After visiting Luray Caverns this morning, this afternoon we are hiking to the highest peak in Shenandoah National Park. I’m on my guys trip along with my son Matt, brother-in-law Kelly and Uncle Mike in the Shenandoah Valley area. And there’s still some hikes I want to do including to Hawksbill Summit, the highest peak in the park.
If you want to go straight to Hawksbill Summit, click here. Otherwise continue reading about our planning and adventures,
Planning hiking to the highest peak in Shenandoah NP
Luray Caverns to the Thornton Gap Entrance Station to Shenandoah National Park is only 15 minutes. We haven’t been through this entrance before, so our plan is to use the GuideAlong once in the park. This app has been great to provide information and history about the park while driving on Skyline Drive. And we’ll listen for any suggested stops or hikes. Click here for the Shenandoah tour, or click the banner below for more info.
But there is still one more hike I want to do, and it’s to the highest peak in Shenandoah. I’m talking about Hawksbill Summit at 4,050 feet. And there are a 2 options to get there. The Lower Hawksbill Trail to the summit is 1.7 miles and rated moderate because it’s a steeper and rockier route. However, earlier this week a park ranger recommended the longer but easier 2.1 mile Upper Hawksbill Trail to the summit. For more information, see Hawksbill Summit via Upper Hawksbill (nps.gov). So we’ll see what we feel and take it easy and enjoy our last day on our trip.
Thornton Gap Entrance and Marys Rock Tunnel
From Luray Caverns we drive through downtown Luray to the park. On the way we stop at West Main Market Delicatessen to grab lunch. It’s right on the way, and a good place to get a sandwich. We arrive at the Thornton Gap Entrance Station right at 2:00PM. Once we show our pass, we have the option to go South or North. We want to head South so we turn left. And just a few minutes down the road we see the tunnel.
Marys Rock Tunnel is the only one on Skyline Drive and it’s awesome to see icicles hanging at the entrance. However, there is nowhere to stop here, so we go through the short tunnel to the other side. On this side is the Tunnel Parking Overlook, so we park and get out. We learn from GuideAlong the tunnel was built in 1932 and took 3 months to construct.
You can walk all the way to the tunnel from the overlook. So I take a couple pics, before jumping back in the car. Back on Skyline Drive, GuideAlong tells us the story of the haunted Corbin Cabin. It’s an interesting story, but I won’t ruin it for you. Once back in the car, we near the Stony Man Overlook. And GuideAlong once again tells us about the upcoming overlook. But the narrator also talks about a nearby hike that’s a good “bang for your buck”. He’s talking about the Little Stony Man Trail which is less than 2/3 of a mile to reach the Stony Man Cliffs. I did the Stony Man hike last trip 2 years ago, so the Little Stony Man seems interesting. And everyone likes the idea of a short hike.
Little Stony Man Trail
After missing the turn for the small parking lot, I go all the way to Skyland where the main Stony Main trail starts. But we decide to go back to the Little Stony Man parking lot. Right after we leave Skyland, we see a car stopped on Skyline Drive ahead of us. Walking into the woods, we see 3 turkeys! After the wildlife sighting, we continue to the small parking lot. Once parked we find the Little Stony Man Trailhead sign.
Here we find more information about the 0.9 mile out-and-back hike to the Little Stony Man Cliffs. So, we grab our trekking poles and walk up the hill to connect to the Appalachian Trail for the first 0.4 miles. We’ve been hiking through snow all week, but today it’s warmer and it’s getting slushy.
The first part of the trail we walk parallel to Skyline Drive before we turn upward. We then pass a trail crossing where we can turn left or go straight. Here we see a sign that points to a viewpoint ahead 180 yards, so we head straight.
We’re now on the blue-blazed Passamaquoddy Trail to the viewpoint. It only takes us about 20 minutes to get to the viewpoint even in the slush.
Little Stony Man Viewpoint
Once at the viewpoint, we can see Skyline Drive below us to our right. But straight ahead are some rocks we can climb on top to see even better views. Similar to Stony Man, we get views of the Shenandoah Valley below and the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance.
We take turns climbing the rocks, admiring the views and taking pictures. Even though we haven’t seen rain since this morning, the clouds blanket the sky. The view is nice, but we can only imagine how it would be on a clear day. But we’ve been blessed with sunny skies all week until today, so we can’t complain.
Just past the rocks we climb on, the trail continues. Mike and Kelly are leaning against the rocks here just admiring the views. It’s much safer if you don’t want to get too close to the edge. The Passamaquoddy Trail continues from here basically all the way to the Stony Man Summit and back. But we’re not that adventurous today, so we head back the way we came.
Little Stony Man Cliffs
When we get back to the trail crossing to the AT, we see the marker points 0.3 miles to Little Stony Many Cliffs. Not sure we went the right way, I head toward the cliffs. Matt and Mike decide to follow, but Kelly heads back to the parking lot. The trail zig zags up the mountainside for about 15 minutes until we see the cliffs.
I make it to cliff first and can see the viewpoint we were just at. And like the viewpoint, I can climb up a rock to get better views. But unlike the viewpoint, we are a little higher up. Not as high as the Stony Man Summit, but this is a nicer viewpoint.
Matt finds the perfect perch to see it all. I walk past him to see where the trail leads from here, but we’ll head back. I notice there’s a pool of water below Matt where the snow melted. This is just a cool spot, and glad we continued. After about 10 minutes at the cliffs, we head back down the AT all the way back to the parking lot. The whole hike to both the viewpoint, cliffs and back took us about 1.5 hours. Though we spent at least 25 minutes just admiring the views. GuideAlong was right, it was worth the stop.
Upper Hawksbill Trail
The Little Stony Man Cliffs provided great views, but I still want to go higher. And just past Skyland, GuideAlong tells us about the upcoming trails for the highest peak in Shenandoah. Yes, we decide to park in the Upper Hawksbill parking area.
This trail seems more straightforward. We’ll hike on the Upper Hawksbill Trail all the way to the summit and return the same way. This is our last day of our trip, and I don’t want to miss this hike. Plus it’s now 4:30PM and the summit may provide good sunset views. Mike and Matt are ready, but unfortunately I’ve worn out Kelly, the most experienced hiker of all of us. So, he agrees to stay back and we promise to take good pictures.
Though the trail is heading up, it’s at a slight grade and it’s an easy walk through the woods. The trail is wide and clear of snow. And it takes us about 30 minutes to the crossing with the Salamander Trail. From here the trail heads up, and it’s only about 5 minutes to the shelter.
The Byrds Nest #2 Shelter has 3 stone walls and a roof. And it’s got one open side with only a concrete floor and a picnic table inside. The sign here says that overnight camping in the shelter or within 100 yards of it is prohibited. It’s obvious this shelter has been here for a while, so maybe it was used more in the past. But there are good views here, and just past it we see a sign pointing to the summit 50 yards ahead.
Hawksbill Summit, the highest peak in Shenandoah NP
From the shelter, it’s just a couple minutes to the end. It’s a little rocky toward the summit, but surprisingly I see a stone observation platform here. Unlike Little Stony Man, I don’t have to climb on rocks to see the view.
The observation platform was just rededicated in 2016 and still looks in great shape. Walking out on it, I feel totally safe. Matt and Mike catch-up to me and we take a rest.
The observation is actually pretty large with plenty of space for the 3 of us to spread out. I could imagine a dozen people easily fitting on it in the summer. Also, on each side of the platform are 2 compasses.
Looking at the compass on the left I can see we are facing more North than West. So, looks like better sunset views are behind us. The compass can also be used to help identify the mountains in the distance.
The 360-degree views up here are great. They would only be better on a clearer day. After about 10 minutes up here, we’re ready to head back. I stop near the shelter to take some pictures of the views from here. Then we take the hike back. By this time, I am worn out and my feet are starting to hurt. But it’s our last hike, and it only took us an hour and 15 minutes.
Leaving Shenandoah National Park
Glad to be back in the car and on Skyline Drive. By the time we get to Big Meadows, it’s almost 6:00PM and dusk. Which means the deer are out. We see a group of them grazing right next to Skyline Drive.
We see at least 4 deer including a buck. And we wonder if this is the same group we saw earlier this week, after finishing the Lewis Falls Trail nearby. They very well could be. As we continue down Skyline Drive we carefully watch for more deer near the road. We make to Swift Run Gap to exit just before 6:30PM.
Summary of hiking to the highest peak in Shenandoah NP
We were in Shenandoah National Park for almost 4.5 hours today. And we did 2 great hikes to some wonderful views. We used GuideAlong now in at least 6 national parks, and it really adds to the experience. And it recommended the 1st hike to Little Stony Man Cliffs. Essentially we hiked to 2 different viewpoints on this hike. The 1st viewpoint was nice, but the Little Stony Man Cliffs was a little higher and offered better views.
Our 2nd hike was to Hawksbill Summit, the highest peak in Shenandoah. Hiking on the Upper Hawksbill Trail to the summit was pretty easy, and the platform provided 360-degree views. Now we can say we hiked to the highest peak in Shenandoah National Park! Though we enjoyed both hikes, and now we’re all worn out after a week in the Shenandoah Valley. We had a great time and look forward to the next time…
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