WHY GO?
The dual peaks of Mount Marshall loom large over Shenandoah’s northern district. With summits above 3,000 feet and open rock cliff tops, North and South Marshall offer inspired views west over the Shenandoah Valley as you trek along the Appalachian Trail. Their counterpoint is an equally inspired view eastward from the craggy boulders that punctuate aptly named The Peak, accessed via the Bluff Trail. This steep-sided mountain, crowned with billion-year-old granite, measures just under 3,000 feet in elevation. The rugged ascent—1,000 feet in just over 0.5 mile, on a trail no longer maintained by the Park Service—makes it one of Shenandoah’s lesser known, but more-demanding, climbs. This 16-mile hike links these peaks and the breathtaking gorge carved by Big Devil Stairs, capturing what makes Shenandoah National Park so popular: great views, waterfalls, and woodland trails.
THE RUNDOWN
Start: Jenkins Gap parking area on Skyline Drive
Distance: 15.8-mile loop
Hiking time: 8 hours
Difficulty: Difficult due to distance and an optional side trip on a steep, unmarked path up The Peak
Trail surface: Hike mountain slopes on singletrack woodland paths, old forest roads, and a bushwhack to breathtaking views from The Peak.
Land status: National park
Nearest town: Front Royal, VA
Other trail users: Cross-country skiers
Accessibility: This trail is not accessible to people with disabilities; however, most of the facilities within the park are. Check out the accessible 1.3-mile Limberlost Trail (Mile 43).
Canine compatibility: Leashed dogs permitted (leashes no longer than 6 feet)
Trail contact: Shenandoah National Park, 3655 US 211 East, Luray; (540) 999-3500; www.nps.gov/shen
Schedule: Open year-round. Skyline Drive may close without advance warning due to inclement weather. Even when Skyline Drive is closed, hikers may still enter the park on foot. Most facilities begin opening in Mar and close by late Nov.
Fees/permits: Entrance fee required, valid for 7 days, or annual pass.
Free backcountry camping permits, available at ranger stations and visitor centers between sunrise and 1 hour before sunset, are required. Campfires prohibited except in established fireplaces. Before visiting, review backcountry regulations, which cover such issues as group size, where to camp, and waste disposal. Call (540) 999-3500 for regulations. To fish in Shenandoah National Park (SNP), Virginia residents age 16 or older must have a Virginia state fishing license.
Facilities/features: The park offers a wide variety of lodging, camping, and dining.
NatGeo TOPO! map: Chester Gap
NatGeo Trails Illustrated map: Appalachian Trail, Calf Mountain to Raven Rock; Shenandoah National Park
Other maps:PATC #9: Shenandoah National Park Northern District
FINDING THE TRAILHEAD
From Front Royal, travel south on US 340 from the intersection of VA 55 and US 340 in downtown Front Royal. In 0.3 mile, turn left onto Skyline Drive. In 0.5 mile, pass the park entrance booths. Drive south on Skyline Drive to the Jenkins Gap parking area between mileposts 12 and 13, on the right (west) side of the road. There is parking for twenty cars. GPS: N38 48.433′ / W78 10.862′. DeLorme: Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer: Page 74, B3.
THE HIKE
Springtime in the Blue Ridge Mountains begins not with green leaves, but with flowering trees. Lavender, white, pink, and yellow buds overflow their small calyx and coat charcoal-shaded branches with color. Tree buds appear first on warmer, southwest-facing hills and in moist creases in the mountain slopes. As April turns to May, the days lengthen and temperatures warm. The ornamental redbud—a tree preferred by George Washington over even Virginia’s official tree, the flowering dogwood—strikes a note by filling its moist soil habitat with a mix of lavender, purple, and pink buds. Dogwoods, habitual to dry slopes, follow with showy white petals, cloven and red-tinged. Later in May, white and pink cups burst from the dark evergreen of mountain laurel. By June, this spring symphony will drop into anonymity. Sunlight-gobbling oaks, elms, and poplars will leaf out and overshadow all else. In these still-cold days of April and early May, though, the small trees shine as stars of the landscape.
The Bluff Trail along the east flank of Mount Marshall is hardly the only place in Shenandoah National Park to catch spring’s colorful performance. The trail does, however, offer a side bonus in spring—great views down the Blue Ridge onto the small farms and crossroads of the mountain’s eastern foothills. The narrow and sometimes uneven route rises to three distinct overlooks with vistas onto a wide, pastoral valley. Each view only whets the appetite for what lies ahead on top of The Peak (2,959 feet).
The Peak stands alone, separate from the main trunk of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The path to the summit fell off the park’s list of maintained trails about a decade ago. USGS topographic maps still show the route, and a sharp-eyed hiker will find the trailhead at the junction of Mount Marshall and Jordan River Trails. Just minutes into your climb up The Peak and the challenges are evident: First a steep pitch, without benefit of switchbacks, then fallen trees and overgrown trail; finally, poor or nonexistent trail markers. Locals nicknamed this mountain Little Bastard. From first glimpse to final weary steps, the name fits. The exposed rock at the summit is charnockite, a billion-year-old granite found the world over. Joseph Charnock, the Englishman for whom the rock is named, founded the city of Calcutta, India. His tombstone is a charnockite rock. Legend says the explorer died from injuries when he tripped over a large chunk of this rock and struck his head. True or not, it serves as a timely reminder as you pick your way over the rough, exposed charnockite boulders descending The Peak. Watch your step!
HEADS UP
In the Mt. Marshall area, camping Is closed above 3,200 feet. This means two campsites along the Appalachian Trail are closed where the trail, as described below, crosses South Marshall and North Marshall peaks. This is part of a project by SNP to protect sensitive plant communities on rocky outcrops. Educate yourself about these rock outcrop communities at www.nps.gov/shen, and keep in mind that while striving to leave only footprints, we always leave a trace. The Mount Marshall Peak is an extremely sensitive area, and as of this writing, has not yet been closed, so exert caution and minimize your impacts.
The Peak once belonged to a family, the Millers, who owned it as part of their 6,000- acre mountain estate. For a time, they worked the tanbark trade. Workers stripped bark off chestnut trees and, using the roads we hike on today, drove mule-pulled carts across Mount Marshall to a tannery in Browntown. The process of turning animal hides into leather required the tannin found in the bark of chestnut and oak trees (also found, in smaller doses, in acorns, coffee, and tea). Tanning was a smelly, dirty job. After grinding the chestnut bark, a tanner mixed bark with water and submerged animal hides in the concoction. Over a period of months, the tannic mixture cured the hide, making it leather. Until the blight of the early 1900s, the American chestnut was preferred for this process because of its high tannic content.
The road that runs along The Peak’s south flank is a remnant of the tanbark trade, but today it’s hard to imagine anything but foot traffic on it. Fallen trees impede progress at every turn. Thickets of mountain laurel grow off the steep-sided slopes and grass has overgrown the wheel ruts. As you climb through brush, violet pinwheeled periwinkle pokes through last fall’s leaf debris, its roots spreading across the dry slope. Closer to the summit, bloodroot, great chickweed, and liverwort splotch the woods with white blossoms. The chickweed practically begs for attention, growing in large tufts that make it attractive to the butterflies that flock to its red-tipped stamens.
There are no chestnut trees left in Shenandoah National Park, or none that could produce bark in the quantity it once did. The chestnut blight stifles tree growth, and young chestnuts die before they can grow more than head-high. There are, however, plenty of oak trees. Hickory has replaced chestnut as a companion tree. Mountain laurel is ever-present in the understory. There are dogwoods, witch hazel, and spicebush as well. Witch hazel deserves mention, if only for how it reproduces. When the shrub’s seedpods dry, they burst and release two seeds that can fly outward 30 feet. This not only explains why witch hazel seems omnipresent, but also confounds an old saying about seeds not falling far from the tree. Less reliable are claims that a forked witch hazel branch functions as a divining rod, leading a person to underground water sources. If by chance it does, credit luck, not witchcraft. The shrub takes its name from the Old English word wych, meaning “flexible.”
The vistas off Bluff Trail spread east over the Blue Ridge foothills and Piedmont. Four mountains fill the horizon: Keyser, Jenkins, Wolf, and The Peak. Their presence illustrates just how complicated Blue Ridge geology can be. Here, within a few miles, stand mountains with marked differences in shape, not to mention rock. Mount Marshall is young—its bedrock is basalt lava, formed by a series of lava flows that oozed from the earth’s crust about 550 million years ago. The Peak and its neighbors are old, weathered stubs of resistant granite that date from a billion years ago. The valley between them is more than the route of some picturesque stream. Beneath its crust lies a geologic fault. Faults, by their very nature, slip. That movement breaks rocks, and, over a period of millions of years, the land overlying them collapses. Water, seeking the easiest route downhill, finds the groove and contributes to further erosion. A crease becomes a valley. What’s left? Mount Marshall and The Peak, standing like two prizefighters on either side of an imaginary line.
MILES AND DIRECTIONS
0.0Start from the Jenkins Gap parking area on Skyline Drive. Exit the parking lot by turning right (south) on Skyline Drive and walking alongside the road shoulder. Note: The return leg of this loop enters Jenkins Gap parking area to the right as you exit.
0.4Turn left (east) off Skyline Drive onto the yellow-blazed Mount Marshall Trail, which is a forest road lined with mountain laurel. The trail follows folds and contours along Mount Marshall’s east slope as you descend.
1.7Cross Waterfall Branch. There is a series of small waterfalls downstream from this crossing, and a flat area alongside the creek makes a good primitive camp.
2.6Cross Sprucepine Branch, which is shaded by tall, straight-trunked yellow (tulip) poplars.
3.7Cross an unnamed stream, one of several that form the headwaters of Jor dan River.
3.9Reach a T junction with the Bluff Trail on the right. Continue straight on Mount Marshall Trail. Option: To eliminate The Peak and shave 2.3 miles off this hike, turn right (south) on Bluff Trail and follow mileage cues below starting at mile 6.1.
4.3Reach a T junction with Jordan River Trail on the left. From this junction, follow a distinct footpath that leads into the woods in a southeast direction. The trail is blazed intermittently with light blue paint slashes. Note: It is a 1,000-foot ascent in 0.7 mile to the top of The Peak.
4.6After a steep uphill, the footpath intersects the faint trace of an overgrown road. Turn right, walk 10 to 15 feet, and look for the trail continuing uphill on the left. The trail from here to the top is a steep pitch with large boulders and outcrops. Note: The road trace continues at a more level pace around The Peak and to a saddleback that allows a more moderate approach but adds 0.6 mile to this hike.
5.0Reach The Peak with its open rock summit and views southeast over the Rush River valley and the town of Washington. Turn and retrace steps downhill.
5.7Emerge from the bushwhack path and turn right (north) on Mount Marshall Trail to ascend to the junction with Bluff Trail.
6.1Turn left (west) on Bluff Trail. The trail ascends through a boulder field on a singletrack woodland path. For the next 2.5 miles, the trail follows the contours of Mount Marshall with brief inclines and several wet areas where mountain streams begin forming in the creases of the hillside.
8.4At a junction with the trail to Big Devil Stairs, continue straight on Bluff Trail. Side trip: Turn left to explore Big Devil Stairs, a deep gorge carved into Mount Marshall with nice falls overlooks. There are trailside clearings for one or two primitive campsites within 0.1 mile of this side trip. The first falls overlook is in 0.4 mile, followed by a steep descent to two more overlooks. The trail to stream level near the park boundary is a 2-mile side trip.
9.3Views open up on the left side of the trail overlooking Harris Hollow.
9.8Turn right on Bluff Trail at a junction with Harris Hollow Trail. For the next 0.1 mile, Bluff and Harris Hollow Trails share the pathway.
9.9After a switchback in the trail, continue straight on Bluff Trail as Harris Hollow Trail branches right and uphill.
10.0Enter a clearing and bear left (west) toward Gravel Springs Hut. Avoid a light-duty dirt road that ascends from the clearing on the right. Near a freshwater spring adjacent to the hut, ascend a blue-blazed path that climbs the hill behind Gravel Springs. There is a spring, privy, and fireplace here.
10.3Turn right (north) onto the white-blazed Appalachian Trail.
10.5Pass through Gravel Springs parking area. Cross Skyline Drive and walk past a gate. Immediately past the gate, turn right on the white-blazed Appalachian Trail.
11.5Summit the 3,212-foot peak of South Marshall, with clear views to the west and north.
12.0Cross Skyline Drive to the east side and begin an ascent of North Marshall on a series of switchbacks.
12.6Cross the summit of North Marshall (3,368 feet).
13.6An unmarked trail on the right leads 30 feet to a spring. Continue a descent through Hogwallow Flats.
14.2Cross Skyline Drive to the left (west) side of the highway and begin an easy ascent.
15.8Hike ends by turning right on yellow-blazed Jenkins Gap Trail and walking 150 feet to the Jenkins Gap parking area.
HIKE INFORMATION
LOCAL INFORMATION
Front Royal Visitor’s Center, 414 East Main St., Front Royal; (800) 338-2576; www.frontroyalva.com
LOCAL EVENTS/ATTRACTIONS
Wildflower Weekend, May, Shenandoah National Park, Luray, (540) 999-3500, www.nps.gov/shen. Guided hikes and programs throughout the park.
LODGING
Park lodges at Skyland (Mile 41.7 and 42.5), Big Meadows (Mile 51.2) and cabins at Lewis Mountain (Mile 57.5) are seasonal. Call (877) 247-9261 or go to www.goshenandoah.com for reservations.
Gravel Springs Hut has a 1-night minimum stay for hikers who are out for 3 days or longer. There is a spring, privy, and fireplace here. Tenters can use the four marked primitive tent sites uphill behind the privy; these have none of the restrictions associated with the hut. However, all park backcountry camping regulations apply.
Camprounds are located at Matthews Arm (Mile 22.2), Big Meadows (Mile 51), Lewis Mountain (Mile 57.2), and Loft Mountain (Mile 79.5). Some are first-come, first-served. For campground reservations, call (877) 444-6777 or visit www.recreation.gov.
Six backcountry cabins are operated by the PATC. For reservations, call (703) 242-0693 or visit www.patc.net.
RESTAURANTS
Full-service restaurants are located at Big Meadows Lodge (Mile 51.2) and Skyland (Mile 41.7 and 42.5), and Wayside Food Stops at Elkwallow Wayside (Mile 24.1), Big Meadows Wayside (Mile 51.2), and Loft Mountain Wayside (Mile 79.5). All restaurants are seasonal. Visit www.goshenandoah.com for information.
HIKE TOURS
Ranger-guided programs are offered spring, summer, and fall.
For commercial tour operators that are permitted in the park, visit www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/permitted-business-services.htm.
OTHER RESOURCES
Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC), Vienna, (703) 242-0315, www.patc.net. Publishes maps and guides and sponsors hikes in the park.
Shenandoah National Park Association, Luray, (540) 999-3582, www.snpbooks.org. A nonprofit partner that sells guidebooks, maps, brochures, and CDs on the history, flora, and fauna of Shenandoah National Park, to benefit park activities.