HIKING VIRGINIA

Shenandoah National Park and the Appalachian Trail grew up together. Civilian Conservation Corps crews built Skyline Drive on right-of-ways carved by AT trail volunteers. The routes stay within a half-mile of each other as they pass through mountain gaps, past old farms and orchards, and over rocky mountaintops. Iconic images of Shenandoah—autumn foliage, waterfalls, and soaring views off rocky outcrops—foster the idea of a timeless, never-changing park. A few days hiking the AT dispels this notion. Fires, floods, ice-storm damage, invasive insects, and gypsy moth infestation leave their distinctive mark on large areas of the forest in Shenandoah. In these areas, the AT gives hikers a view of the shrubby plants, small trees, wildflowers, and vines that mark early stages of reforestation.

THE RUNDOWN

Start: Blue Ridge Parkway south of I-64

Distance: 107.1 miles point to point

Difficulty: Moderate

Trail surface: Using dirt footpaths and abandoned dirt roads, hike along ridges and outcrops; down steep wooded slopes; and through old fields, red spruce, and balsam fir at highest elevations.

Nearest towns: Waynesboro, VA (south access); Front Royal, VA (north access)

Canine compatibility: Dogs permitted (must be on a leash at all times)

Trail contacts: Appalachian Trail Conference, Harpers Ferry, WV, (304) 535-6331, www.appalachiantrail.org; Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC), Vienna, (703) 242-0693, patc.net; Shenandoah National Park, Luray, (540) 999-3500, www.nps.gov/shen; Skyland Lodge, Skyline Drive, (800) 778-2851, www.visitshenandoah.com

Schedule: Open year-round. Skyline Drive may close without advance notice due to inclement weather. Portions of this road are also closed during hunting season to discourage poachers. Call (540) 999-3500 for closures.

Fees/permits: Entrance fee (honor boxes at north and south park boundaries). Appalachian Trail (AT) hikers must register for a free backcountry permit at Tom Floyd Wayside (north district) and Rockfish Gap entrance station (south district).

Maps/Guides: AT Guide Set #7 covers Shenandoah National Park. www.atctrailstore.org

To Rockfish Gap Trailhead: From Waynesboro, at the junction of US 340 and I-64, take I-64 east for 5.1 miles to the Afton Mountain exit 99. At the bottom of the exit ramp, turn right onto US 250. In 0.2 mile, turn right onto the Skyline Drive/Blue Ridge Parkway access road. Park at the Augusta County Visitor Center at Rockfish Gap, which is behind the Chevron gas station. The AT is located on the east side of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Note: If leaving a car for multiple nights, inform the visitor center staff. DeLorme: Virginia Atlas & Gazetteer: Page 67, D5. To Chester Gap Trailhead: See Segment 5: Chester Gap to Harpers Ferry.

The AT just north of Rockfish Gap passes little in the way of rock formations, gorges, and waterfalls that draw millions of visitors to Shenandoah National Park. There are, instead, acres of farmland and meadow. Cattle graze and views spill off the mountains onto farms and towns of the Shenandoah Valley.

As introductions go, this pastoral entry into Shenandoah National Park feels right. The parkland was, for hundreds of years, privately owned. Much of it was farmed. Every meadow and mountain gap, every peak, pass, and hollow holds a story or mystery about the people who lived there. At Blackrock, 20 miles north of Rockfish Gap, legend says a friend of Thomas Jefferson hid Virginia’s state seal and records of the General Assembly in a cave during the Revolutionary War. The cave has never been identified (although the records and state seal survived the British raid that prompted the stash). Mystery aside, Blackrock commands attention on its own merits. This formation was once a cliff that collapsed after the soft limestone beneath it dissolved. Limestone, by its very nature, erodes faster than granite and greenstone. Where it underlies harder rock, erosion can result in the formation of talus, or large rock piles, at the base of cliffs.

North of Jarmans Gap, mountain laurel spreads roots into the cracks of exposed rock. Rhododendron grow tall and lush around stream headwaters near Moormans River Overlook. Taken together, these plants signal that more rugged, rocky terrain lies ahead. At Ivy Creek, the AT drops into a small canyon (2.7 miles north of Loft Mountain camp store). Briefly, it follows the hemlock-lined stream. The forest undergrowth is lush with mountain laurel, a plant that prefers the shade of pines and hemlocks. If it’s been a mild winter, look for an extra spectacular spring laurel bloom. The many white, cup-shaped laurel flowers make this short stretch of the AT one of a kind in the park.

On the approach to Big Meadows (17.4 miles north of Swift Run Gap), a cemetery and pieces of a pasture fence are visible from the AT. Periwinkle blooms in spring. The wildflower, with small, waxy-looking leaves that spread like a ground ivy, is not a naturally occurring mountain wildflower. Its presence usually indicates that a homesite once stood in the area. Nearby, on Tanner’s Ridge, residents refused to leave their homes after President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the park in 1936. Old pictures show sheriff deputies carrying a woman away from her house, a vivid example of forced eviction.

AT SHELTERS/HUTS (MILEAGE ON THE AT FROM ROCKFISH GAP NORTH TO CHESTER GAP)

Mile 7.0 - Calf Mountain Shelter

Mile 20.0 - Blackrock Hut

Mile 33.2 - Pinefield Hut

Mile 41.4 - Hightop Hut

Mile 53.8 - Bearfence Hut

Mile 65.3 - Rock Spring Hut

Mile 80.6 - Pass Mountain Hut

Mile 93.7 - Gravel Springs Shelter

Mile 104.2 - Tom Floyd Wayside (primitive site)

Not every mountain settler resisted. Some left willingly. North of Rock Spring Hut, where the AT passes beneath the cliffs of Hawksbill Mountain (4,051 feet), a view opens north onto Ida Valley. This is where the federal government built its first resettlement community for park residents in 1937. Hawksbill is the tallest mountain in Shenandoah National Park, but the AT passes below, not over, the summit. The trail reaches its highest point in this section a few miles north on Stony Mountain. Stony is followed in quick succession by the Pinnacles and Little Stony Mountain. These peaks, short on tree cover, offer great views from rock summits and cliffs. They are also within easy reach of Skyland Lodge, a hotel and restaurant that draws flocks of visitors.

Skyland is famous for its founder, George Freeman Pollack, who opened the resort in the 1880s. In 1924 Pollack helped sell the idea of making the Blue Ridge, from Front Royal to Rockfish Gap, America’s first national park east of the Mississippi River. “A national park near our nation’s capital” became the group’s slogan. After 12 years, they succeeded. There is a story about local boys who climbed from the valley to watch tourists drive Skyline Drive and counted as many as six cars in a day. In 2016, Shenandoah National Park recorded 1.2 million visitors, making it the fifth-most visited national park in the nation.

Like periwinkle, an orchard tree—apple, pear, cherry, or other fruit—signals that a homesite or farm once stood in the area. Apples were prized for making moonshine brandy in Gravel Spring Gap (14.5 miles north of Thornton Gap). Nicholson Hollow, south of Mary’s Rock, was renowned for its apple brandy. Jarmans Gap, at the southern end of the park, was known for corn whiskey. Moonshine, though illegal, offered poor mountaineers extra income. If a man had the skills, nature provided the ingredients: clean, running water, fruit or corn, and yeast. Stills were hidden and well protected from suspicious strangers who wandered nearby. This included early AT trail volunteers. Stories tell of how settlers chased Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) volunteers by setting fires.

Like a bird returning to its summer/breeding grounds, an AT thru-hiker in Shenandoah National Park is a herald of spring. Thousands of men and women begin the AT at Springer Mountain in Georgia in March. The bulk of them hit this park in May. Many have their hearts—or stomachs—set on a good meal at one of the park’s three restaurants. As their thoughts wander ahead to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia—the official halfway point on the 2,173-mile trail—their feet pass over storied ground. In Shenandoah, there’s a tale around every turn in the trail.

Luray-Page County Chamber of Commerce, Luray, (540) 743-3915 or (888) 743-3915, www.luraypage.com

Staunton/Augusta County Visitor Center at Rockfish Gap, Afton Mountain, (540) 943-5187

SEGMENT 4.ROCKFISH GAP TO CHESTER GAP

SEGMENT 4.
ROCKFISH GAP TO CHESTER GAP