Left Winchester around 3pm after filling my gas tank and arrived in New Market around 4pm! Tchaikovsky’s 5th symphony (one of my favorites) was on the radio on my way so I took that as a good omen. It took me a minute to figure out where to check in, and then I headed up to room 256 which was beautiful! I had a nice tall ceiling and a balcony overlooking the golf course and Massanutten Mountain range. I only stayed for a short while before it was time to head to the Park.
Paid for my Park Pass and then arrived to the trailhead around 5pm. The hike was all uphill but very quiet. I made it to the top in about an hour where I met an older man and his daughter. Both were very nice, and the daughter showed me a sketch of the mountains she had just finished. We took photos for each other, and then I had the summit to myself. I was able to take plenty of photos and have a snack before I started the hike back down. I got back to the lot around 7:15pm, drove a couple miles south on Skyline Drive, and then turned around and headed back to New Market.
I made it back to Shenvalee around 8:15pm, where I conducted my typical post hike routine (thorough tick check followed by plenty of snacks). I had a pot pie for dinner and got my clothing and gear laid out for tomorrow’s hike.
Woke up at 5:15am to get ready; packed my gear up and headed out! My destination this morning was Limberlost Trailhead, although my goal was not the Limberlost Trail…
I didn’t feel confident enough in my rock scrambling abilities to do the infamous Old Rag Circuit Route, so I opted to start at Limberlost Trailhead and take Old Rag Fire Road all the way to the summit. My first excitement was not even ten minutes in: my first bear encounter! It was a little scary, but I didn’t have any trouble. The fire road was about five miles long and then turned into the Saddle Trail to the summit. Stepping onto the summit rocks was amazing, and even more amazingly I had it all to myself for about ten minutes. Even after others arrived, the views were absolutely gorgeous, and I enjoyed my trail brunch (whole wheat bagel pepperoni “sandwich”) with some beautiful scenery.
I came down from Old Rag and took Weakley Hollow Fire Road for less than a mile before I turned left onto Robertson Mountain Trail. I had heard that Robertson had views that rivaled Old Rag without the crowds, so I had to see for myself! I really thought that Old Rag would be the biggest challenge of my hiking career so far, but boy was I mistaken. The 1.6ish miles on the Robertson Mountain Trail to the summit was the steepest and most unrelenting hike I have ever done. I moved the slowest I have since I started seriously hiking. However, the summit views were absolutely worth it! All of the hard hiking also made the trip back down feel great. After finishing the trail, it was back to Old Rag Fire Road the rest of the way to the trailhead, and I’d end up having my second bear sighting of the day (and of my life) about .5 miles from the end, again with no incident. Getting back to the car and sitting down was pure bliss! Did 15.2 miles on this trail and (minus the time spent at the overlooks) took me about 6 hours.
After finishing my main hike and checking tomorrow’s forecast (rain!), I decided to add on another hike today to hopefully have prettier and farther views than tomorrow. Because of its proximity to Limberlost, I chose Little Stony Man to Stony Man. Little Stony Man had some gorgeous views, especially with the water on the rocks!
The trail to Stony Man Summit was also a lot easier than my morning adventure, but my legs were definitely starting to feel it. This summit was pretty small and because of the other hikers there, I didn’t end up staying very long. Still gorgeous views though!
After finishing my hiking for the day around 4:45pm, I headed back to Shenvalee for some much needed relaxing!
Around 7:15, I headed over to Pack’s to get some ice cream to celebrate a successful hiking day. I brought it back to Shenvalee to enjoy on my balcony.
I woke up around 5:30 and took my time packing up all of my gear and checking out. At 7:30, it was time to head to Shenandoah! Today, I’d be switching it up a little bit and heading down to Swift Run Entrance Station.
My first hike of the day was Bearfence Mountain. The whole loop was only a mile, so I thought it would be quick work. I tend to have a problem underestimating topography maps! This hike had a pretty decent rock scramble, which was a little intimidating in the rain and since I’m pretty inexperienced with scrambling, but it was actually really fun! It was so satisfying to engage all of my body (and mind) to figure out the best hand and footholds. The top of the scramble was gorgeous: even with the fog, the mountains in the distance were beautiful. I had one fall on my way down, but I’ll take that as a win considering the rocks were all so slippery from the rain. After all the scrambling, there was another viewpoint but unfortunately it was a little too foggy to really see anything. The way back to the parking lot was light compared to all the scrambling. I’d love to come back someday when it’s not foggy, but I still had a great time!
Next stop: Hazeltop Mountain! I was surprised there wasn’t more signage about this viewpoint. The way up wasn’t too steep, and the fog finally started to lift. It made for a great view once I got to the overlook. I was so grateful that I got to see this view especially after the fog at Bearfence. I stayed at the top for awhile and enjoyed some trail brunch (bagel and pepperoni sandwich with Powerade has become my favorite trail snack/meal) before heading back down. I could’ve stayed all day!
I took my time getting to the Hawksbill Lower Lot (I hadn’t been farther south than Thornton Gap Entrance Station before this trip so I was soaking in all of the overlooks on Skyline Drive) and was relieved to secure one of the last few spots. This hike was only 1.6 miles, but gosh was it steep! I started getting flashbacks to Robertson yesterday. Unfortunately, unlike Robertson, this hike was pretty busy with lots of loud groups. The summit was breathtaking, but also very crowded so I didn’t stay for long. It was sweet to see the views looking west and Old Rag peeking through the trees to the east. Heading back down was a lot more manageable, but I noticed that my body (especially my knees) were starting to feel the effects of so much hiking. Getting back to the car and sitting down was bliss!
My next stop (and last hike) was from Stony Man parking to Pollock Knob and Timber Hollow overlook. This overlook is one that can be accessed by car from Skyline Drive so I almost considered not doing it. I’m really glad I did though! This was probably the prettiest trail I did all day, and it even had a couple small viewpoints along the way. I met a man on the trail who told me that there was a chestnut tree bearing fruit towards the top of the knob, which I learned is rare because of chestnut blight. It was pretty neat to see! Getting back to the car again felt nice but it was a little bittersweet: I was really feeling the “post vacation blues” and would have loved to keep on hiking!
I took my time exploring Skyline Drive as I headed north from Skyland (which is where I parked for Pollock Knob). Going down the mountain and through the entrance station was pretty sad for me. I really had a blast on this trip and wish I could’ve stayed a few more days and nights.