Backpacking Virginia by Johnny Molloy

Author:Johnny Molloy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2019-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Once atop Shenandoah Mountain, the walking is relatively easy, gently rising amid the pines and oaks, often working around knobs. You will join the Ramseys Draft Trail at an intersection amid planted red spruce, where stands a campsite and small spring. Ahead, you can take the .4-mile side trip to Hardscrabble Knob, with a view, crumbling cabin, fallen-down tower, and dry campsite.

Then you reach two-tiered, popular Hiner Spring campsite, under some big oaks. The rocked-in spring is on the lower tier. The hike then joins the Hiner Spring Trail, at the lower end of the Hiner Spring campsite. It continues circling the watershed’s ridgeline beyond the intersection with the Hiner Spring Trail.

The views really open up after the hike turns south on the Wild Oak Trail, atop Bald Ridge. Here, gain easterly views into Shenandoah Valley and Shenandoah National Park beyond. The trail has ups and downs, traversing knobs amid wind-stunted woods. The hike stays on Bald Ridge, even after the Wild Oak Trail splits east at a wildlife pond. Pay close attention upon joining the fainter Bald Ridge Trail. After passing around The Pinnacle, the path drops left through a rocky break in the ridge and works along the east slope before returning to the ridgecrest. Keep south, gaining more trailside views along the rim of the Bald Ridge.

Downtrail, a dry campsite near an overlook presents exciting looks southeast into the Calfpasture River valley and mountains beyond. A steady descent on the Bridge Hollow Trail returns you to the trailhead, after one final ford of Ramseys Draft.

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