A long weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia

[Dean]

This past weekend I combined @jbezorg's "Shadow of Skyline" route with an opportunity to do some community service with the Virginia Four-Wheel-Drive Association and the US Forestry Services. I also managed to hit up Blue Ridge Overland Gear for their most recent meet-n-greet event.

Campsite #1 - A little farm camping




Hitting up the BRP for some backroad scenic driving




Heading into George Washing National Forest




Campsite #2 - Remote camping stream side in GWNF




Weaving around and under the BRP on the "Shadow of Skyline Route" on our way to Sherando




Working with VA4wdA volunteers and USFS staff putting up new signs on the Bald Mountain Jeep Trail



Another group of volunteers was picking up trash on the Jeep trail and along Coal Road. In total a dozen+ signs were hung and four heaping truckloads of trash was hauled out. Solid work for a wet day.

Wrapped up the weekend with dinner in Front Royal at a local place that used to be a feed mill.




All in all the route was a lot of fun. Probably some of the best scenery central Virginia has to offer. The unpaved roads weren't anything crazy. Mostly 1 or 2 rating (pre the AmAdv Trail Rating system) with the exception of the Bald Mountain Jeep Trail itself which is probably a 4/5 with some optional 5/6 sections. The paved sections were mostly narrow backroads that twisted and turned their way in and out of the base of the mountains. There were a few sections that were a little busier, but as @jbezorg will confess, the route is still a work in progress. Most of the paved sections were between Afton and Front Royal (the actual Shadow of Skyline part). South of Afton (the "Shadow of BRP" if it were so named) was a lot more dirt.

The Earth Day workday with VA4wdA was a lot of fun. Great group of people. This was the 3rd year in a row they've done a service day with the USFS on Bald Mountain and it really showed. Both of the USFS rangers worked right along side our group and were just as invested in the Jeep trail as the off-roaders were. A real testament to pro-active positive relationship building between the 4x4 community and USFS/LEO types. If only all USFS districts were so accommodating and we had more people as invested in doing the hard work as the VA4wdA and it's members.


If you're interested in further reading... check out the full trip report on my blog here:

Trip Report: Shadow of Skyline + VA4wdA Earth Day Trail Maintenance Day.

 

[Greg]

"Shadow of Skyline" started as a desire to see SNP without taking Skyline Drive. Once I got to Afton I figured I might as well keep going. There's a section south of Natural Bridge VA that goes a little SSE of Buchanan VA that I need to get rubber on it before it gets added.

For 4 wheels and camping it does get better the further south you go though the paved sections north of Afton are fun on 2 and 3 wheels.

 

[Dean]

"Shadow of Skyline" started as a desire to see SNP without taking Skyline Drive. Once I got to Afton I figured I might as well keep going. There's a section south of Natural Bridge VA that goes a little SSE of Buchanan VA that I need to get rubber on it before it gets added.

For 4 wheels and camping it does get better the further south you go though the paved sections north of Afton are fun on 2 and 3 wheels.

Might need to bill it as a "Shadow of BRP" route. So much more potential south of Afton. That said, I was canning the maps for the western side of SNP and it seems there are a lot of roads to explore over there too. Not sure what research/exploration you did on that side of the park. Thoughts?

 

[Greg]

Might need to bill it as a "Shadow of BRP" route. So much more potential south of Afton. That said, I was canning the maps for the western side of SNP and it seems there are a lot of roads to explore over there too. Not sure what research/exploration you did on that side of the park. Thoughts?

The Massanutten ridge is something I want to explore eventually. For the eastern side of the SNP ridge I traced roads using the same sort of principle of putting your hand on a wall in a maze and following it on a USGS map. When I had a through path I traveled on it either in the FJ or on the bike. Lots of dead ends. Sometimes at a gate. Sometimes the "road" washed out. Dipping into a gully strewn with boulders with what's left of a road visible on the other side that was probably last used in the 1930s.

Lots of the fire roads and trails in SNP use to be roads for horse drawn carts to farms and settlements. When the park was created the residents were forced to move out and homes, farms, churches, schools, etc. were abandoned. My Sister's Husband has some family history from that area and time. The Dodson's had a farm at the base of Hazel Mountain. The Hazel Mountain Trail is the old road bed to the farm.

I'll continue to work the east side and add the west too. The name will evolve to.

 

[Dean]

Lots of the fire roads and trails in SNP use to be roads for horse drawn carts to farms and settlements. When the park was created the residents were forced to move out and homes, farms, churches, schools, etc. were abandoned. My Sister's Husband has some family history from that area and time. The Dodson's had a farm at the base of Hazel Mountain. The Hazel Mountain Trail is the old road bed to the farm.View attachment 30533

Yeah, I was doing a little digital exploration looking at older USGS maps from the 1930's as well as finger-tracing some roads that start at the base of the mountains and head up toward the ridge. Many just dead-end at the SNP border. Still, sometimes it's fun to explore those old roads even if they dead end. My only fear is not having enough room to turn the trailer around. Maybe next time I'll day-trip it in just the Jeep. Either that or drop the trailer at a campground and base-camp it.

 

[Greg]

Powell Mountain Trail/Peter's Mill, FR374, and ATV trails. @ 38°47'20.9"N 78°31'12.0"W

You'll need a permit for Peter's Mill and you can get that at the Shell just off I81. 60 Stoney Creek Rd, Edinburg, VA 22824. It's been a while since I've been on Peter's Mill. I'd put it around a Easy(4) or a Moderate (5) AAV rating on the southern portion going to an Easy (3) as you head north. That was a New Years Night run though so I only saw what was in the lights.

I assume the permit applies to the ATV trails as well.

 

[100acre]

an

Yeah, I was doing a little digital exploration looking at older USGS maps from the 1930's as well as finger-tracing some roads that start at the base of the mountains and head up toward the ridge. Many just dead-end at the SNP border. Still, sometimes it's fun to explore those old roads even if they dead end. My only fear is not having enough room to turn the trailer around. Maybe next time I'll day-trip it in just the Jeep. Either that or drop the trailer at a campground and base-camp it.

An ATV would fit very well in that trailer of yours.

 

[Dean]

an

An ATV would fit very well in that trailer of yours.

ATV's and I don't exactly get along (the last time I rode one it ended up riding me). Plus I sleep *IN* the trailer and as it's setup now there is no room to park anything inside it. If anything I need to blow the dust off my mountain bike and make a fixture for it on the trailer or the Jeep. I miss riding that.