Today is Day 2 of our guys trip with Matt, Kelly and Uncle Mike in the Shenandoah region of Virginia. You can read about our 1st day at: Shenandoah Rock Scrambling and More! Today we are hiking to Rapidan Camp, President Herbert Hoover’s presidential retreat in Shenandoah National Park!
Planning Rapidan Camp Hike
After hiking to a waterfall in Shenandoah National Park yesterday, we decided to try something different in the park today. Rapidan Camp was President Herbert Hoover’s presidential retreat during his time in the White House from 1929 to 1933. And today President and First Lady Lou Henry Hoover’s summer retreat is a National Historic Landmark. And there are 3 ways to get there. Though ranger-led tours are not available in the winter and we don’t have horses. So, today we are hiking to Rapidan Camp. You can find more information at: Rapidan Camp (nps.gov).
The Rapidan Camp Hike is a 4.0 mile circuit hike starting from the Milam Gap parking area. Crossing Skyline Drive we’ll pick-up the Appalachian Trail a few feet to the Mill Prong Trail. The hike continues on the Mill Prong Horse Trail to the camp. We are packing sandwiches, water and snacks to have for lunch at the camp, before returning the same way. After the hike, we’ll cruise down Skyline Drive through the Southern section of the park with the GuideAlong app. We’ll listen for any recommended stops on the way out. Once out the southernmost exit at Rockfish Gap, we plan to head to Blue Mountain Brewery for dinner.
Start on Mill Prong Trail to Rapidan Camp
After a late start, we make it to the Swift Run Gap entrance 10 minutes before noon. And it takes us about 20 minutes to get to the Milam Gap Parking Area at mile 52.8. The trail starts across Skyline Drive, and there’s still a lot of snow on the ground. So I put on my microspikes just to be safe. And once across the street, we find the marker where the Mill Prong Trail starts.
We pick-up the blue-blazed Mill Prong Trail, heading down the snow-covered hillside. At first I’m glad I have my microspikes on since the trail is covered with snow as we walk through the woods. And in less than 20 minutes, we make it to our 1st stream crossing.
When I talked to a park ranger yesterday about this hike, I asked her about the conditions of the 3 stream crossings. She assured us the streams should be easy to cross in winter without getting wet. And sure enough, the 1st stream has rocks allowing us to easily cross. And once on the other side, there is hardly any snow.
The trail becomes much easier, and at some point we pass a dozen people in a senior citizen hiking group. I ask them about the upcoming stream crossings, and they reassure us they’re no problem. And we make it to the 2nd stream crossing, less than 15 minutes from the 1st.
Just like the 1st, we have no issues crossing with the help of some rocks. Though we can imagine the streams overflowing in the spring when the snow is melting. But today, the conditions couldn’t be better.
Mill Prong Horse Trail and Big Creek Falls
Just past the 2nd stream crossing, we see the marker to continue onto the Mill Prong Horse Trail. And just like the previous trail, we continue alongside the Mill Prong stream with no snow on the trail. We see a little cascade and Matt goes down to the creekside to check it out. After a quick stop, we get back on the forest trail staying alongside the gently-flowing branch stream.
On our side of the stream, we are in the Sun and it’s warming up. We are getting thirsty, so I pull out some water from my backpack. And then I realize we left our sandwiches in our cooler in our car. But at least I packed lots of snacks. In less than 20 minutes from the last stream crossing, we make it to the last one, and a waterfall.
We are excited to make it to the 3rd stream crossing, but wasn’t expecting a waterfall here. We later find out on the map it’s called Big Rock Falls. And today it’s flowing pretty well into the pool below. And just past it we see how we’re going to get across the stream here.
The seniors we passed earlier told us there was an easy log crossing. The log itself has been flattened over time perhaps making it easier to balance on. But we have to go 1 at a time across.
Kelly makes it across 1st and I follow shortly thereafter. I have to put 1 foot in front of the other, because the log is not wide enough. It takes me a minute to get across and Mike follows me followed by Matt.
Rapidan Camp
Once past the 3rd stream crossing, we head along the snowy side of Mill Prong. It takes us about 10 minutes before we start to see a building in the distance. Once out of the trees, we make it to a road. And on the other side is a sign that indicates no horses past this point. We continue past it onto a gravel path to the 1st building, the Creel House.
The Creel House was home to President Hoover’s physician and his personal secretary. As we walk toward it we see a sign that it’s resident housing for park staff and their on duty. So, we continue past the house to see some ruins including where the Mess Hall building once stood. A large stone fireplace still stands here. Past it the path leads to The Brown House, which was the President and First Lady’s cabin.
The presidential cabin was named The Brown House in contrast to the other presidential home. The cabin has been completely restored, however it is locked today. But I do recommend The Brown House Virtual Tour to see inside the cabin. Around the side I notice stairs leading to the back porch. And here I find the rest of my crew taking a break.
There are benches out back that provide a great place to rest in the Sun. It’s taken us about 1.5 hours to get here, and we’re ready to eat some snacks and relax. The porch overlooks the woods and the sounds of flowing water flood our ears. The Mill Prong and Laurel Prong streams converge here to become the Rapidan River. And we have the whole place to ourselves.
More of Rapidan Camp
After relaxing on the porch, we take stairs down to a path with stone steps leading down to a bridge. President Hoover loved to fish in these streams stocked with trout. From the bridge we can only imagine catching fish for dinner in the Mess Hall.
We walk back to other side of the Brown House to find the 3rd building still standing at Rapidan Camp. The Prime Minister’s Cabin was a guest cabin that housed visiting dignitaries. Ramsay MacDonald, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, stayed here in 1929.
On the path to the cabin is a stone bridge over a man-made stream called Hemlock Run. Apparently Mrs. Hoover wanted her guests to be lulled by the sounds of cascading water. So she had this stream built off the Laurel Prong that goes behind the house. Up the stairs to the large back porch you can see the Laurel Prong flowing behind the camp.
Past the cabin we see a sign with of a map of Rapidan Camp then and now. There are only 3 of the original 13 buildings still standing. We pass more interpretive signs showing where some used to stand before we head back.
Hike back from Rapidan Camp
Before we make it back to the log crossing, we pass a couple on the way to the camp. They’re the only other hikers we’ve seen since the seniors earlier. We had the camp to ourselves for almost an hour, and now they’ll be able to enjoy it by themselves. And we will have the trail to ourselves the rest of the way.
Heading back over the log crossing in front of Big Rock Falls is just as great on the way back. We each take our turn again, slowly crossing one step at a time.
As we continue hiking, we can see the Sun getting lower in the sky. And after the last stream crossing, we are back on the shady side covered in snow. So, we take our time walking up the hill through it.
There’s so much snow here, it’s hard to believe there wasn’t much on most of the trail. But we make it back to the parking lot in about 1 hour and 25 minutes from Rapidan Camp. The whole trail took us about 3 hours of hiking time plus our relax time at the camp. And now it’s after 4:15PM and we have about 1.5 hours until dark. Once back to the car, we eat our sandwiches from the cooler before heading out.
Driving through the Southern section
From the Milam Gap Parking Area to the exit at Rockfish Gap is about 52 miles. And it should take us about 1.5 hours without stops. After hiking, I just want to have a relaxing long drive and listen to GuideAlong. This app is amazing. It uses our GPS location to give us points of interest, facts and history at points along Skyline Drive. You can read more about this specific tour at: Shenandoah National Park Audio Driving Tour | GuideAlong.
We drive past the Swift Run Gap entrance into the Southern section of the park. And shortly thereafter, I spot something on the side of the road ahead of us. I ask “What’s that in the road?”, and somebody replies they think it’s a bobcat. Luckily the bobcat has to climb up the hill next to the road, so I have time to get my camera out. Though I didn’t get a great look at him, I watch as he climbs into the woods.
We continue down Skyline Drive listening to GuideAlong and stopping at a few overlooks along the way. At the Rocktop Overlook, the Sun is shining so bright I have to cover my eyes. The rays of sunshine glow over the mountains beyond. As we continue down Skyline Drive, GuideAlong recommends a stop ahead. And I decide to pull into the parking lot.
Blackrock Summit Trail at Sunset
Secretly I wanted to stop here, because Becky and I did this trail the last time I visited the park. You can read about that misadventure here: Blackrock Summit Trail & South Shenandoah NP. I really liked this short trail last time, and think it’ll be nice at sunset. And just after 5:30PM, there is still plenty of light.
The Blackrock Summit Trail is a 1 mile hike, and I convince everyone but Kelly to hike it with me. So I book it down the trail, knowing which way to go this time. Mike is close behind me, but I look back and can’t find Matt. We assume he went back. And I make it to the summit in only 15 minutes.
As I approach the summit, I can see snow covering some of the rocky talus slope. I also see the red glow of the Sun against the mountainside. And when I turn the corner, it is absolutely beautiful. As I’m taking some pictures, Mike catches up and also admires the views.
It looks like a painted landscape with a pink sky and rust colored mountains. Blackrock Summit is only at 3,092 feet, but offers fantastic views. And what’s great is you can walk around the rocks to the other side.
On the other side, we can see the Sun setting behind a mountain as the sky glows orange and yellow. We’re only up here about 5 minutes, before Mike wants to head back before it gets too dark. And we make it back in 30 minutes, just after 6:00PM. There’s still light, but Matt’s not at the car. But we find him coming back on the trail behind us.
Blue Mountain Brewery
After finally getting back in the car, we drive 40 minutes exiting the park just after 7:00PM. By this time it is completely dark and we are getting hungry and thirsty. And I know Blue Mountain Brewery is just 8 minutes away in Afton. After getting a seat, we find you can get a flight of all 10 of their beers for $11.50. Matt doesn’t drink beer so he just gets water,. But Mike, Kelly and I each order a flight. You can read more about this brewery at: Blue Mountain Brewery.
They line up our 10 beers in front of us in order of style. Some we don’t care for, but the Monticello Mountain Ale made with local honey from Monticello is very good. In fact, I got some last trip when we visited Monticello and liked it. So, we also get some to go. As for food, we tried the fried brussel sprouts appetizer, their Smoke Dog, Cuban and Double Date Burger. We liked the brussel sprouts, and the rest was pretty good. But we’re full and have almost an hour drive back to our resort.
Summary of our hike to Rapidan Camp
We spent over 7 hours in Shenandoah National Park today. It was a good day. We hiked to Rapidan Camp and back in almost 4 hours, including almost an hour relaxing at the presidential retreat. This was a great hike. We hiked through some snow until the 1st stream crossing. I was a little worried about the stream crossings, but they wound up making the hike more fun. And the last one had the log crossing next to beautiful Big Rock Falls. As if the gently-flowing water wasn’t enough, we especially enjoyed relaxing on the deck of The Brown House. Relatively easy, fun, beautiful and peaceful, this hike has everything you would want.
After the hike, we drove on Skyline Drive and we saw a bobcat! It’s definitely a rare wildlife sighting. And we got to listen to GuideAlong and learn more about the park. Not to mention we some amazing sunsets including at Blackrock Summit. And we finished at Blue Mountain Brewery with dinner and beer to end the day.
Check out more of our Shenandoah adventures at Shenandoah Archives – Working Family Travels!
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