll see a small firepit to your left).

Take a right here to join the wider fire road.  The trail is quite steep at this point as you’re heading straight up the mountain with few breaks in the uphill climb.  At 2.1 miles, you will reach the intersection with the Hone Quarry Mountain trail.  Take a left on this trail and you will see another firepit immediately on your left.  The trail descends into a small saddle and then begins a steep hike up to a rocky overlook on your right at 2.7 miles.  This is the best point for views on the entire hike.

The trail from this point is mostly downhill, but quite overgrown.  Much of the trail feels like an animal path through the thick vegetation around.  Keep your eye out for the yellow-blazed trail markers.  At about the 4.0 mile marker you reach another firepit/campsite area and the trail seems like it splits again (There was a log covering the path straight, so I’m not sure if the trail continues at this point or everything goes to the left).  Take a sharp left here (this is now the Heartbreak trail).  The trail descends rather quickly through the forest, often through loose rocks, so be careful about your footing!  The Heartbreak trail was the most difficult to navigate.  The blazes were sparse, so we had to keep hoping we were still on the trail, since leaves covered anything that could be called a path below our feet.  Eventually the blazes led us closely to the campground area and we crossed the stream and made our way back to the intersection around 5.0 miles.  We continued straight and made our way back to the car around 5.1 miles.

There was a large group of Mennonites picnicking at Hone Quarry. They're a common site in the Shenandoah Valley. If you hike anywhere west of the city (towards Dayton or Ottobine) on Sunday, you'll see many families out in buggies and on bikes. Below: A few more shots.

I joked with Christine that the Heartbreak trail was aptly named, since I can imagine lots of couples arguing about if they were still on the hiking trail and then breaking up after the hike was over.  After we got back to the car, we came across a bunch of Mennonite families that were enjoying a potluck picnic.  Several of the families were heading off to another hiking trail.  The simpler life does make me think of how families may have done this type of thing often in the past.  Seeing people hiking in suits and dresses reminds me of old pictures that I have seen of people hiking many of the national parks when they were first being established.  Today we have trekking poles, wicking shirts, hiking pants that unzip to become shorts, GPS systems, camelbaks, etc.

If you are interested in geocaching, there are a few available on this trail.

• Gnome Watch – a fun clue that leads you to the nearby cache.
• Hone Quarry – a standard cache not far from the trail.
• Cache Advance – a standard cache near the picnic area.  Not on the hike, but hard to resist since you pass near it on the drive.

While I think this hike was enjoyable, I was expecting more chances to catch some views.  You really only get views from the one rocky outcropping.  Everything else is obstructed.

Trail Notes

• Distance – 5 miles
  
• Elevation Change – 1480 feet.
  
• Difficulty – 3.  The climbing on this hike is actually pretty steep, both uphill and downhill.  
• Trail Conditions – 1.5.  Like many less known trails in the National Forest, the Hone Quarry Ridge Trail is minimally maintained.  The trail is extremely rocky, and under a deep layer of fallen autumn leaves it can be downright perilous.
  
• Views –3.  One nice, open view and some nice peeks through the trees along the way. 
• Streams/Waterfalls – 2.  The nearly dry stream along this trail has the potential of being quite prettier when there is more rain.
  
• Wildlife – 1.  We didn’t see anything.
  
• Ease to Navigate – 1.5.  The trail is minimally blazed and signs are far and few between.  We recommend bringing a map and a compass.  There are several trail intersections where you might go wrong.
  
• Solitude – 4.  Hone Quarry is a popular camping and picnic area, but you probably won’t see many people on this hike.  On a gorgeous Sunday, at the peak of fall, we saw only three people on the trail.

Directions to trailhead: From 33, head south on SR 613/Clover Hill Road.  After passing Paul State Forest, the road comes to an intersection.   Stay straight and follow the signs to 257/Briery Branch Road.  257 eventually enters into George Washington National Forest.  Take the first right on to Hone Quarry Road.  Pass by the picnic area and then a small spillway over a stream.  You will see a parking area shortly after on the right and the hiking trail is on the opposite side of the road.

Wookie Enjoys the View from Duncan Knob. Below: The foliage along the trail was pretty; The scramble is a foreboding pile of boulders; Adam and Wookie make their way up the scramble.

Christine Says…

On Friday, Adam and I both took a vacation day from work to get in some fall hiking. We decided Duncan Knob suited our plans perfectly.  We wanted to avoid hikes in the national park (the crowds are dreadful this time of year) and we didn’t want to drive more than an hour. We did a little online research to look at our route options, and found pretty much everyone did the hike as an 8.7 mile loop.  The common route passes by just one spot with a view and includes significant uphill climbs on both the outgoing and return arms of the loop.

We decided to look at our maps to see if there was a more direct route to Duncan Knob.  I know lots of people primarily hike for the exercise. They love anything that makes the trail longer, steeper and more challenging.  I am not one of those people.  I don’t mind distance or elevation as long as there is a payoff for it.  But if there’s a more direct route to get the same view, I usually opt to take it.  Needless to say, we were pleased to find a 3.5 mile, out-and-back route that involved just 1200 feet of elevation gain.

The Blue Blazed Trail Gap Creek Trail. Below: The Gap Creek trail is well-marked; Near the beginning of the trail you cross a small stream; Wookie enjoyed running back and forth across the bridge.

The hike starts at the Gap Creek trailhead on Crisman Hollow Road.  You’ll walk a short way up a blue-blazed fire road until you see a campsite on the left side of the road.  The road continues uphill from this point, but you’ll want to cut through the campsite and cross the small bridge over the stream.  After crossing the bridge, the trail climbs steadily uphill.  For the first mile, the elevation gain is very gentle and is punctuated by flat stretches.  The trail is extremely rocky the entire way.  At mile 1.2, the blue-blazed Gap Creek trail intersects the yellow-blazed Scothorn Gap trail.  Continue on the blue-blazed trail until you reach a level place near the top of the ridge at 1.5 miles.  There’s a great campsite at this spot.  It has a big stone fire pit ringed by log benches.  There are lots of flat places to pitch tents, too.

Directly across from the campsite, the Duncan Knob spur trail begins.  The trail is blazed white and climbs steeply uphill to the summit.  As you walk along, you’ll notice the rocks on the trail are getting larger and more abundant.  Eventually, you step out of the woods and find yourself facing an enormous pyramid-shaped summit of jumbled rocks and boulders.

Wookie and Adam scramble upward. Below: The trail becomes progressively rockier; Adam explore the boulders; Wookie spots Adam climbing back down from the geocache.

Climb the rock scramble any number of ways (we followed a rather informal series of cairns along the left side of the rock pile) and you’ll be treated to sweeping views in almost every direction.  The scrambling was fun and not difficult at all.  I found a nice rock “chair” to sit on while Adam found a geocache hidden at the summit.  It was freezing cold and blustery sitting on the rocks, so we didn’t stay too long.

On the way down, we stopped back by the campsite and had some water and a snack.  We even gave our dog, Wookie, some graham crackers and marshmallows from our trail mix.  He did a great job on the rock scramble – especially considering how small he is.  The hike back down was pretty uneventful and just retraced our steps.  What a great hike!  I told Adam it’s been one of my favorite recent hikes.

Adam Says…

Ever since we did the Strickler Knob hike (actually our very first post!), I had been hearing that Duncan Knob also had amazing views.  I believe we put off this hike for a while due to the long 8.7 mile length, combined with lots of elevation gain.  So, I pulled out my map of the area to see if there was a different way.  Sure enough, you can easily get up to Duncan Knob by just sticking to the Gap Creek Trail.  The hike may have a little steeper of an elevation than approaching it from the Scothorn Gap Trail, but the hike up the Gap Creek Trail is much shorter and you aren’t missing much scenery.

The trail does include a few switchbacks once you start the trail over the bridge which takes the pressure of the elevation off your leg muscles.  The hike is almost all uphill, but before you know it you’ve reached the ridge where the campsite is.  We took a break here to see if there was anything else to see along the ridge, before proceeding up the white-blazed trail to the summit of Duncan Knob.  This white-blazed trail is slightly overgrown and some of the white blazes are quite faded, but it wasn’t too hard to navigate.  After only about .2 miles on this trail, we saw the looming rock scramble in front of us.  We decided to approach the rock scramble on the left-hand side.  Once you begin to climb up a few rocks, the views really begin to open up around you.  The rocks weren’t too tough to navigate, but it was harder to help navigate a small dog on a leash.  From the top, you will have great views of Middle Mountain, Waterfall Mountain, Strickler Knob, and Kerns Mountain.  The color was very nice and we took some time to soak in the scenery.

Adam takes in the view from Duncan Knob. Below: A nice campsite on the ridge; Adam and Wookie take a break on the climb down; Wookie did surprisingly well on the scramble, but occasionally he had to be carried.

I left Christine to keep climbing up to the summit of the rock scramble and found the Duncan Knob Geocache.  A few people before me were not able to find it before me, so the owner had taken the posting offline until he had time to investigate.  I’m glad I was able to save the owner a hike back.  This was my 499th find, so I need to do something special for my 500th geocache.

If you haven’t done any hiking off Crisman Hollow Road, I would highly recommend making this a stop in the near future.  With the Massanutten Story Book Trail, Strickler Knob, and Duncan Knob hikes all off this road, I feel this road leads to some amazing hiking gems that are unknown to many.

Wookie Says…

I’m so glad that I finally got invited to go hiking again!  I really enjoyed most of this trail because there wasn’t any water for me to cross.  When we first started the trail, I did a few runs across the wooden bridge with my masters on both sides.  I was feeling frisky and I was ready to get moving.  We made our way up the trail and I felt it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.  When we got to the final rock scramble, I was a little worried.  I really enjoy climbing up on rocks, but I wouldn’t recommend it to my less-agile canine friends.  There were a couple of moments where I had to perform an iron cross and pull myself up some rocks, but Adam helped navigate me the right way through the maze of boulders.

Wookie enjoys trailmix!

The way down was a little more challenging, so Adam tucked me under his arm for most of the way down to make sure I didn’t get hurt.  I really enjoyed the views from the top of Duncan Knob and I enjoyed sniffing the air around me.  After our hike back down, my masters even let me sample a few pieces of trail mix.  I really liked the marshmallows best!  One time I dropped a marshmallow and when I picked it up again the dirt from the ground made it look like cookies and cream.  I look forward to my next time hiking and I’ll be sure to put on my pitiful, pleading face the next time Adam and Christine get ready to head out for a hike.

Trail Notes

• Distance – 3.5 miles.
• Elevation Change –  1200 feet
• Difficulty – 2.5. The hike is squarely moderate – even with the rock scramble.
• Trail Conditions –3. The trail is in good shape.  The rock scramble is not formally marked and there are some unbalanced rocks.
  
• Views – 5. Beautiful views of the Massanutten Mountain area. The view looking toward Strickler Knob is awesome!
• Waterfalls/streams –2. The stream is seasonal and may be dry part of the year.  When the stream is running, the area is popular with fishers.
  
• Wildlife – 1.5. The area is popular with hunters, so animals tend to be reclusive.  We’ve heard of people spotting bears and deer in the general area, but we’ve never seen larger animals.
  
• Ease to Navigate – 3.5. Trails are clearly blazed, but turns are not labeled and signed like they are in the national park.  It’s a good idea to have a map for this hike.
• Solitude – 4.5. On a beautiful fall day, we saw just one other couple of hikers.

Directions to trailhead: From New Market, take 211 east.  In about 3 miles, take a left on Crisman Hollow Road. The road starts off paved, but turns to gravel.  At about 4.5 miles, park on the right at the Gap Creek trail.  Follow the fire road until you reach the first campsite on the left.  The trail starts behind the campsite at a wooden bridge.

The view from the Massanutten Story Book Trail involves a short quarter-mile walk down a paved pathway.

The view from the Story Book trail overlooks 211 and the Page Valley. Below: The trailhead is marked by a large sign; Along the path, there is a series of interpretive signs that describe the geology and flora of the area.

Christine Says…

The Massanutten Story Book Trail is another one of those ridiculously short walks that can’t even be considered a hike.  Nonetheless, it goes to one of the nicer viewpoints in the Shenandoah Valley. Sure… you can see the Battle Creek Landfill and a distant Walmart, but you can also see the mountains that make up Shenandoah National Park and pretty much all of the Page Valley.  It’s a beautiful spot.

To get to the view, just stroll down the level pathway for a quarter mile.  At the end of the paved trail, you’ll come to an observation platform.  It’s railed in and has several benches to rest upon.  But, for an even better view, don’t miss following a rocky footpath to the right of the platform.  It leads to a rock shelf overlooking the valley.  The rocks that make up the ledge have the most fascinating texture.

One of the beautiful curved, wooden walkways. Below: At the end of the paved pathway, there is a platform from which to take in the view; Christine's Mom and Dad take in the view (You can see our shadows, too!).

It looks like a lot of work/money has gone into cleaning up the Story Book Trail recently.  The interpretive signs that had faded or been covered with graffiti have been replaced (although new graffiti is already showing up – seriously people, stop crapping up the outdoors… it’s disrespectful and stupid).  The path looked like it had been repaved not too long ago.  But, best of all, someone cleaned all the paint off the rock ledges that lie off the trail.

Adam Says…

Christine’s parents came down on a Sunday to meet up with us.  We decided to take them on a couple of short hikes with great views.  The first we did was Woodstock Tower and we finished it off with the Massanutten Story Book Trail.  This trail is one of the easiest you will find, since the path is paved most of the way, with some beautiful wooden walkways in a few parts.  Since it is also wheelchair accessible, just about anyone should be able to enjoy the views you will find here.

Adam enjoys the view from the ledge. Below: The path is paved; Some sections are traversed by beautiful curved bridges.

Trail Notes

• Distance – .5 miles out and back
  
• Elevation Change – negligible
• Difficulty – 1.  This trail is for everyone – paved for strollers and handicap accessible.
• Trail Conditions – 5. The official trail is paved.  You can leave the trail and scramble on the rocks for another view.
• Views –5. Amazing views!
• Waterfalls/streams – 0. No streams/waterfalls.
  
• Wildlife – 0.  The trail is too populous to really attract wildlife.
• Ease to Navigate – 5.  Just straight down a paved path and back.
• Solitude – 0.  You’ll see many people along this trail.

Directions to trailhead:
Reach the trailhead by turning on to Crisman Hollow Road (FD 274) off of 211 near Luray. Continue on this road for about a mile and park in a small lot off to the right.  A wooden footbridge and trail marker will signify the start of the trail.

The Woodstock Tower hike is a fairly easy hike in the Lee Ranger District of George Washington National Forest that leads to a fire tower with 360-degree views of the surrounding area.

The view from the Woodstock Tower is panoramic - offering views of the valley, river and distant mountains. Below: A wider view includes the mountains; It really wasn't the best time of day to photograph the actual tower -- I had to shoot right into the sun; The inside of the tower is covered with graffiti.

Adam Says…

After parking in the Little Fort Campground area, we headed up for our hike to Woodstock Tower.  The white-blazed Wagon Road/Nature Trail starts off as a rough fire road and after .1 mile, intersects with Peters Mill Run.  Peters Mill Run is an ATV/OHV trail, so look both ways before crossing this popular trail for ATVs and motorcycles.  Continue straight across Peters Mill Run to connect to the trail again.  The trail does go steadily up with a few switchbacks, but the switchbacks really make the trail easier of a climb.  The first switchback comes in around .25 miles and the second switchback comes around .5 miles.  After the second switchback, the trail does become steeper, but it ends after just a couple tenths of a mile.  At .7 miles, take a left on the pink-blazed Tower Trail.  It is only about .2 miles to reach the tower on a fairly level trail.

The Woodstock Tower. Below: A little bit of fall color was already showing; We took a break for water where the short trail meets up with the longer trail; Looking up through the Woodstock Tower.

When we reached the tower, we climbed up the metal stairs to reach the top.  I’m not a big fan of heights, but I’m especially nervous when it involves man-made things.  The tower did seem quite sturdy, but it makes some noises when railings move slightly, so I was more eager to get down from the tower than the rest of Christine’s family.  The views are nice, but the area is quite crowded.  Unless you went up early in the morning, I fear that it would be hard to have a moment’s peace at the top.  There aren’t any signs posted for maximum number of people on the tower and you may have to hug the side of a platform as people pass in opposite directions.

There are a few geocaches in the nearby area:

• Wagon Road
• ZOY II (B.I.A) – I didn’t find this one though.  It’s a mystery cache that I’m guessing is located nearby.
• Woodstock Tower Letterboxes – a multi-cache that is best found reaching the tower by other means.

Christine Says…

This was the second time I’ve been to the Woodstock Tower.  Last time I was there was several years ago in mid-October.  I remember the fall foliage being amazing from atop the tower. This time, the foliage had just the slightest hint of change, but the day was crystal clear and sunny – not a bit of haze – so the view was extra nice.

There are shorter ways to get to the view.  In fact, you can practically drive right up to it.  However, we chose to hike up from the Little Fort campground instead.   The slightly longer route gave my mom a chance to try out her new hiking boots.

The area has lots of ATV and dirt bike trails. Below: All the roads and trails in this area are well-marked.

Because the day was so beautiful, we had to share the tower with crowds of people.  At times, there was actually a line of people waiting to get to the top.  We even saw a person trying to coax their pit bull up the open, metal stairs.  That didn’t go so well, and they had to turn back about halfway to the top.  The inside of the tower is covered with graffiti and the area is littered with broken beer bottles and empty soda cans – a very unfortunate side effect of its popularity.

Despite the tower’s less-than-pristine nature, it still offers one of the best views of the mountains in the area.  It’s well worth the short walk.

Trail Notes

• Distance – 2 miles
  
• Elevation Change – about 500 feet
• Difficulty –2. While you would think that going up 500 feet in one mile would be steep, the trail up seems to take off a lot of the steep terrain.
  
• Trail Conditions – 3. The trail had some loose ground in a few areas (especially in the first .1 mile), but overall was well-maintained.
  
• Views – 4.5. It does have 360-degree views, but we always enjoy views from natural surroundings like rock outcrops over man-made towers.
• Waterfalls/streams – 0. Non-existent.
  
• Wildlife – 2. Too many people to see anything other than people.  May be good for hawk spotting or some other woodland birds.
• Ease to Navigate – 4.  Not too many turns on this one and trails are well-labeled.
• Solitude – 1. You will see lots of people on this trail during a nice day.

Directions to trailhead:
We approached this from I-81.  There are other ways to the east to approach this, but here is the most common way for anyone traveling via interstate.  Take exit 283 on I-81, heading east on 42.  Stay on 42 until it intersects with US 11.  Take a left on US 11, heading north through the town of Woodstock.  As soon as you pass the Woodstock Shopping Center, take a right on S.R. 665/Mill Road.  Take this until it ends at S.R. 758/Woodstock Tower Road.  Take a left here and continue to follow S.R. 758 up and down the mountain (this area can be scary when passing other vehicles – there are no guardrails in most spots).  Be sure to stay on S.R. 758 until you reach Little Fort Campground.  Turn into the campground area.  There are campsites and parking spots along the road here.  The trailhead is located on the right-hand side of the road near a campsite right before you reach the outdoor restrooms.

The yellow-blazed Tibbet Knob trail offers spectacular views. Below: The first overlook on the trail comes within the first few tenths of a mile; The footing along most of the trail is extremely rocky.

Christine Says…

After a string of eight 90-100+ degree days, we finally got a break in the heat and humidity!  We picked a shorter, easier hike to celebrate the cooler weather – Tibbet Knob.  We’ve found we’re doing lots of longer hikes lately – partly because we’ve simply run out of shorter hikes.

I don’t know how Tibbet Knob escaped our notice for so long, because it’s a beautiful hike.  Tibbet seems to play second fiddle to its sister hike, Big Schloss – though I’m not really sure why.  The views are nearly as spectacular and the crowds are much thinner.  The terrain is definitely steeper and rockier, but not so much so it would scare hikers off.

We started our morning with breakfast at Cracker Barrel in Woodstock (worst/slowest service ever *and* they burned the bacon!)  We finally made it to the trailhead a little after 9:00 a.m.  At the very beginning, the trail passes through several lovely, primitive campsites.  One even has a picnic table that someone dragged a couple tenths of a mile into the woods.  The ascent starts almost immediately and follows a steady, but gradual, uphill to the first open view of the valley below.  This overlook is pretty, but pales in comparison to the summit of Tibbet Knob.

You can see Big Schloss way off in the distance (circled in yellow). Below: Adam enjoys his perch on the summit; The trail was often open and out in the sun; There is a lovely (but dry) campsite about 10 yards from the rocky ledge at the summit.

From the first vista, the trail drops gently into a saddle.  The footing becomes increasingly rocky from this point on.  Through some sections, it’s like walking on a dry riverbed of basketball-sized stones – some smooth, some pointy.  The last .8 of a mile is very steep and rocky.  There are two short rock scrambles.  At the first one, I abandoned my trekking poles because they were seriously getting in the way.  I can telescope them shorter, but I decided it was just as well to leave them stashed along the trail to retrieve on my way down.

Shortly after the second scramble, we arrived at the summit.  We stayed at the top for quite a long while.  Normally, we’re not the lingering type, but the morning was so pleasant that we spent at least half an hour sitting on the rocky outcropping.  It was cool and breezy.  The sky was crystal clear and blue and the scent of pine trees was all around.  There were several rocks to recline on, so I laid back and closed my eyes while Adam hunted for his geocache.  We didn’t see another soul on the entire hike.  I love having a beautiful summit all to myself.

The return trip was more downhill than uphill, so it went by quickly and we were back at the car within 45 minutes.

Adam Says…

We had been meaning to try out Tibbet Knob for some time now, since we’ve been several times to do the Big Schloss hike, but this was our first experience on this hike.  The hike takes off from Wolf Gap campground.  This campground is a great area for camping and has a lot of established campsites.  We always see plenty of cars in the campground and usually many of the sites are taken, but you should be able to find a spot for overnight camping.  We definitely plan on doing a camping trip in the future since this site provides access to some great hiking trails.

As soon as you begin the yellow-blazed trail, you will come across several other campsites alongside the trail – one even had a picnic table near the firepit.  At about .6 miles you come to a nice overlook with a decent viewpoint to the south.  If you look closely, you can even see cars on the road below you.  You descend from this overlook for a short distance, but then you begin your climb.  At some points along the ascent, the terrain opens up to larger grassland areas.  You will also pass by several blueberry bushes along the trail, which reminded us of our hikes in New England.  Due to the already hot and arid summer, the blueberries were already past their peak so we weren’t able to pick any on the trail.  The terrain does get quite steep towards the end of the trail.  You don’t have to quite crawl up the slope, but it is almost that steep.  Once you get pass the two steep areas, you are very close to the summit.  The views from the top were gorgeous and I believe give you a little better view than Big Schloss, since you get a better perspective of the valley with mountains around you.  To the east, you can see the side of the Big Schloss hike.   There is also a primitive campsite near the top of the overlook if you wanted to camp at the top, but there is no nearby water source.

Signs of Fall? Maybe... but more likely evidence of the drought we've been having lately. We saw lots of patches of red trees in the distant mountains, too. Below: The only wildlife we saw was a toad; Adam looked for, but did not find, the geocache; It was a beautiful, breezy, blue-sky day; the trailhead starts across the road from the Wolf Gap campground.

The trail does continue on from the overlook, but it just leads to SR 671 after about .7 miles.  You can actually approach this hike from SR 671 for a shorter, less steep option to give you a 1.5 mile out-and-back hike.  We stayed up at the top for a while to soak in the views and for me to look for a geocache.  I wasn’t able to find this one, but there is an alleged geocache here:

• Tibbet Knob Geocache

We really enjoyed the peaceful hike for the day.  We had the entire hike to ourselves on a day that was in the 70s and we even had the bonus of not having any bugs buzzing around our face.  This is a great short hike that provides enough challenge to get the blood pumping and marvelous views at the top.

Trail Notes

• Distance – 3.1 miles out-and-back. Add another .1 mile to get to your car.
  
• Elevation Change –830 feet
• Difficulty – 3. There are two significant climbs on this hike.  The first ascent gains several hundred feet in elevation and is pretty easy.  After a short, gentle series of ups and downs, the second ascent is significantly steeper/longer and includes two short rock scrambles.
• Trail Conditions – 2. The trail is extremely rocky.
• Views –4. The view are beautiful and expansive – a little more than 180 degrees of mountains and valleys.
• Waterfalls/streams –0. Non-existent.
  
• Wildlife – 0. The only creature we saw was a toad.
• Ease to Navigate – 4. Just follow the yellow blazes. There are no turns or trail junctions.
• Solitude – 4. Tibbet Knob is less popular than its sister hike, Big Schloss. You may see a few hikers, but you probably won’t see large groups.

Directions to trailhead:
From I-81, take exit 279. Follow Rte. 675 until it meets Route 42. Turn right on 42 and then take almost an immediate left on 675 (Wolf Gap Road). Follow Wolf Gap Road until you come to the Wolf Gap Campground (right on the Hardy County Line.) The trailhead is across the road from the campground.

Adam Explores Spy Rock.

Christine Says…

Adam and I had a great hike up to Spy Rock.  The route is kind of uneventful for the first mile, as it follows a steep, rocky forest road.  Hikers gain about 1000 feet in elevation over this mile, so it’s pretty tough climbing.  There wasn’t much scenery worth mentioning along this stretch, but there was one interesting tree (pictured below) that you can’t miss!  I thought it looked like a gnarled Ent.  We saw a few Appalachian Trail hikers descending the road.  They were probably on their way to the Montebello Post Office or the Dutch Haus. (this bed and breakfast is well-known for providing free lunch to thru-hikers)

This tree looks like an Ent. Below: The parking for the Spy Rock hike is well marked; Adam makes his way up the forest road; atop Spy Rock you get a great view of "The Religious Range" (the Priest, the Friar and the Cardinal)

The trail had lots of wildflowers and berries along the way. Below: We also saw lots of butterflies

Spy Rock is a bit of a challenge to climb.  The trail leading to it abruptly ends at the base of the giant boulder.  There is no clear path up the rock,  rather you pick and choose your own route based on what you think you can cling to or balance upon.  I definitely got a bit of vertigo climbing up, so I focused on taking some deep breaths and looking at the rock immediately beneath me.  Once I cleared the edge of the boulder, the head-spins I felt were made immediately worthwhile.  What a spectacular view!  The top of Spy Rock is enormous and flat – pitted with small pools of water.  There are mountain views in every direction.

We shared the rock with a couple more thru-hikers.  (there are still quite a few in Virginia – although I think the bulk of the pack is north of here, headed into Pennsylvania and beyond).  This pair didn’t seem to be having the best day on the trail, so we left them to their conversation.  We enjoyed the view for a short while and then hiked back – thankfully, all downhill.

Adam Says…

Spy Rock really provides some of the most amazing views in Virginia.  There are so many hikes in this area (like The Priest, Cole Mountain, and Mount Pleasant) that I think get missed by a lot of people, but I would definitely recommend taking a few days to visit this area of Virginia.  Traveling along the curvy roads to get to this hike defines to me what Virginia is all about – rolling hills, farmland, and mountains.

The trail starts off near the Montebello State Fish Hatchery.  You start the trail across from the parking lot.  You go around the road gate and up the gravel fire road.  The road is flanked by wildflowers and blackberries along each side and provides a steady uphill climb.   You will see blue blazes sporadically placed on trees or telephone poles up the side of the road.  You stay on this road for one mile (you will see lots of side roads to residential cabins, but stay on the main blue-blazed road/trail).  At this point, you will reach a junction with the Appalachian Trail.  Take a left to head north on the AT for another .5 miles.  You will then reach several well-established campsites and a sign pointing to Spy Rock.  You will need to scramble up the rock, so you may want to leave your trekking poles/hiking sticks at the bottom.  The scramble up the rock leads to amazing 360-degree views all around you.  Return the way you came.  For a longer option, The Priest is about four miles from Spy Rock, which would make for an 11 mile trip to two great views.

Thru Hikers on Spy Rock. Below: a marker at the trail junction; a nice camp site near Spy Rock; The view is beautiful in every direction

If you have a compass with you and a map, this is a great spot to test out your ability to follow the map and name the peaks around you.  Among others, you should have good views of Maintop Mountain, The Priest, The Cardinal, The Friar, and Painter Mountain.

For any geocachers out there, there is one geocache, Spy Rock Geocache, that is easily accessible from the summit.

I could have spent a long time up there staring into the distance and enjoying the scenery.  I can only imagine how gorgeous this must look in the fall with the leaves changing color.  I highly recommend this hike to everyone!

Trail Notes

• Distance – 3.1 miles, out-and-back
• Elevation Change – 1260 feet
• Difficulty – 3
  
• Trail Conditions –4.  The forest road leading up the mountainside is rocky, but still east to walk on.  The half mile section of the Appalachian Trail is well-graded.  Spy Rock itself might be slight challenge to climb for some.
• Views – 5.  Amazing, breathtaking and expansive.
• Waterfalls/streams – 0. None.
  
• Wildlife –3. We saw a couple deer and lots of butterflies.
• Ease to Navigate –4. Just follow the forest road up the mountain and turn left on the Appalachian Trail. Unless you follow one of the drives off the forest road or miss the Spy Rock spur, there’s no way to get lost.
• Solitude – 2. We saw a few groups of thru-hikers and a group of dayhikers.
  

Directions to trailhead:
From I-81, take exit 205 towards Steeles Tavern.  Take a left on to Rte. 11 and then a quick right on to VA-56 heading east.  Follow the road, passing under the Blue Ridge Parkway.  In Montebello, follow signs to the Fish Hatchery (Fish Hatchery Ln.)  Pass the signs for the hatchery’s nature trail and proceed until you see the signs for Spy Rock/Appalachian Trail parking.  There is a large parking area at the trailhead.

The Massanutten Ridge Trail is a section of a large 40+mile system that takes off from an overlook at Massanutten Resort.   It offers great views from the top of the mountain.

The friendly goats were the highlight of the Massanutten Ridge Trail. Below: The hike also provided beautiful views of the valley below; blueberries (not ripe yet) were abundant along the trail; The goats used us like human salt licks; When we tried to walk on, the goat chased us down the mountain.

Adam Says…

If I could have a movie made about this hike it would be called “The Men Who Are Licked by Goats”.  Who would have thought that there would be feral goats on the top of Massanutten?

A hiking internet group I had joined, Valley Hikers, completed the Massanutten Ridge Trail Hike recently, but I was unable to attend.  While we have been up to the beginning of this trail before, we hadn’t completed the entire hike before.  We recently did the Kaylor Knob hike, so we thought we would also take care of the other hike from the top of the Massanutten overlook.

We parked one car at the Massanutten General Store near the ski slopes (see map) and then drove to start our hike at the overlook at the top of Del Webb Drive.  At the parking lot, you are treated to views of the ski slopes and mountains around.  You start the trail by climbing up a staircase to get to the level ridge.  The blue-blazed trail starts with a fairly well-trodden wide path.  There are spots along the way to peak through to see some views along the first .25 mile.  Around the .5 mile marker, the trail becomes much rockier.  You will need to constantly look where your feet are stepping or you could easily sprain an ankle.  This rocky, difficult portion continues for about 1.5 miles.  At mile 1.25 on the trail, you come to a nice overlook on the right side of the trail to see some views to the North.  At 2.25 miles, the trail eventually joins a gravel road.  You will see some blue blazes directly across the road, but there is not a trail there.  Simply take a right at this junction and climb the gravel road to reach the cellphone towers at the top.  The trail picks back up just to the right of the highest cellphone tower.  As soon as you rejoin this trail, you will come to the best views on the trail at some rocky overlooks.  At mile 3.0, you will also see a hang-gliding ramp.  It is insane to think of people just running and jumping off of this.  To your left, you will be able to see the ski lift drop-off for the top of the Diamond Jim and ParaDice ski trails.  During the ski season, the lift area is blocked off (maybe to keep people from illegally jumping on the ski trails).  There was a rope blocking it off still, but the cordoned area does not completely block access to the trail.  Continuing past the hang-gliding area, the trail continues and you start your descent.  At mile 3.25, the trail leads to an opportunity to walk down the ski slope.  You could continue further on the actual trail, but we were unsure how close it would return us to our car.  We jumped on to the slopes to take a steep descent back to our car at 4.0 miles.  During this last .75 miles, you descend about 1000 feet of elevation.  I highly recommend taking trekking poles to help keep your balance as you navigate the steep terrain.

The hike followed the ridge and provided many views of Massanutten Resort and the valley on both the eastern and western sides. Below: The middle two miles of the hike was extremely rocky and required quite a bit of rock scrambling; A view of a pond at Massanutten resort; Eastern Fence Lizards in a mating dance; We even stumbled across a Box Turtle on the trail.

The highlight of the trip definitely had to be the goats that we saw at the top of the ski slopes.  As soon as they saw us, they came running toward us to lick the sweat off of us.  It reminded me of a sign that we saw during our trip to Olympic National Park, warning us not to urinate in public or goats would come.  They love salt and were quite eager to lick the salt off of us.  So, beware if you are not into that thing, but I thought it was funny.  The goats were extremely friendly and followed us around for a while at the higher elevations.

There are a couple of geocaches that you could do from this hike:

This hike was tough due to the trail conditions, but it was great to see the views and the wildlife on the trail.

Christine Says…

I had art shows to work over the weekend, so we needed to find a short hike that was located really close to our home.  The Massanutten Ridge Trail seemed to perfectly suit our needs. I thought the hike would be a piece of cake because the ridgeline has very little elevation change overall.  So, I was rather surprised to find that it was a real hike with challenging terrain.  The middle section had a lot of tricky footing and rock scrambling.  It was a constant up-and-down, resembling a small scale roller coaster. Normally, it would be the type of terrain I really enjoy, but I was fighting off a cold all weekend.  My stuffiness and fatigue made this squarely moderate hike feel a lot tougher than it typically would.  There were definitely a few scrambles where I would have been happy to hang-glide right off the side of the mountain just to avoid climbing over anymore rocks!

The Goats were fun! Below: The cell towers on top of Massanutten are a real eyesore; trail markers along the trail are blue and show mileage; for the brave - there is a hang-gliding launch on top Massanutten; the sign shows gliding regulations and disclaimers; the mountain laurel was in full bloom along the trail; at the summit there were many vultures soaring.

My favorite part of the hike was the unexpected amount of wildlife we saw along the way.  It started off with a cute Box Turtle walking along the trail. Then we saw numerous Eastern Fence Lizards – two were even participating in a courtship dance.  There were lots of butterflies fluttering about and at the overlooks we saw plenty of vultures soaring on the thermals.  But the best part was seeing the two goats living at the top of Diamond Jim.  I spotted them first through an opening in the woods, and squealed “GOATS!”  I couldn’t stop laughing at the way they licked.  They went nuts for the salty sweat.  We decided to name the goats.  “Diamond” – the white goat – is shy.  She follows the other goat everywhere, but does not participate in the vigorous licking.  The red and white goat, we decided to name “Salt Lick”.  I think the basis of that name is pretty self-evident.

All in all, the Massanutten Ridge Trail was a pleasant surprise.  The views and the wildlife both far exceeded anything I expected.

Trail Notes

• Distance – 4.0 miles as a shuttle trail or 6 miles out and back. (If you do this as an out and back, you will not be walking on the ski slopes and will likely miss the goats)
• Elevation Change – 1000 feet
• Difficulty – 3. The elevation doesn’t change a lot initially, but the terrain will make it hard work and slow going.
• Trail Conditions – 1.5. About 1.5 miles of the trail is rocky and then a very steep downhill at the end requires trekking poles to be safest.
• Views – 4.  You get some different views along the way, but the best views are from near the cellphone towers and hang-gliding platform.
• Waterfalls/streams – 0.
  
• Wildlife – 4. There aren’t many places you get to see free-ranging goats and I think most people see them here.  We also saw lizards and a turtle.
• Ease to Navigate – 3.5.  There was a couple of spots where it was a little difficult to see which way the trail goes, but since you’re on the narrow ridge, it is not hard to just stay on that ridge.
• Solitude –3.5. We didn’t see anyone there, but you do typically see a lot of people on the initial trail.  The people you see will generally be during the first .5 mile.  Not many people continue on this trail after that.

Directions to trailhead:
From Harrisonburg, head east on US 33 for about 10 miles. Turn left at the Exxon on the left and head on SR 644, Resort Drive.  Follow this road and take a left on Massanutten Drive.  You will reach a guard house.  Let the guard know that you are here to hike and they will give you a guest pass.  After about 3 miles, take a right on Del Webb Drive. Follow Del Webb Drive for about two miles until you begin to drive up to the ridge, where there is a parking lot on the left.  The trail begins up the small, wooden set of stairs leaving the parking lot.

A mountain bike works best on this trail. Below: The trail crosses the creek a couple times.

Adam Says…

After our hike up Beards Mountain, we decided to try out a short bike ride.  Douthat State Park is known to many bikers for having some great mountain bike trails and is host to the Middle Mountain Momma Bike Race.  We did see a couple mountain biking on our hike to Beards Mountain.  The man was looking happy at the top of the trail and the woman was pushing her bike up the hill looking miserable (I’m sure they had an interesting car ride home).

The Flat Run Trail is only a five mile out-and-back trail.  I would strongly suggest having a mountain bike for this trail.  Christine started off on her hybrid bike, but she didn’t enjoy jumping over the rocks in the creek without suspension.  I continued on the trip solo since I do have a mountain bike.  I found the trail to be fairly easy for mountain bikers.  There are a few large rocky creek beds to cross as the trail goes in between the main road and Wilson Creek.

After your first few creek crossings, you will come across a bridge pictured above at about the .5 mile point.  At the 1 mile mark, you should be able to see some great fishing spots to your left of Wilson Creek.  At 1.5 miles, you will see the swinging bridge that leads to the Brushy Hollow Trail.  At 2.25 miles, you will see the beginning of the Stony Run trail. At mile 2.5, you will reach the end with a trail that connects to a parking lot a few feet ahead to the right.  This marks the end of the trail, so you can return the way you came or bike along the road back to your vehicle.

While it was a short bike trail, I did enjoy seeing the creek along the way.  The trail wasn’t too bumpy (except for crossing the creeks) compared to other mountain bike trails I have done.

You can view a topographical map of this trail here.

Christine Says…

I don’t have a mountain bike, so after two seconds of jarring bumps, I cut through the woods and continued riding on the road. That’s all I have to say about that.

Trail Notes

• Distance – 5 miles
• Elevation Change – Negligible.  Hardly any elevation change.  It is called Flat Run for a reason.
• Difficulty – 2. Hiking or mountain biking it should be fairly easy. Most mountain bikers would give this a 1.
• Trail Conditions – 3.5 A few creek sections to cross, but other than that, it’s well maintained.
• Views – 0.  The trail is scenic in spots along the creek, but there isn’t anything very scenic on this trail.
• Waterfalls/streams – 2. The path does run along Wilson Creek for part of the trip.
  
• Wildlife – 1. You may see fish and minnows in the creek if you stop by to look.
  
• Ease to Navigate – 4.5
• Solitude – 4.  I  didn’t see any people on the trail.  I think for mountain biking, people do most of the more serious trails over this one.

Directions to trailhead: Take I-64 to exit 27 near Clifton Forge, VA heading north on state route 629.  Continue on this road until you enter the park.  In Douthat State Park, the trail begins about .25 miles south of the park office before the fee station.  However, you do need to pay the fee before parking and using the trails.  There is a parking lot and sign for the beginning of the trail.

A view of Douthat Lake from the trail. Below: The trails in Douthat State Park are clear and well-marked.

Adam Says…

This was our first trip to Douthat State Park and we were quite impressed.  The park contains over 40 miles of hiking trails.  The origin of the name “Douthat” is from a land patent given to Robert Douthat from the Governor Robert Brooke.  Part of this land makes up the park today.  The best guess as to how to pronounce the name I found was “dow-thut”.

Like most state parks, you have to pay $3 on the weekends to enter.  We went to the park office first to talk to someone about the two hikes we were contemplating – this one and Blue Suck Falls.  The Blue Suck Falls hike is close to 10 miles, so we opted for the shorter hike on this particular day.  Before we started, I wanted to check out two new programs that state parks are now offering.  The Trail Quest Program is something created to replace the state park passport program.  This program allows you to track the state parks you have visited online and there are some pins given as rewards based on how many you visit.  I started the passport system a while ago, which I have enjoyed, but I think this program is also a great idea.  The second opportunity is now all of the Virginia state parks are sponsoring geocaches.  Each park has a multi-stage geocache that leads you to a wildlife card for each park.  When you collect a number of these cards, you can also get some prizes.  Find out more about the program.

Most of the views along the hike were peeks through the trees. Below: Another glimpse through the trees; the stream along the Beards Gap Trail was made up of interesting terraced rocks; another view of Douthat Lake

Due to the tricky network of trails, I would recommend downloading the park trail map or picking one up at the park office.  There are also excellent topographic maps and video of the trails available.  The hike up Beards Mountain starts to the right of the park office entrance by taking the blue-blazed Beard’s Gap Trail.  This trail starts off relatively flat and crosses a creek a few times (it was dry when we crossed) before it starts an uphill climb with several switchbacks.  While I normally don’t enjoy switchbacks, this trail was well planned and it really takes the difficulty out of the elevation gain.  At 1.2 miles you will reach a trail junction and a hut that was created as an eagle scout project.  Take a left on this trail to join the yellow-blazed Mountain Top Trail.  At 1.7 miles, you will reach a junction of three trails.  You will see the Buck Hollow Trail and the Mountain Side Trail to the left, but you will just head straight continuing on the yellow-blazed Mountain Top Trail for the toughest climb of the trip.  At 1.8 miles, you will take a sharp right on a switchback and be able to see Douthat Lake below through the trees.  There are better views ahead.  The hike continues to climb up, leveling off around 2.0 miles, until you see a marker for the forest boundary around 2.5 miles.  At the marker, you will take a left to stay on the yellow-blazed Mountain Top Trail.  Around 2.7 miles, the trail begins to descend steeply.  Around mile 3.1 the woods will open up to reveal a very nice view of Douthat Lake below.  Around mile 3.4, as you are descending, you will come to another junction of trails.  Take a left on to the Mountain Side Trail.  This will continue be a fairly level trail that will eventually give you a third lower view of Douthat Lake around the 3.7 mile marker.  After the view, you will have a slight ascent back up to the familiar junction with the Mountain Top Trail.  At this junction, you will take a right down the blue-blazed Buck Hollow Trail.  Around the 4.7 mile marker, you will see a branched path that is marked as an Overlook Trail.  We did not go down that path this time, but it adds an extra .5 mile on to your trip.  Around the 5.4 marker, you will reach a junction and take a left on the white-blazed Wilson Creek Trail and you will cross a small bridge.  Shortly after rounding the corner, you will see a water tower that is on a gravel road.  Just cross the road and stay on the white-blazed trail.  The trail will eventually pass a few staff houses and a stone chimney around 6.9 miles.  Just travel the last .1 miles to reach the park office and your vehicle.

While we felt the views weren’t exceptional, we did really enjoy this hike.  We had a perfect hiking weather day with a cool breeze to keep from sweating profusely and to keep the bugs away.  We definitely plan on returning to visit and explore this park some more.  Most of the people that come here seem to come for fishing, picnics, and camping but I do think the trails we saw were very enjoyable.  While it was a longer hike, it wasn’t too tough to handle if you’re in decent shape.

Christine Says…

Beards Mountain was an enjoyable hike for a blustery spring day.  For a seven-mile hike, it was relatively easygoing. Most of the steep climbing was in the first third of the loop, which allowed for very pleasant downhill or level walking for the last two-thirds of the hike.

This was by far the windiest day I’ve ever been out in the woods – gusts were easily 45-50 mph.  The wind was really roaring through the mountains, catching on all the newly leafy trees.  Any time I looked up, I could see the treetops swaying and swirling dramatically above our heads.  Every now and then, we would hear branches snap – but thankfully none fell close to the trail.  It was nearly impossible to talk over the wind, so Adam and I hiked in silence most of the way.

Hiking Upward gave this trail a five-star rating for views, so I was really hoping there would be a pretty overlook to stop and eat our picnic lunch along the way.  Unfortunately, all of the views were merely small openings in the trees along the trail.  None of the viewpoints really had an off-the-trail space to sit and take in the view.  We ended up eating lunch along the ridge of Beards Mountain, near the National Forest border marker.  We love Hiking Upward, but have found that our opinions sometimes differ on what makes a five-star view.  For me, a top rated view has to be panoramic, unobstructed, offer a deep view into the landscape beyond and have a nice place for a couple people to sit and enjoy the vista. The views on this hike were nice, but I wouldn’t give them top marks.

We saw so many reptiles along the hike. Below: The Visitor's Center is both the start and end point of the hike.

The descent on this hike was long and followed a (usually) gentle grade.  The one thing that made it tricky was the dryness/looseness of the soil and the narrowness of the trail.  There were a couple spots along the Mountain Side Trail that had precipitous drops on the downhill side.  For some stretches, the trail was only 12-18 inches wide – not even wide enough to use trekking poles.  Every now and then, a rock would slip off the edge of the trail, and bounce endlessly down the steep mountainside.   It made me think that someone could get hurt pretty badly if they took a wrong step.  On these sections, I just kept my eyes straight ahead on the trail and my feet.  If I looked downhill, I felt dizzy.

I think in early June, a lot of this loop hike will be extremely gorgeous!  I noticed a lot of the trail was lined with mountain laurel.  When it blooms in a few weeks, it should be amazing.

All in all, I was really impressed with Douthat State Park.  The trail system there is pretty expansive and well-maintained.  I’ll look forward to visiting the area again sometime.

Trail Notes

• Distance – 7 miles loop
• Elevation Change – around 1400 feet
• Difficulty – 3.  Some sections are tougher than others, but we still felt it was fairly challenging.  The first couple of miles are the toughest.
  
• Trail Conditions – 3.  The trails were in decent shape, but some were a little overgrown and there were some areas affected by landslides that made for a narrow trail and careful footing.
• Views – 3.  The views are nice, but they are obstructed.  You won’t find overlooks with expansive views on the trail, but you do see pretty mountainous scenery through the trees throughout your hike.
• Waterfalls/streams – 1.5 There are some streams that might be really beautiful in times with lots of rain.  The water was down to a trickle when we visited.
  
• Wildlife – 2. We saw a couple of snakes on the trail, a few fence lizards, and some different bird species.
  
• Ease to Navigate – 3.  The trail is well-marked, but there are a lot of intersections and different trails to make this a loop.
• Solitude – 3.  We were surprised since it was a state park, but we only saw one hiker and a couple of mountain bikers on the trail.
  

Directions to trailhead: Take I-64 to exit 27 near Clifton Forge, VA heading north on state route 629.  Continue on this road until you enter the park.  Pay your fee at the gate and park at the park office just ahead on your right.  The trail starts to the right of the park office entrance.

A View of Trimble Mountain from the Todd Lake Dam. Below: Todd Lake has a nice campground with flush toilets and hot showers. The lake is open to swimmers.

Christine Says…

Well, this entry should have been part four in the Backpacking 101 series, but sadly my sprained ankle forced us to bail out on the trip.  The weight of a pack on my sore ankle is still too painful.  Fortunately, I was cleared to do some light day-hiking again. So, on Saturday morning, Adam and I headed out to George Washington National Forest.

Trimble Mountain fit the bill for a light and easy hike. The four-mile trail isn’t too rocky and follows a gentle grade both up and down the mountain.  We parked along the road near Todd Lake.  Before hitting the trail, we climbed up the backside of the dam and enjoyed the lake view.  The top of the dam also provides a great look at Trimble Mountain. The sky was absolutely gorgeous – a real photographer’s dream.  It was the prettiest I’ve ever seen Todd Lake look.

Shortly thereafter, we were on our way up the Trimble Mountain trail.  Within a tenth of a mile, we reached a “Y” in the trail.  We took the left branch, following Hiking Upward‘s advice that it was the gentler, more gradual grade.  For about a mile and a quarter, we climbed steadily upward.  It was never tough climbing, but it was consistent.  The trail was really narrow and carved into the mountainside.  A lot of places, one foot was always laterally uphill from the other, and there was barely room for placement of my trekking poles.  It was also an unusually warm day for early May, so the bugs were out in full force.

Trimble Mountain actually has two summits with a saddle between.  Once you gain the ridge, the terrain consists of both uphill and downhill hiking.  There really aren’t any views to speak of at the summit.  Every now and then, we could see glimpses of the mountains through the trees, but there was never a sweeping, panoramic view along this hike.

There were so many different kinds of wildflowers growing along the trail.

The remainder of the hike went by quickly and was all downhill.  I stopped many times along the way to photograph the abundant wildflowers on the forest floor.  I also spotted a few little tree frogs.  They were so tiny and fast that I had a hard time getting photos.  They were the only wildlife we saw on the trail.

By the time we got back to the car, my ankle was quite sore again.  The downhill walking really seems to strain it.  I hope that little by little it will feel better and become stronger. Hopefully when it’s healed, we can make up that backpacking trip.

This little frog was about the size of a fingernail.

Adam Says…

We had been to the Todd Lake area before of George Washington National Forest, but this was our first time hiking Trimble Mountain.  Todd Lake receives a lot of campers and local visitors that want to enjoy swimming and basking.  The Trimble Mountain trail that is nearby doesn’t seem to get a lot of traffic.  We had the entire hike to ourselves on a beautiful day outside.  The bugs helped us realize that the warm weather is here.  One thing that is different about hiking national forest trails is that there isn’t a lot of maintenance to the trails.  There were a couple of trees spread across the trail and the trail was becoming a little more overgrown in parts.  We had heard that there were good views on this trail, but we were disappointed to find that most of the views are obstructed.  The only views you will see is in break in the trees.  The winter would probably lead to more views of the mountainside, but after the leaves fall this will look a lot more dull.  We enjoyed getting out to hike and the wildflower variety was definitely a highlight of the trail.

One of the few openings in the trees that provided a view. Below: Trees blocked most of the view; the trail is marked with double yellow blazes.

There is one geocache on the trail and a few at the nearby Todd Lake area.  The first you can find along this hiking trail.  The other trail would involve hiking along the Todd Lake Trail which you can reach from the opposite side of the road from the Trimble Mountain trail.  The Todd Lake Trail is a little less than a mile and takes you around the entire Todd Lake area.  Since the day that we did the hike was the 10th Anniversary of geocaching, I felt I needed to do a couple of these to celebrate the hobby.

• Trimble Mountain Trunk
• Daisy
• Todd Lake Trail

Trail Notes

• Distance – 4 miles – loop
• Elevation Change –around 1,050 feet
• Difficulty – 2 This climb on this hike is about two miles, but is very moderate.
• Trail Conditions – 3. The trail is narrow and little bit overgrown.
• Views –1. There are some nice glimpses of the mountains through the trees, but nothing remarkable.  Views might be nicer in the winter when trees are bare.
• Waterfalls/streams –1. In times of heavy rain, you’ll find several small streams along the trail.  Most of the year, these streams are dry.
• Wildlife – 1. The national forest is used by hunters, so animals tend to stay hidden.  We saw quite a few frogs and toads along the trail.
• Ease to Navigate – 5. The trail is well-marked and easy to follow.
• Solitude – 4. We didn’t see a soul.

Directions to trailhead: From Bridgewater, Virginia head south on Rte. 42 for about three miles, following signs to Natural Chimneys regional park.  Take a right on 613 and in less than one mile, take a left on state route 747.   Take a right .75 miles after Natural Chimneys to the intersection with 731.  Take a right heading north.  In about a mile, take a left on to State Route 730/North River Road.  This comes to an end and take a right on to state route 718.  In another mile, you will take a left on to Forest Road 95, entering George Washington National Forest (you will see signs directing you to Todd Lake).   The trailhead is about 3.5 miles on the left.  You can park on the side of the road right near a trailer dump station.   The trailhead is on the opposite side.  (There is a trail on the same side of the dump station that leads to the top of Todd Lake if you are interested.)

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