Snowy adventure in George Washington National Forest
We always look forward to our yearly visit to the Shenandoah Valley. Surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Appalachians and rivers Potomac and James, there is no shortage of opportunities for adventure. Snow and ice closed Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park and we knew that a few days before we went, so we planned an alternative. Though we had several choices, we decided at the last minute to check out George Washington National Forest. The trail we selected was a 9 mile hike that looked fairly flat and next to a stream. The pictures from our research showed thick forest and a bridge and detailed 9 other stream crossings. We had to go here!
We woke up to everything encased in ice. After breakfast and chipping out our car, we headed out. The trailhead was an hour away from where we were staying. The roads were treated and fine as long as a certain safe speed was maintained. The sketchy part was went we hit the forest. The forest roads weren’t maintenanced as expected. The GPS took us up a long winding road, there were patches of ice and deep snow. We past one trailhead right before going up the hill, so we decided to turn around and park there for safety. This wasn’t the trailhead I expected to be at and looking at the map, I wasn’t sure if this little section of trails connected with what I originally mapped out. We took a picture of the trail system and headed off on the foot path, crossed the road and down the snow covered trail until there was a fork in the trail.
I had no GPS to follow since I didn’t have a signal, so I decided to go left and followed the tracks in the snow that were already there. It was just one set which I followed at least 25 paces until the trail stopped and I was looking at a green fence that was already knocked down. Not seeing any private signs anywhere I decided to continue following the same tracks down a hill, which took me down to a large area with a few cabins off in the distance. I could hear the rushing water loud and clear so I followed he sounds to a little foot bridge and a rushing stream. From here I went over the foot bridge to the little cabin which was empty but had lots of firewood piled outside. The snow was almost knee deep but I could still make out the faint tracks which I was following before. Out of the corner of my eye I saw two hikers head back the way I just came, so I decided to back track and see if I could find the trail. I walked up from behind on the two, who were fishing in the stream. They didn’t hear or see me, so I didn’t want to come any closer and scare them. They were fishing (to my surprise) at a nice little cascading waterfall. I then double-backed again, across the foot bridge and through the knee high snow to pick up the set of tracks I originally was following which brought me to the other side of the stream where the waterfall was. This was an even better vantage point and I wasn’t in the way of the fisherman.
Continuing along, the path narrowed, I wasn’t sure I was even on the right trail at this point but continued to follow the footsteps, Just over yonder when I thought about turning back I saw the swinging bridge I had seen in my research, turns out I was on a connector trail. I followed this a little longer and made pictures along the rushing stream. It was just about time to head back, so I retraced my footsteps back to the fork in the trail. Little had I known, if I had taken the swinging bridge it would have taken my right back to the same spot for a nice little loop, but I made a little loop of my own and realized that the cabins I saw was actually a girl scout camp.
This was an absolutely amazing day in the forest. It was stunningly beautiful with everything covered in snow and ice. Tree branches, leaves, berries all had a layer of ice. Made for quite the adventure. I absolutely cannot wait to go to this trail and do an over nighter there!
Stay safe, and treat the forest kindly.
