The Massanutten Trail was a nice week-long hike in the Appalachian Mountains. Now that I’ve had time to reflect on the trail, I have some closing thoughts.
The Trail
With Massanutten Mountain being a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, it was no surprise that the trail was rocky and rugged. But save for a few-mile stretch between Signal Knob and the trailhead, the trail wasn’t excessively rocky, and it was actually less rocky and rugged than I expected. Being that we hiked in the fall, most leaves had already blown from the trees, covering the trail, which made the ruggedness more difficult. (It’s harder to walk a trail when you can’t clearly see the tread.)
The trail was well-blazed, but that was rarely ever necessary. It was always clear to us where the trail went. Every junction was well-signed, so we were never confused about which direction to go.
Trail maintenance was excellent. There were only a handful of fallen trees that required navigation, and with the exception of the stretch shortly after Moreland Gap Road, the trail was rarely overgrown.
Comparison to Plan
We planned for the trail to take us six days (or rather, four days and two half-days) to complete, and we met that goal. For the most part, we met our distance projections, except for the first day, when a late start reduced the time we had to hike; and the fourth day, when cold weather slowed our pace. Fortunately, in both cases, we were able to make up our shortfall the next day, but it resulted in two long days (16.1 and 17.4 miles). Ordinarily, that distance would have been fine, but in late fall, with less than ten hours of sunlight, those two days were very much go-go-go, and we didn’t have much of an opportunity to stop and relax or take in the scenery.
Caches
We placed four caches. Our first cache, a gallon of water early on day 3 at the Stephens Trail parking lot turned out to be completely unnecessary, since there was a stream, flowing quite well, a short distance after. It saved us some time collecting water, though, and was great for peace-of-mind.
Our second cache, a gallon of water and three days of food at the end of day 3 at a campsite just before Crisman Hollow Road, was great. This water wasn’t strictly necessary, since there was a well-flowing creek a couple of miles earlier, but we probably should have left two gallons of water (so that we wouldn’t have had to filter and carry water from the creek). This was a perfect location for a food cache, though. Just shy of halfway around the trail, it kept our pack weights down, and gave us a good place to stash trash from the first three days.
Our third cache (two gallons of water at Moreland Gap Road in middle of day 4) and fourth cache (one gallon at Edinburg Gap early on day 5) were essential. We passed no other water on-trail between the creeks on day 3 and Mudhole Gap at the end of day 5.
Isolation
The trail was very quiet and isolated, and we hardly saw anyone else at all. We saw one person when we were on our way down from Kennedy Peak on day 3. We saw a few people parked and camping at a parking area a bit before Mudhole Gap on day 5. And on day 6, we passed a total of four people hiking between Signal Knob and the trailhead. Of course, part of this was due to the season: in late fall, there aren’t that many people on vacation, so it’s not surprising that we saw the most people on a Sunday. (We also heard, but didn’t see, ATVs on day 5, a Saturday.)
We appreciated the quiet, and lack of competition for campsites. But we also heard gunshots — hunters — every day on the trail. The only bad interaction we had was after dark on day 3, when a dog came up to our tent and barked at us. (The dog was quickly called back by people walking down the road, and we assumed it was hunters from a group we saw when we were dropping off our cache.)
The Views
It was quite nice to have partial views most of the time. This really accentuated the two forks of the Shenandoah River, on either side of the Massanutten Range, which have an incredible number of bends. Most of the time you can only see one (or maybe two) bends at a time, so seeing the river constantly meandering back and forth really drives it in.
When we camped on the ridge (most days), we had excellent sunrises and sunsets, most notably from Kennedy Peak.
The views into Fort Valley (as opposed to out, to the Shenandoah Valley) were less impressive, but they were still nice. The trail circling the ridge made the Massanutten Trail a little reminiscent of the Tahoe Rim Trail, though Fort Valley makes a decidedly less epic substitute for Lake Tahoe.
Wrap-up
For what it is (a roughly week-long hiking trail), I think I’d rate the Massanutten Trail fairly highly. It’s easy to get to, the logistics aren’t that complicated, and, while there are some steep sections, the trail is not that difficult to hike. With numerous road crossings, there are plenty of options for alternative start/end points. In the spring and summer, water would be less of an issue, though caches along the western side of the trail are still a practical requirement. I would be quite happy to recommend the Massanutten Trail for anyone looking for a relatively short Appalachian hiking experience!