Blackrock Summit Trail & South Shenandoah NP

Today we are exploring the South section of Shenandoah National Park including hiking to Blackrock Summit. There are 7 of us here in Virginia, but after yesterday’s side trip, it’s just the 2 of us. To read more about our side trip yesterday, see New River Gorge National Park in a Day. We are looking forward to exploring Blackrock Summit and South Shenandoah National Park.

Planning

Today we are without kids and parents and have the afternoon to explore the South section of the park. We will enter at Swift Run Gap entrance at mile 65.5 like we have previously. However, instead of turning left, this time we’ll turn right to head south. We will stop at overlooks on the way to Loft Mountain Wayside at mile 79.5.  This wayside boasts having a large Shenandoah gift shop so we want to check it out. And after being in the car a lot yesterday, we want to stretch our legs. Last weekend, a park ranger at the Byrd Visitor Center told us Blackrock Summit was one of her favorite hikes. A 1-mile circuit hike to a viewpoint atop a rocky talus slope sounds interesting. For more information about this hike, see Blackrock Summit (nps.gov).

After this easy-rated hike, we’ll continue exploring the South section of the park all the way to the end. Skyline Drive ends at the Rockfish Gap entrance station at mile 105, the bottom of the park. So, we’ll take our time exploring this 40 mile stretch in this less visited section of the park.

Overlooks on way to Loft Mountain

We enter the Swift Gap Entrance just after 1:30PM. Since we forgot our annual pass at home, and no one with senior passes is with us today, we pay. The cost to enter the park is $30 which is good for the week. Though this is the only day we’ll probably need it. But, as soon as we turn to head south on Skyline Drive, we can tell this is a less crowded section of the park. We also see little evidence of the snow that we saw in the park just 2 days ago. As we’re driving, we pull into the 1st overlook just 1.5 miles from the entrance, the Swift Run Overlook. The view here is okay this time of year but would be totally overgrown in the summer.

Another 2 miles down the road, we pull into the Bacon Hollow Overlook. This overlook has a long parking lot with expansive views of Bacon Hollow. Another good one is Loft Mountain Overlook another 4.5 miles from Bacon Hollow. Loft Mountain is on the right, but County Line Mountain is center in our view. It is aptly named as the boundary between 2 counties.

3 miles further, the last overlook we pull in before the wayside is Ivy Creek Overlook. There’s nothing spectacular here, but we see a sign and trail at the end of the parking lot. It’s a sign for the Appalachian Trail which meanders 101 miles through this park. We hope to hike on part of the “AT” at some point while in the park.

Loft Mountain Wayside

At mile 79.5, we turn into the Loft Mountain Wayside parking lot. The gift shop here just opened last week as many are closed during the winter. So, it’s always good to check before going. And this gift shop is bigger than the ones at the visitor centers.

They have a good selection of souvenirs as well as some food and drinks. This is the only place in the South district of the park to get any supplies. Most of the items we see are found in the other gift shops but they seem to have a larger variety. But we do spend about 20 minutes here and buy a few things. To learn more about these waysides, see Food Stops & Groceries | Shenandoah National Park (goshenandoah.com).

Start of Blackrock Summit Trail

We leave the Loft Mountain Wayside turning right to head south on Skyline Drive. The Blackrock parking lot is about 5 miles down the road at mile 84.4. We turn right into the parking area where we see multiple cars, but still plenty of space to park. After parking we walk to the trailhead at the end of the lot. It’s around 2:45 and we should have plenty of time to do this short hike.

We stop to take a picture in front of the sign, but don’t really pay attention to it. The weather is a little overcast, but feels great and we are happy to be outside. Just past the sign is a trail marker with the “AT” listed on it. From here you can turn left or right. We’ve never hiked on the Appalachian Trail before and are excited. But, we’re not sure which way to go, so we turn right. We enjoy going through the wooded area with bare trees searching for wildflowers. We are hiking the Appalachian Trail! But unfortunately after 15 minutes we see the road?

We have been enjoying hiking so much we weren’t paying attention to where we needed to go. The map we have isn’t very clear, but we see another trail marker. After looking at it closely, we see directions on the metal banding on the side. It shows Blackrock Summit 0.7 miles back the way we came. So, we turn around and head back. We didn’t realize we were heading down so on the way back we are headed back up. This makes more sense since we’re supposed to be heading to a summit. We make it back to the starting point in another 15 minutes.

Blackrock Summit Trail

Oh well, we added 30 minutes and almost 1/2 mile to our hike. In our defense, the directions on the trail markers are not easy to see. But now we know we know to pay more attention. It shows us we can go North or South on the Appalachian Trail and has a small arrow pointing which way. It also shows we have 0.5 miles to Blackrock Summit to our left this time.

This time we are heading slightly up and the right direction. But after only 5 minutes, we come to another fork and trail marker. The left says Trayfoot Mountain Trail and Blackrock Summit 0.4 miles. The right says Appalachian Trail South and Blackrock Summit Trail 0.3 miles. We know the trail is supposed to loop and assume we will return back this way whichever way we choose. So, we take the shorter trail to the right.

The trail is easy but starts to narrow as we climb up. And in less than 15 minutes we can see Blackrock Summit. And once past the last trees, we feel it starting to lightly rain as we approach the summit.

Blackrock Summit

Even though it is lightly raining we are amazed at Blackrock Summit. To our left is the large pile of big rocks and now we know what a rocky talus slope is. Basically it is a collection of rock fragments from rockfalls that have accumulated here over time. The rocks tower over our heads on our left as the trail takes us around them.

But as the trail opens up we are greeted with beautiful views to the North. We can see views of Shenandoah Valley and Massanutten Mountain. The trail continues around the rocks, but we see many more rocks below the trail here too.

The views here are truly remarkable, even on a rainy day. We have to be careful walking through this rocky area and we soon turn left to go on the other side of the pile of rocks. On the other side we get more awesome views of the South.

Also on the backside is a trail marker that just says Blackrock Summit and Elevation 3092 Ft. Under that it says Appalachian Trail South or North with arrows. We continue left on the Appalachian Trail South.

Return to Blackrock Summit Parking Area

We start heading back and after 2 minutes we see another trail marker in front of another fork. This one just says Summit Parking down the front, but upon closer inspection, it points us left. And after 3 more minutes, we are back at the loop trail marker having returned back to the main trail. On the way back, we check out some wildflowers beginning to bloom along the trail. And before we know it, we are back at the beginning of the trail a few minutes before 4:00 PM. This is really an easy trail that can be done in less than 45 minutes if you follow the trail markers correctly.

The Blackrock Summit trail is listed as a circuit hike. We learned that circuit hikes travel sections of multiple trails so you have to pay attention. And circuit hikes are very common in Shenandoah National Park. We believe this is because the Appalachian Trail goes through the park. And many short hikes travel over some of the AT like Blackrock Summit.

More Overlooks

After a wonderful easy hike and a learning lesson, we get back on Skyline Drive heading south. We decide to stop at more overlooks as we drive to the end of the park. Our first stop is Trayfoot Mountain Overlook a few miles away at mile 87. And after a quick stop, our next is Horsehead Overlook at mile 88.5. The view here is not as nice but there is a sign about Rock Rivers. It explains about the rocky talus patches you can see from the overlook. This sign is a good place to stop and read before or after visiting Blackrock Summit as it gives more context.

Another stop along the way is Moormans River Overlook at mile 92.0. You can get a good view of the “Blue Hole” or the Sugar Hollow Dam and Reservoir. And after this overlook the park narrows around Skyline Drive. We stop at one last place called Beagle Gap at mile 99.5.

There is a small parking lot here with portable toilets. But the allure here is a field with access to the Appalachian Trail. We get out here and walk through the gate entrance into the field. This would be a good place to see wildlife at dusk but it’s still early. Though it is a nice field with some nice views. And a few minutes before 5:00PM, we exit through the Rockfish Gap entrance station to leave the park.

Summary

The two of us spent about 3.5 hours in the southern section of Shenandoah National Park today. This section is less traveled and at times felt like we had the park to ourselves. We stopped at a few overlooks on the way to the Loft Mountain Wayside, the only store in this section. But the highlight was hiking the Blackrock Summit Trail. We got to hike some on the Appalachian Trail, though more than we planned. But we learned you need to pay attention on even short circuit hikes. Other national parks we’ve hiked in usually have loop or out-and-back hikes where you stay on the same trail. So this hike was a little different. But we really enjoyed Blackrock Summit and its views.

After the hike, we continued on Skyline Drive stopping at more overlooks. We also stopped at Beagle Gap, a large field with access to the “AT”. We completed our drive through the Southern section of the park exiting at Rockfish Gap. But we still have one more day and plan to check out the Northern section of the park tomorrow.

Other Adventures This Week

Check out our trip to the newest national park at: New River Gorge National Park in a Day