A few miles on the AT in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Summary

The Appalachian Trail runs from Georgia to Maine, and this little stretch of the trail exists in Shenandoah National Park, which is located in Virginia. The closest town to the start of our hike is Front Royal.

AllTrails- This trail covers roughly the first 3/4 of our hike, however it gives you a sense of our starting and ending point.

Where

Shenandoah National Park is located in Virginia, in the United States. We visited the north side of the park.

Logistics

We decided to #optoutside over Black Friday weekend and that meant a very long (~13 hours) car ride through the night from mid-Michigan to Front Royal. Once we got into Front Royal, finding the trailhead was rather straightforward, because the Appalachian Trail intersects with a main road. The only other logistical note worth mentioning is that hiking this time of year severely limits your daylight hours. Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to hike as much as we would have liked, but given the time of year, opportunity, and experience it was still well worth it.

Hiking

This trip started out as an overnight hike with plans to sleep at Gravel Springs Hut (13.5 miles) or Range View Cabin (18.5 miles). We started this hike with the assumption the ark was closed for the season, meaning the popular Skyline Drive would no longer be accessible. Skyline Drive runs through the entirety of the park and presents many access points for side trails, but also the Appalachian Trail. We quickly learned the park would close after Thanksgiving weekend, and the amount of foot traffic we expected on the Appalachian trail vs. reality were dramatically different.

Our hike started off in typical Appalachian Trail style with constant ups and downs. Hiking in this area, this time of year, offered a lot of visibility given the leaves had all fallen on the trees. Sometimes this isn’t the sight many people expect when they go hiking, but we embraced the season and what it offered! A great example of this is upon reaching Chester Gap. This was a great spot to stop and have a snack and enjoy the view. One of the things we really enjoyed about this section of the AT was the rocky landscape. Coming from Michigan, we can only get into rocky terrain in our Upper Peninsula, so this was a pleasant change of pace from our forestry.

As we progressed further into our hike, we quickly realized finding a place to sleep may become a bigger challenge than we originally anticipated. Because Skyline Drive was open, and accessibility to the AT was so easy, what we thought would require 13-18 miles of hiking to reach shelter, was now accessible via a short 2-4 mile hike. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to see people on the trail and using the park this time of year, especially with the motive we brought to #optoutside. However, this presented a logistical challenge we had not anticipated. With little experience using AT shelter systems, and starting to do some math based on our encounters with other hikers and their anticipated sleeping arrangements, we quickly came to the conclusion Gravel Springs Hut would be full by the time we got there or shortly thereafter. Range View Cabin was also a gamble at this point, because it is often locked in the off-season and the idea of hiking 18 miles to get to a locked cabin wasn’t sitting very well with any of us. It was at the junction of Skyline Drive and the AT shortly before Gravel Springs Hut that we decided we would change our plans and push through a big day hike and find a place to stay in Front Royal instead.

This decision made sense to each of us and coupled with the early sunset given the time of year, offered us a chance to see a little bit of Front Royal in the evening. After a 24 mile day, a beer at Front Royal Brewing really capped off a successful day. We also were able to learn a bit more about AT life from some of the locals, and see some of the ways Front Royal Brewing accommodates hikers. Seeing the washing machines, charging stations, and hangout area was really unique and a cool takeaway from our trip.

The next day we decided to explore the park and take in some views, taking advantage of the last day of the year that Skyline Drive would be open. All in all the trip didn’t go according to plan, but that’s the norm when it comes to outdoor adventures. Being able to respond on the fly and make the most out of the situations and opportunities presented to us made the trip a great way to spend a weekend. It certainly beat fighting 4 people for a low quality TV at 3AM on Black Friday!

Photos

All photos were taken with my Google Pixel 3.