Hiking Virginia and Washington during the shutdown

Updates for the January 2018 government shutdown:

Unlike during the 2013 shutdown, the Department of Interior has indicated that national parks will not be fully shuttered in the currently ongoing shutdown. Roads will remain open, although park facilities such as restrooms, visitor centers, and campgrounds will not be operational and ranger presence will be light or nonexistent. About 4/5 of Department of Interior employees are expected to receive furloughs. While roads will remain open into parks, I advise hikers to stay out of National Park Service units; services such as trash collection will be cut and there will be no monitoring of road conditions, which can be dangerous in the winter. In addition, federally operated lands may still be closed to public access if lack of active management results in problematic situations.

National forest recreation access remained largely intact throughout the 2013 shutdown. I'm not sure what to expect this time around, as many USFS employees will be furloughed as well, but it may be worth trying to access trailheads on Forest Service land.

Overall, this is a good time to explore state and local parks. Even if federal lands are accessible, the fact that they're minimally staffed will mean that visitation will put major strains on whatever employees are left. Plus, any essential employees who are staffing parks will be doing so without pay- don't make their jobs any harder. Be sure to go out and continue supporting communities around your state, but see if you can do so without placing more burden on federal employees that have to deal with this undeniably difficult situation.

In Maryland, consider hiking at Sugarloaf Mountain, Annapolis Rock, or Rocks State Park. Weverton Cliffs, near Harpers Ferry, is also on state-owned land.

In Virginia, hike at Sky Meadows or Shenandoah River State Parks. Additionally, Fortune's Cove and Byrom Park near Charlottesville are good options for hikers from Central Virginia still hoping to head to the Blue Ridge.

Washington State residents will be glad to know that many of the most popular trailheads in the Seattle area will remain accessible. Rattlesnake Ledge, Mailbox Peak, Twin Falls, Mount Teneriffe, and Mount Si near North Bend all lie on state-owned land and will remain accessible, as will Wallace Falls on Highway 2, Steamboat Rock and Ancient Lakes in Central/Eastern Washington, and spots such as Oyster Dome, Fragrance Lake, and Ebey's Landing around the coastline of the Salish Sea.

------------------------
This post was originally published on October 7, 2013 for an earlier government shutdown.

This year's government shutdown comes during one of the busiest times of year for many businesses in the Virginia mountains. Thus, Shenandoah National Park is closed at the exact time that the maples, poplars, and hickories are bursting into bright color. Many communities around the park will likely suffer this year when less tourists come for the October fall foliage.

However, even though Shenandoah National Park is closed for the moment, the Blue Ridge Mountains aren't stopping their fall show. If you've planned a trip to see the Blue Ridge in bright color, don't cancel it. You can see plenty of beautiful fall scenery without driving Skyline Drive or hiking Old Rag. And if you travel to the Blue Ridge area, you can help support the many small businesses and communities of the Piedmont and Shenandoah Valley. Here are some alternative options to popular Shenandoah activities:

Instead of Skyline Drive, take SR 231 from Madison to Sperryville or US 340 between Waynesboro and Front Royal. Skyline Drive is undoubtedly beautiful, but the two major roads running parallel to the Blue Ridge to the east and west offer superb views of the mountains and also pass through cute, quaint towns and a rolling pastoral landscape along the way. US 340 takes you through a chain of towns, including Luray, Elkton, and Shenandoah. While these routes lack the overlooks and pullouts of Skyline Drive, you can expect to see Old Rag and Doubletop towering over farmland on SR 231 and the Shenandoah River winding through the Page Valley between Massanutten Mountain and the great peaks of the Central District on US 340.

Hike on Massanutten Mountain, in a state park, or in George Washington National Forest. So you can't hike Stony Man or Hawksbill- if anything, that's more incentive to discover other, less well-known but equally beautiful Virginia hikes! Although National Park Service units are closed, trailheads in US Forest Service units, such as George Washington National Forest, are still open. That means you can still hike to Strickler Knob on Massanutten Mountain, which has views equal to that of the Shenandoah Central District peaks, or to Spy Rock in George Washington National Forest near Montebello. Charlottesville residents can also try hiking in Albemarle County's Byrom Park or at the Nature Conservancy's Fortune's Cove site. D.C. and Northern Virginia residents can substitute trips to Great Falls with hikes at Raven Rocks, Sugarloaf Mountain, the Bull Run Mountains, or Sky Meadows State Park. Baltimore residents who can't go to Catoctin Mountain Park or Harpers Ferry can instead check out Rocks State Park in their backyard.

Most importantly, don't let the shutdown keep you from enjoying Virginia's most spectacular month!

Download the UVA Hike App for Android (if you're a Charlottesville resident) to find nearby, non-SNP hiking options. Also, a note for Charlottesville residents: although Big Branch Falls is technically off limits during the shutdown, the hike along the South Fork Moormans to Blue Hole from the Charlottesville Reservoir is still open.

To clarify: Shenandoah National Park is closed at all entrances. Skyline Drive is not accessible and parking areas at Old Rag, Berry Hollow, and Whiteoak Canyon are blocked. Your car might be towed if you attempt to park alongside the road near Old Rag or Berry Hollow. While some people have successfully entered the park through lesser-known entrances (Madison Run, Graves Mill, etc.), this is not recommended as park rangers may turn you away or even ticket you. Also, the park is thinly staffed, so help may be hard to find if you run into trouble. While I encourage you to visit the area this fall, please stay out of the park itself. Maintained recreation areas (Campgrounds, picnic areas, etc, such as Sherando Lake, Elizabeth Furnace) in George Washington National Forest are closed, too, but some trailheads in the national forest remain open. The Blue Ridge Parkway itself remains open although facilities along the road are closed.

Fortune's Cove

Fortune's Cove

5.5 miles loop, 1700 feet elevation gain
Difficulty: Moderate-Strenuous, due to the elevation gain, narrowness, and steepness of the trail
Access: Paved road to trailhead, no pass required

Fortune's Cove is one of the hidden secrets of Central Virginia, a small hollow nestled in the low ridges to the east of the principal Blue Ridge, set amongst small 2000-foot peaks just past the vineyards of the Lovingston area west of US 29 not too far out of Charlottesville. A preserve in the mountains surrounding the cove protects a beautiful stand of young eastern hardwood forest and numerous small granite outcrops. The views here are not jawdropping, but the cove is very intimate and offers plenty of solitude. I visited on an early November weekend, just past peak foliage season, and had the entire preserve to myself. Be warned, though, that this is a difficult hike that gets harder the farther you go, and that is harder than suggested by its distance and elevation gain; if you're looking for something gentler, it may be best to turn back after the first mile and the first few viewpoints. Before you go, download and print a copy of the Nature Conservancy's map of the preserve.

On a very beautiful Saturday- the last weekend of fall- I drove down from US 29 from Charlottesville towards Lynchburg during the early morning. The red maples had faded, but the brown oaks and some yellow hickories were left, arching over the roadway that I followed south through the foothills of the Blue Ridge. Just before reaching Lovingston, I took an indistinct right turn at a hilltop onto Mountain Cove Road, or County Road 718 (if you've reached Lovingston, you've gone too far). Mountain Cove Road took me steeply uphill across a ridge, suddenly bringing me onto a magical plateau of vineyards, bright fall colors, and rolling hills. Two miles down Mountain Cove Road, I reached the turnoff for County Road 651- Fortune's Cove Lane. I turned right onto this road and followed it into a narrowing valley, past houses and a vineyard until emerging into a large field toward the upper part of the valley. Here, I turned into a grassy parking area marked with a Nature Conservancy sign to begin my hike. I was the only car parked here the entire day.

The view from the field next to the parking area

From the parking area, I walked further down the road about a hundred feet down to the actual trailhead, which was marked by two poles. The trail, which began as a former road, ran between the poles into the forest. The trail began flat but quickly began to climb as it entered deeper into the forest on the slopes of the cove. I noticed many tiny placards on the trees identifying the many different tree species in the area at the beginning of the hike. The forest around me had become mostly barren by this point, as the encroaching winter had begun to eat away at fall, but some bright trees were left and were particularly vibrant when I hiked onto the south facing slopes where the leaves danced in the low November sunlight.

The autumn woods

After a mile of rather steep ascent, with occasional minor rock scrambling, the trail leveled out a bit, just short of the ridge top. Soon, the trail came to its first viewpoint, a granite slab to the right of the trail that opened up a view of the Cove itself. High Top Mountain was visible across the small valley, while fields and a white house were visible below.

Fortune's Cove on a late autumn day

After relaxing for a short while at the view, I continued onward, soon passing a trail junction for the lower Fortune's Cove loop. I took a right to continue on the higher, longer loop. This trail combined gentle ascent and descents close to the ridgeline of Woods Mountain; however, many parts of the trail were extremely rocky. About half a mile past the first viewpoint, views started opening to the west through the bare trees. A mountain that I think might have been Big Rocky Row gradually started peeping above the ridgeline on the opposite side of the cove. As I climbed higher, views of the Blue Ridge in the distance expanded, until finally, from the pine-topped ridge of Woods Mountain, I could see a short stretch of Blue Ridge peaks towering in the distance above the steep hills of Fortune's Cove.

The Blue Ridge in the distance

Many of the viewpoints along this hike are on outcrops that are not directly next to the trail- a few require bushwhacking a few feet off the trail. Don't expect Old Rag or Humpback-sized outcrops here- most of the outcrops here are simply areas of granite stripped of soil.

After passing the last views of the Blue Ridge in the distance, the hike became more difficult. From Woods Mountain, the trail made a steep and sometimes rocky descent down a trail made slippery by the newly-fallen leaves. After reaching a saddle between Woods Mountain and High Top Mountain, the trail began to ascend High Top. The trail stuck to the south side of the ridge, occasionally passing by thickets of mountain laurel. At one point, there was a last granite outcrop with a view into Fortune's Cove. The ascent was generally steep and at some points was very steep; although there were some switchbacks in places, the trail often took direct uphill routes. The narrowness of the trail in places compounded the difficulty of the uphill, and the new carpet of browning hickory and oak leaves on the forest floor didn't help. However, with some work, I gradually made my way towards the top of the ridge, passing along the way some indistinct views through the trees of the hills to the north of Lovingston.

After a final steep uphill push, the trail began leveling out and turned to the left onto the ridgeline of High Top Mountain. In the summer, this part of the hike might seem like any other of the forested sections of trail; but in that undecided week between autumn and winter, when the trees were bare, I could see through the trees to the towering peaks on the Blue Ridge in Nelson County. Three Ridges and the Priest stood prominently to the west, capped in snow from a rare late October snowstorm. The snow I saw atop those peaks was actually left behind by Superstorm Sandy, which, on its way through New Jersey the weekend before, had left rain and snow in Virginia.

The Priest, coated in October snow from Superstorm Sandy

After peering through the trees to see these Blue Ridge giants, I returned to the trail and followed it to a junction with a trail leading to the top of High Top Mountain. I took this short spur trail, which led me to a grassy field decorated with transmission towers atop the mountain. The summit of the Priest stuck out above the brown foliage and dry grass on the field, but otherwise the view was not at all impressive.

The view from atop High Top Mountain

Returning to the main loop trail from High Top Mountain, I turned right onto the loop and headed downhill. The next half mile was one of the steeper downhills I've hiked in Virginia- it essentially amounted to a brutal, knee-pounding staircase. The descent continued into a stream valley and eventually began to level out as it neared the bottom of the cove.

A stream along the descent from the ridge

After leveling out, the trail interested first with the lower loop trail through the cove, and then passed a steep road leading up the side of the mountain. The final mile or so of the hike consisted of gentle up and downs along the side of the cove, above the field and private property on the valley bottom. The trail passed a small stream and views through the trees of the white house in the field with the granite outcroppings on Woods Mountain high above. Finally, I reached the road and turned left, following it a few hundred feet back to the parking area and the end of the hike. For a hike so close to Charlottesville, it was remarkable to have the trail all to myself on an autumn day.

Riprap Trail

View from Chimney Rock

9.8 miles loop, 2230 feet elevation gain
Difficulty: Moderate-Strenuous, due to length, elevation gain, multiple stream crossings and rock scrambling
Access: Trailhead off Skyline Drive (paved road), Shenandoah National Park entrance fee required

The Riprap Trail is a classic. It's got something for everyone, and it's quite possibly one of the most thoroughly scenic trails of the South District of Shenandoah. I hiked this trail during a rainstorm- and even then, the charms of this trail were quite apparent. This is a trail for the spring, when the wildflowers are blooming and the water is flowing down in Riprap Hollow and the poison ivy hasn't made bushwhacking to Calvary Rocks an unhappy affair yet. Despite its 9.8 miles and 2230 feet of elevation gain, it's not a strenuous hike- hikers who have done 10 mile hikes will find the grades on this trail to be gentle and the distance flies by when you're hiking along rushing streams and wide-open views. However, it's still not a trail to be handled lightly: The trail requires five river crossings, which can be quite deep during and after storms and in spring, and it is nearly 10 miles. That said, the Riprap Trail is one that all UVA students should try during their time in Charlottesville.

I hiked this trail on a rainy May day with two friends. We left Charlottesville mid-morning. I took I-64 west to Rockfish Gap in poor weather; the fog on Scott Mountain was very heavy. We then hopped off at exit 99 and turned right onto US 250, then right again at a sign for Skyline Drive; at the end of this road we turned left to go north on Skyline Drive. At the entrance of the park, the ranger seemed to give us somewhere between a look of pity and a smirk as we drove into the very overcast and somewhat rainy Shenandoah day. We drove north to around milepost 90 and parked at the Riprap Trailhead. Since it was extremely cloudy, we decided to do the loop clockwise rather than the traditional counterclockwise and thus leave the views of the hike for the afternoon, when we hoped the weather would clear up.

We headed south on the Appalachian Trail. The AT wound through the high areas of the mountain here, just downhill of Skyline Drive. We could hear the cars on the drive from time to time; but we still felt alone in the forest, where signs of spring were everywhere. To the west, occasional views of cloud-shrouded ridges would pop up from time to time. Beneath us, the forest was bursting with fiddlehead ferns and red-spotted newts. About 2.8 miles from the trailhead, we reached a junction with the Wildcat Ridge Trail, which we turned right onto and followed.

The Wildcat Ridge Trail started a gentle descent into Riprap Hollow. For the next two and a half miles, we intermittently followed the top and sides of ridgelines, with occasional limited views of the nearby ridges. The clouds shifted in and out and the vegetation became greener as we dropped into the hollow.

Wildcat Ridge Trail

After following the ridge for a while, the trail made a sharp right turn and began descending a little more steeply into the bottom of the hollow. We came to the first stream crossing of the hike: the stream that drained the hollow beneath Wildcat Ridge. The creek was bursting out of its banks due to the recent rain: what usually would likely have been a rock-hop was now a knee-deep crossing. We made our way across the first crossing and continued downhill another quarter mile to a second crossing. This stream was particularly fast at this second crossing; I became slightly disoriented in this area, mistaking this stream for the main river in Riprap Hollow. After wandering around for a while, we finally figured out the direction of the trail and crossed the creek again.

A violent stream in Riprap Hollow

A little further downhill from this second river crossing, we came to the main stream of Riprap Hollow. This usually gentle stream had turned into a minor river with knee-deep water. We crossed here and went ahead a bit to reach the junction with the Riprap Trail. Around this junction, we found quite a few young hemlock trees and azaleas.

Azaleas blooming

We turned right onto the Riprap Trail and began following it up into the hollow. The trail started out a distance away from the river, but soon started approaching closer and closer to the hollow's main stream. At this point, the rain, which had held off in the morning and been just light when we were descending Wildcat Ridge, began to pour. The stream, which was already quite full, began pouring over its banks. In many areas, the trail itself became a second stream. It became difficult to distinguish trail and streambed in some spots. Eventually, we gave up on staying dry and just trudged straight through the next stream crossing, where the stream had completely over-run the trail. Past that stream crossing, we came to the main swimming hole in Riprap Hollow. In drier times, the swimming hole might have provided a welcome and calm respite from the heat, but that day, none of us were in the mood to be any more soaked than we already were. Plus, the waters in the swimming hole were frothing as torrents of water made their way downstream.

Swimming Hole

Past the swimming hole, we made another stream crossing and returned to the left bank of the stream. The trail swung away from the stream for a little while, providing some relief from walking through a river, but eventually swung back and returned to the side of the stream at a waterfall, one of the more impressive sights in Riprap Hollow. During dry times, the falls would probably be much tamer- however, during our hike, the 20-foot drop was wild and rushing.

Falls in Riprap Hollow

After passing the waterfall, the trail continued up into the hollow, gradually climbing towards the ridge. Thankfully, the rain started to abate during our climb. We pushed through this section of trail to reach the top of the ridge, where we emerged in what appeared to be a burn area. Here, the ridge was quite open to the north and west, so on a clear day I expect the views would be quite good. However, we were enveloped by clouds while going through the burn area and missed the views that I expect you could find there otherwise.

After hiking along the ridge area for a while, we came to Chimney Rock, a sandstone outcrop that jutted out to the left of the trail. While we were at Chimney Rock, the clouds gradually began to disperse, opening up some views of Paine Run Hollow, Buzzard Rock, and Trayfoot Mountain. Chimney Rock itself was a tall, isolated sandstone outcrop, separated from the sandstone cliffs next to the trail; bolts in the cliffs suggested that there once was a bridge over to Chimney Rock, but there's currently no way of getting onto Chimney Rock itself short of climbing down a rock crevice and then scaling the chimney, none of which we found appealing since it was so wet.

View from Chimney Rock

From Chimney Rock, we continued a third of a mile onward to Calvary Rocks, a summit on Rocks Mountain only accessible by a short bushwhack. After passing a large talus slope to the right of the trail, we looked for and took a small path that branched off to the right of the trail and followed the ridge to the summit of the rocks. Atop the rocks, there was a spectacular view of clouds shifting among the peaks of the South District and of Shenandoah Valley to the west.

View from Calvary Rocks

We stayed briefly at Calvary Rocks before returning to the Riprap Trail and following it uphill to its junction with the Appalachian Trail. Here, we turned right and followed the AT downhill back to the parking area and the warmth of being inside a car, 1.5 miles from Calvary Rocks.

Raven Rocks

View from Raven Rocks

5.5 miles round trip, 1550 feet elevation gain

The hike to Ravens Rock offers a rather limited view for the amount of effort required, but is a popular hike due to its proximity to the DC metro area. Still, it’s probably one of the more scenic spots along the Appalachian Trail between Shenandoah National Park and Harper’s Ferry. The rocks sit at the border of Virginia and West Virginia, perched on the crest of the Blue Ridge above Shenandoah Valley.

I did this hike on an early July day. It was a bit too hot of a day for hiking, in a summer that already had many days that were much too hot, but since it was a national holiday I felt an obligation to go out and enjoy the very beautiful Virginia landscape. I headed out of Rockville with three fellow interns; on the way, we picked up one of my friends from UVA.  We took I-495 south across the river into Virginia to Route 7 at Tysons Corner and followed Route 7 west. We stayed on Route 7 the entire way; past Leesburg, the route approached the low crest of the Blue Ridge and finally reached the top of the Blue Ridge at Snickers Gap. Just past the gap, we turned right onto Pine Grove Road and parked at a parking area for the Appalachian Trail, on the right side of Pine Grove Road immediately past the first junction.

From the trailhead, we followed the Appalachian Trail north. The trail began by climbing up from the gap to the main ridge of the Blue Ridge. Here, the Blue Ridge was a flat, narrow, single ridgeline punctuated by occasional wind gaps. The trail stayed to the west of the ridge, occasionally passing large boulders and partial views to the west of the trail. At one point, there were boulders along the trail large enough for us to stop and take a rest and for me to scramble around to look for a view in the opening in the trees. We passed and were passed by many thru-hikers as we made our way towards Raven Rocks.

View along the hike

The trail was fairly rocky. It got a little rockier during the first descent, which was around a mile past the trailhead. Here, the Appalachian Trail dropped off the ridge and descended to the bottom of a hollow, then ascended up the other side of the hollow. The descents and ascents, which were already fairly steep, were made worse by the heat of that day.

Along the Appalachian Trail

After another fairly flat section of trail higher up on the ridge, the trail descended a second time; this descent was similar to the first. At the bottom, there was a very rocky stream crossing; past this crossing, we began yet another climb on the trail. The hollows on the trails were verdant and filled with ferns, but the streams were running quite dry. This final climb (on the way in) brought us up to the border of Virginia and West Virginia, which was marked by a trail sign and a cryptic AT thru-hikers’ note about a spaghetti supper.

At the VA/WV border

A couple of tenths of mile past the trail sign, the trail, which had flattened out again, finally emerged from the forest and arrived at the outcrops of Raven Rocks. The main section of an outcrop, perched atop a high cliff, was occupied by a large group of Boy Scouts, so my friends and I settled for a lower outcrop; unfortunately, shade and views were mutually exclusive on the rocks, so we spent most of our lunch time away from the view and instead hiding from the oppressive heat of the mid-day sun. The view itself was nice but not spectacular: we could see a hollow on the side of the main Blue Ridge and to the west there was a view into Shenandoah Valley, with a water tower and a small town. The Blue Ridge here is a single fairly low ridge, so the views were of low mountains and a fairly developed valley. The day was quite hazy, so visibility was limited to a few miles; perhaps if we had come on a nicer day, I might have been more enamored with the view. 

Raven Rocks

After finishing our lunch on the rocks, we hiked back to Snickers Gap. The hike back was nearly as strenuous as the hike to the rocks: the two climbs out of the hollows were both fairly steep and rocky and the rising temperatures that day didn’t help. While this is certainly a worthwhile hike for DC residents, it might not be as worth the drive for hikers coming from further away who have easier access to George Washington National Forest or Shenandoah National Park.

Bear Church Rock via Jones Mountain

Doubletop Mountain from Bear Church Rock

9.4 miles round trip, 2100 feet elevation gain
Difficulty: Moderate, due to distance and elevation gain
Access: Trailhead off Skyline Drive (paved road), Shenandoah National Park entrance fee required

Bear Church Rock is a hike for those already familiar with Shenandoah. It is rather long, a bit tiring, and although the view is quite good, it certainly doesn’t equal the payback of many of Shenandoah’s shorter hikes. However, the hike is still quite beautiful and explores a fairly remote part of the park, so this may be enticing if you’re looking for a place off the beaten path. There are two approaches to Bear Church Rock: one from Skyline Drive and one from Route 663. You can find descriptions of the hike from the lower end at Virginia Trail Guide or Hiking Upward. I’ll cover the approach from Skyline Drive, which follows the ridgeline of Jones Mountain to the rocks. While this route lacks the riparian charms of the lower route, it has its own rewards, including rare views and mountain laurel.

I hiked to Bear Church Rock on a late February day. I headed out of Charlottesville on a cloudy, foggy, and overcast morning. I had originally planned on getting to the Blue Ridge in time to see a sunrise, but when I woke up and saw that it was foggy outside, I headed back to bed for another two hours. When I finally set out, it was still very overcast and I was worried that there wouldn’t be much to see from Skyline Drive. However, I decided that I’d stick with my plan and drive up to Skyline Drive. I headed out of Charlottesville north on US 29, then took US 33 west at Ruckersville to Swift Run Gap and then Skyline Drive north to Bootens Gap at mile 55. Once I arrive on the drive, my decision to stick with my plan was rewarded: there was a sea of fog filling Shenandoah Valley that pushed to the foot of the Blue Ridge.

Baldface Mountain fog sea

I parked at Bootens Gap and started the hike by following the Appalachian Trail north and beginning an ascent up the south side of Hazeltop. In a few tenths of a mile, I came to a junction with the Laurel Prong Trail; here, I turned right and took the Laurel Prong Trail east. The next mile was very enjoyable: the fairly rocky trail followed the south side of Hazeltop, high above the Conway River watershed. To the south, I could see through the trees to Bearfence Mountain towering above the valley below, as well as other small peaks scattered further out from the main Blue Ridge. Towards the end of the mile-long stretch of the Laurel Prong Trail, Cat Knob came into view, its pyramidal peak jutting out in front of the trail. The trail then descended into Laurel Gap and reached a junction with the Cat Knob Trail at a mile past the last junction.

Cat Knob from Laurel Prong Trail

From this junction, I took the right fork onto the Cat Knob Trail. This trail wasted no time in climbing up the steep west face of Cat Knob. At times, the trail required mild rock scrambling- although this might have been due mainly to the ice on the trail at the time I was hiking. I found parts of this trail to be quite steep. Towards the top of the knob, I turned around and looked west and I could see a hint of Big Meadows through the trees. About half a mile after Laurel Gap, the trail passed over the top of the knob and intersected with a trail to the Sag and Fork Mountain. Here, I turned right onto the Jones Mountain Trail.

The next two miles of the trail followed the ridgeline of Jones Mountain. This ridgeline was generally pretty flat, with few ups and downs, although the general trend was downhill; views were also limited, with only occasional spots where the trees were thin enough to see into the Conway River valley or over to Fork Mountain. One of the more remarkable spots on the Jones Mountain Trail was a tunnel of mountain laurel. A short section of a few tens of feet of trail was entirely surrounded my mountain laurel. Since I came in February, none of it was in bloom; but I expect that in early June, this section of trail would be spectacular. At one point, the trail left Shenandoah National Park and entered the Rapidan Wildlife Management Area.

Mountain Laurel tunnel

The trail began to climb when it approached the ridgeline of Bluff Mountain, about four miles into the hike. After a short uphill, the trail turned left and downhill while the ridgeline of Bluff Mountain turned right. Not long after passing Bluff Mountain, a short path led to the left of the trail to a tiny rock with a limited view of Fork Mountain. If Bear Church Rock is the main viewpoint here, perhaps this is Cub Chapel Outcrop.

View from outcrop near trail

Continuing onward, the trail still followed the ridge, which was now dropping downward, steeply in some places. Finally, about four and a half miles from the trailhead, the rock itself came into view, sharply downhill from where the trail was on the ridge. The final few tenths of a mile were a steep descent to the rock. An unmarked spur to the left of the trail led out to the rock, which is a massive granite outcrop. From the rock, there was a broad, good view of the Staunton River watershed, which was dominated by Cat Knob and Fork Mountain, and of Doubletop and Old Rag in the distance. The left part of the view encompassed much of the ridgeline that I hiked down to reach the rock itself.

Cat Knob and Fork Mountain from Bear Church Rock

I stayed briefly at the rock, eating lunch and napping before heading back. The hike back is a bit more strenuous than the hike to the rock: Bear Church Rock is at a lower elevation than Bootens Gap, so a majority of the elevation gain on this hike is on the hike back. 

Compton Peak

Columnar jointing on Compton Peak

2.4 miles round trip, 830 feet elevation gain
Difficulty: Easy

Access: Trailhead off Skyline Drive (paved road), Shenandoah National Park entrance fee required

Compton Peak is an easy and noteworthy hike in the North District of Shenandoah National Park. I enjoyed this hike very much: not only does it lead to a good view, but it also leads to one of the most spectacular geological features of the park, a set of columnar basalt in the Catoctin Formation. The hike’s outstanding features, its relative easiness, and its proximity to the Front Royal entrance of the park make it a hike that all Washington DC area residents should do.

I did this hike on a November afternoon, on my way driving from Charlottesville to Baltimore. From Charlottesville, I took US 29 north to Madison, then took 29 business through Madison itself; at the far end of town, I turned left onto Route 231 north. I took Route 231 north all the way to its terminus at US 522; here I turned left and took US 522 into Sperryville and a junction with US 211. At the junction with US 211, I turned left and took that road up to the Thornton Gap Entrance of Shenandoah, where I took Skyline Drive north to Compton Gap at mile 10. Hikers coming from DC can take I-66 west to Front Royal, follow signs for Skyline Drive and then follow Skyline Drive to mile 10.

During my drive in, I stopped at Indian Run Overlook, which was at mile 11, just before Compton Gap. Although the view here was good, the more exciting feature was the huge icicles that hung off the cliff behind the overlook.

Icicles

Starting from the Compton Gap parking area, I crossed Skyline Drive and started taking the Appalachian Trail south. The trail began a fairly gentle climb up Compton Peak. Along the way, the trail passed multiple large boulders. It was immediately obvious that columnar basalt was quite common all over this mountain: many of the boulders here already exhibited the distinctive hexagonal shapes.

Boulder exhibiting columnar jointing on the trail

After climbing for about seven-tenths of a mile, the trail leveled out on the top of the summit plateau. About 0.8 miles from the trailhead, I came to an intersection at the top of Compton Peak. Two trails led left and right, and the AT continued southward. Here, I turned right and followed the west spur trail. This trail stayed fairly flat, following a rocky trail along the summit for a fifth of a mile. I reached a large rock outcrop at the end of the trail. The outcrop looked to the north, with a good view of the gradually shrinking crest of the Blue Ridge outside the park and of Dickey Ridge. To the northwest, I could also see Shenandoah Valley and Signal Knob. The view to the east was similar to that at Indian Run Overlook.

View northwest from Compton Peak

I took some photos and ate my lunch quickly here before leaving- it was quite windy. I returned to the summit junction and this time took the eastward trail. This trail was also about a fifth of a mile long. I followed the spur downhill, dropping quite a bit down the east side of Compton Peak, including a section with icy rock steps, before reaching a large rock outcrop. A blue blaze led straight onto the outcrop, so I followed the blaze and scrambled up the rock; unfortunately, there wasn’t much of a view from the rock. Mt. Marshall and the Peak were visible but were largely blocked by trees. Only a small window of the Piedmont was visible. However, once I came off the rock, I followed the last section of trail downhill to the left of the rock. The trail ended after circling to the eastern base of the outcrop.

View east from top of boulder

What had been a rock with a disappointing view from above was a geological wonder from below. The rock outcrop was a massive chunk of columnar basalt. The rock was arranged into vertical hexagonal columns. The columnar basalt was quite extensive here: the neighboring few outcrops featured a similar structure. This columnar basalt is part of the Catoctin Formation, which in most parts of the park is composed of a metamorphosed basalt. Here, the basalt seemed a little more intact in its original shape. The basalts of the Catoctin Formation were once huge flood basalts around 700 million years ago. Rifting or other sorts of extensional tectonics caused huge lava flows that flooded the existing landscape. When the exposed lava cooled quickly, it shrank, causing hexagonal joints to form in the nascent basalt. Thus, once the rock cooled and formed, it formed in columns rather in a single block.

This is awesome.

Although the Catoctin Formation is present throughout the park, this is the only place that I know of in Shenandoah National Park that has such an impressive formation of columnar basalt. Columnar basalt can also be found in Upper Whiteoak Canyon.

From here, I retraced my steps to the trailhead.

Strickler Knob

Strickler Knob

 9 miles round trip or 10 miles loop, 2100 or 1700 feet elevation gain

This hike post must start with an apology to my two friends who hiked it with me: after adding on some extra mileage, this hike was much longer than advertised.

Strickler Knob is one of the many rock promontories on Massanutten Mountain, that set of parallel ridges that bisects Shenandoah Valley south of Front Royal. However, even though its setting is common, its view is certainly not: the view from Strickler Knob is arguably one of the greatest in the region. The nearly 360-degree panorama from the end of the trail has a sweeping view of Page Valley and the peaks of Shenandoah National Park, as well as New Market Gap and the Valley and Ridge to the west. The hike to get to the knob involves a fun rock scramble and, depending on future Forest Service policy towards this trail, possibly a bit of route-finding and bushwhacking.

There are a few more notes about this hike: it can be done either as a 9-mile round trip hike with about 2100 feet of elevation gain, or a 10-mile loop with about 1700 feet of elevation gain. It could also be done as a roughly 5-mile round trip hike from Scothorn Gap with about 1000 feet or so of elevation gain, but I find that to be the least interesting of the available options (and during the winter, the most impractical). Another note that you may find useful is that Crismon Hollow Road, which leads to the trailhead, is closed past the end of the pavement November through April; check with the Forest Service before going on the status of the road. If you’re planning on starting at the Massanutten trailhead, this is not a huge deal, as it only adds an extra half mile on a gravel road each way, but if you were planning on coming in through Scothorn Gap, you’ll be adding an extra three miles of gravel road walking each way to your hike.

I did this hike on a late March weekend, after a particularly snowy Virginia March. The previous weekend, it had snowed a good half foot in the Blue Ridge and a similar amount on Massanutten. Thus, late March, which is usually when the first hints of green start showing up in the Valley, was quite cold and barren and winter-like this year. Two friends and I left Charlottesville in mid-morning, heading north on US 29 to Ruckersville; and from Ruckersville, we turned right to take US 33 west over Swift Run Gap to Elkton; at Elkton we exited and headed north on US 340. US 340 through Page Valley is one of my favorite roads in Virginia: the route passes over the scenic Shenandoah River and the tops of the rolling hills in the valley itself. We stayed on US 340, bypassing the spur that led to the right, until we came to a junction with US 211; here we took US 211 west towards New Market. US 211 climbed up some windy switchbacks to reach New Market Gap; at the gap and the highest point of the road, I turned right onto Crismon Hollow Road. Crismon Hollow Road makes two switchbacks as it climbs up Massanutten Mountain. About 2 miles in, we reached the Massanutten Story Book Trailhead and the end of the paved road. Since we came in March, the road was closed past this point, so we parked here. When the road isn’t closed, you can continue half a mile along the gravel road to the Massanutten Trailhead, which is at a broad saddle. Parking is on the left side of the road.

We parked at the Story Book Trailhead and followed the gravel road north for about half a mile until reaching the Massanutten Trailhead, the actual trailhead for this hike. We turned right here onto the orange-blazed Massanutten Trail, which started out fairly flat. A good amount of snow was left on the trail from the previous week’s storms. We followed the flat, snowy, and often muddy trail for just a few minutes before the trail veered to the left. To the right, we could see that the ridge made a rather precipitous drop; from points on the ridge, there were views into Page Valley and of Strickler Knob across a small hollow. Half a mile from the trailhead, the trail turned to the right again and then began a ridiculously steep descent. In many places, the trail seemed more akin to a free-fall than an actual downhill hike; in half a mile, the trail descends about 800 feet, making the trail one of the steepest that I can think of in this area of Virginia.

At the end of the descent, we passed a junction with the Massanutten Connector Trail. From here, we stayed straight (to the left) on the trail and we soon came to Big Run. From here, the trail followed the stream along the bottom of the hollow, making two fairly easy crossings.

Big Run

After the second crossing, the trail began to climb higher above the stream valley. Most of this ascent was fairly gentle. As the valley began to narrow, the trail returned closer to the stream. Eventually, the trail and the stream appeared to become one and the same- I would guess, however, that this is less of a problem during summer months and was probably more of a problem for us due to the melting snow. As we ventured higher, the snow became more thicker and thicker. Eventually, about two miles from the junction with the Massanutten Connector, the trail reached and passed the head of the stream and crossed over a broad saddle. Past the saddle, the trail began a gradual descent. Just barely into the descent, we came into the junction with the Scothorn Gap Trail.

Snowy junction of Massanutten Trail with Scothorn Gap Trail

At the junction with the Scothorn Gap Trail, we turned right and stayed on the Massanutten Trail. The trail climbed a bit at first, then leveled out a bit as it headed to the south. We followed this rather rocky trail for just slightly more than half a mile before this trail came to the top of a ridge.

Past the ridge, the trail continued on and headed downhill. On the ridge itself, there were no trail signs, but we saw pink markers tied onto some trees. During our visit, the pink markers marked the path to Strickler Knob. However, it appears that this is not always the case. As the trail to Strickler Knob is not an official trail, the Forest Service occasionally removes all of the markers on the trail to the knob. I urge any administrators overseeing this section of George Washington National Forest to keep the Strickler Knob Trail marked or to officially blaze the trail. Since foot traffic here is already fairly high and won’t go away just because the trail markers are being removed, the trail should be blazed to concentrate foot traffic into a single trail and thus decrease the area of human impact along the ridge of Strickler Knob.

Atop the ridge to Strickler Knob

We followed the pink markers along the extremely rocky ridgeline of Strickler Knob. The path here was covered in most places by a few inches of snow, so it was difficult to follow, but we managed to stay on it by following the pink markers. The ridge hiking was tiring due to the rocks but was not actually difficult, as the ridge itself was very flat. At one point, a view opened to the right of the trail: we could see across some of the nearby ridges of Massanutten deep into West Virginia. The peaks in West Virginia glistened from the heavy snowpack on their summits.

View west from Strickler Knob ridge

A little over half a mile down the pink-markered path, we came to the rock scramble. The trail became progressively rockier until it started going straight into the jumble of large sandstone stacks along the ridge. The scramble was fun, but probably would have been more fun on a day when there wasn’t snow and ice in the rock crevices. At one point, a vulture burst out of a hole in the rocks, surprising us. Despite this collection of minor mishaps, we made it to the end of the path; from here, we scrambled up onto the very last protruding sandstone stack.

From atop this rocky viewpoint, we had a commanding view. To the north, we could see the sharp, pointed peaks of Massanutten Mountain and the South Fork Shenandoah making its sinuous way through Page Valley at the foot of Hogback Mountain. To the east, the entirety of the Blue Ridge from Hogback, in the North District of Shenandoah, to Loft Mountain, deep in the South District, were visible. To the south, we could see the southern part of Massanutten Mountain and New Market Gap. To the west, there were the many ridges of West Virginia. The scene was made even more special by the snow that capped many of the mountains in our view.

South Fork Shenandoah River and the Blue Ridge from Strickler Knob

View south from Strickler Knob

We spent most of an hour at the rocks before heading back on the Massanutten Trail to the junction with the Scothorn Gap Trail. At the junction, we went straight to take the yellow-blazed Scothorn Gap Trail; the trail started out flat, wandering through a clearing, before beginning a steady downhill into Fort Valley. At the bottom of the valley, the trail crossed a stream before joining Crismon Hollow Road. It was about two and a half miles from the summit of Strickler Knob to Crismon Hollow Road. From here, we went left on Crismon Hollow Road and followed it for three miles gradually uphill back to the Massanutten Trailhead, and from there back to the Massanutten Story Book Trailhead where we parked. Alternatively, we could've retraced our steps along the Massanutten Trail for a 9 mile round trip hike.