Shenandoah National Park Appalachian Trail Section Hike | backpacking, back country camping
This blog isn't photography related, AND it's a year late, but I wanted to document the details of our Shenandoah National Park, Virginia Appalachian Trail Hike last year. We backpacked 130 miles in the park in August 2023. Most of these notes were taking along the trail on my phone. I also noted some of the campsites on my journal in italics only because it was very hard to find information about back country campsites online. I also mention some water sources. Hope this helps future hikers!
My husband Mark and I were 48 and 50 when we did our section hike in Shenandoah! We're avid hikers, but we're not your typical fitness kind of people. Our hiking pace is average to slow, but we get the job done and love back country backpacking! I was more excited about this hike but Mark is a good sport! We hiked the Shenandoah section of the Appalachian trail in 9 days. We gave ourselves 10 days just in case, but we went faster than we anticipated.
We drove from Georgia to Waynesboro, VA and parked our car near a grocery store after checking in with the local police department. We wanted to make sure our car was safe to stay there for 10 days. It didn’t cost anything to park there. We arranged for a shuttle with a really kind lady, Susan, to drive us from Waynesboro to our hotel in Front Royal. The shuttle cost us $175. We were worried all night because it was supposed to rain in the morning. We started a couple of hours later than planned since the rain stopped! She picked us up from the hotel and brought us to the trailhead in Front Royal at 9am!
Day 1
We started at 9am in Front Royal hiking southbound. There was light rain but nothing to keep us from getting started. It was a steady uphill hike for about 4 miles!! Finally at 12 o’clock we reached the SNP border. So far we drank one liter of water each. The terrain had been pretty easy steady uphill, and steady downhill, very reasonable. We took a quick .5 mile rt detour to Indian Springs to refill our water and eat lunch. The spring was very good. We filtered our water with a Sawyer Squeeze and ate lunch. We met a couple there, Hannah and George, from England. They were touring the US and doing Shenandoah as their last trip before returning to the UK.
On the way back from the spring, I stopped to pee with my Tinklebell and saw a Whitetail deer. The Tinklebell is the best thing ever for hiking! I don’t have to take off my pack, and pull my pants down! It’s wonderful for privacy a getting the job done quickly! Mark saw a hawk hiking up to Compton Peak. It was a very difficult climb. The overlook is .2 miles off the trail so we didn’t go. There was plenty of flat ground to camp up there but we decided to keep hiking. We’d seen about eight or nine different people on the trail so far on the first day.
About a quarter mile past Compton overlook there was a large camp spot on the right going southbound.
We walked across Compton spring with plenty of water being piped out.
At the bottom of Compton peak there was another campsite. And a small campsite at the bottom of Mount Marshall. We found a wild apple tree. It tasted sour. We found a campsite at the top of Hog Wallow Peak before Mount Marshall at 5:30p. We needed to relax the rest of the evening. We went a total of 11 miles on day one.
Every night when we got to a camp site we would hang our backpacks on a tree and start unloading. We worked together to pitch the tent and get all the sleeping gear arranged. We would boil water for a dehydrated dinner and Mark usually hung the bear bag before bed. Once we got everything done there really was no time for hanging out, playing games. We were so tired every night, we went to bed as soon as the sun went down and woke up when the sun rose! Occasionally we would sit and enjoy the views, but most of the time we were exhausted!
We had ultralight chairs that are very small, but felt so good to sit on after hiking 10-15 miles! We averaged about 2 mph. Slow and steady for us. Breakfast was usually a pack of oatmeal, cliff bar or some freeze dried food.
Making sure we always had enough water was probably one of the most important things on our hike. We were constantly figuring out how much we needed to bring with us and how far we had to go to the next water source. We needed enough to drink, hydrate our food, and wash up before bed. We had three Sawyer squeeze filters and two large smart water bottles for easy access. We also had two 2 liter platypus bladders each. We tried many different ways to fill our bottles and filter them so we always had clean water to drink at all times. It was something we always had to be patient with since water was the most important thing on our hike.
We ate lots of healthy snacks like granola, nuts and jerky. You could really tell how much your body needed fuel when hiking so many miles. The human body is amazing!!
Day 2
We headed towards gravel Springs area at 8:30am. If you cross over Skyline Drive and go up the trail, there are several camp spots at the bottom of Marshall. We woke up and started the hike at 8:30am with 2 liters of water each to get make us take us to the next watering spot. Mark found my trail name only a couple miles into our hike yesterday. He called me “Walkie-Talkie.” We decided to call him “Broke Back Mark” since he’s always hurting. He didn’t love that name though so we waited for another good one to come up! :D
Halfway through the hike on day one I got a weird clicking my knee. It was very painful and on day two it started to hurt pretty bad when I went up the hills. It was manageable pain but it really hurt from time to time. Also, I slept funny on my side so my TMJ in my jaw really, really hurt! We powered through though. I also had a tiny piece of glass in my foot. It was on the arch so I didn’t feel like every time, but every so often I went over a rock I could feel the glass.
While hiking, I felt something on my neck. It felt like something bit me. I brushed it off and it was a centipede. We found blackberries on the trail. Yummy! We often could see piles of poo that had blackberries mashed in it. We definitely thought it was bear poo. There was a side trail that lead to an overlook at the top of Mount Marshall! There were signs that said no back country camping but at the top of Mount Marshall. I saw one campsite right by the Overlook Trail. Another campsite was just a quarter mile down the trail when you descend Mount Marshall. There was another campsite right at the top of Mount Marshall and a beautiful overlook where we stopped for a snack.
I was using the Far Out app and All Trails app to track where we were. I also used the Appalachian Trail book and some resources from the Shenandoah website for water and huts to sleep at. The trekking poles had saved my ankles and from rolling a thousand times! Day one and two I used about 45% of my phone. I kept it in airplane mode and not using it but there was usually cell service on the peeks, which made it easy to communicate and navigate.
There was a campsite right off the trail at South Mount Marshall right next to a beautiful overlook!
We stopped for lunch at an overlook to rest our feet. We passed Gravel Spring Hut trying to make it to Elk Wallow before they closed so we could get a hamburger! We saw a hornet’s nest hanging right over the trail along the way! Whoever said the Appalachian Trail is easy, they don’t know what they’re talking about! This has been a very challenging Hike! I thought it was a hike up and along the ridge line, but it is up and down dozens of mountains. It’s much more challenging than I expected.
I figured out why my jaw hurt so bad. I thought it was how I was sleeping, but I realized that when I’m hiking long distances and breathing so hard, I have my mouth open the whole time. I think it made my jaw fatigued. I started to pay attention to it and tried to close my mouth as much as possible.
We got to the top of Hog Back Peak and along the ridge line was lots of wild blackberries. We nibbled all along the trail. I don’t know how anybody would see a bear up here because I was always looking down at the ground not to trip on rocks!
There was a very nice campsite for several tents at the bottom of Hog Wallow Trail down going towards Elk Wallow. And another few campsites, about 2.5 miles before you get to Ocalla southbound on the left. About another half a mile to a mile going south another campsite on the right
We stopped at Elkwallow Wayside to charge phones, eat a hamburger, and assess where we were at. We ran into our British friends again! We started with about 2 1/2 L of water each and used every bit of it. We restocked at Elkwallow. We decided to take an extra couple miles to make the next couple days easier. Hoping we could find some campsites on the side of the trail. We passed Jeremy's run.
About 1.7 miles past Elkwallow Way Station there was a campsite on the right at the top of the mountain. Got into camp at 6:30. Took a few mins to stretch and went to sleep about 9p. We had a hard night to sleep because we were so achy!
Two things that we have not needed or not used so far is sunscreen and entertainment. The Appalachian Trail is so shaded I really hadn’t been a need for it except for some of the overlooks. We also brought a deck of cards. But we are so tired when we get to the campsite where there has never been time for playing cards.
Day 3
We left camp about 8:45am toward Sugarloaf Mountain. There was another campsite a quarter mile down on the left with a pretty view. About a 1/2 mile down, there was another campsite on the left.
We took the Thornton Trail down to Skyline Drive to get water from the spring and walked Skyline Drive to meet back up with Appalachian Trail couple miles down. We found Thornton Springs to be dried up. When we got to Neighbor Mountain Trail/yellow trail there was no water to be found either! So we decided to walk the road toward Thornton Gap because we were out of water. We stopped at an overlook for a few minutes to rest our feet and had cell service and checked in with the family.
We made it to the Thornton, Gap entrance, the bottom of Mary’s rock, at 1:00p, ate lunch and then started to climb Mary’s Rock at 2:30p hoping to get to Pinnacle’s Picnic area. We made it to the top of Mary’s rock at 4:30p.
There are camping spot just after you come down off of Mary’s rock on the right. It’s right after the no camping sign. Just a few feet ahead there’s another little tiny camping spot on the right with a view, and another spot on the left. Three sites total.
We stopped at Birdsnest Hut to take a break, stretch, get a snack. We ran into our friends from Britain again. We ran into them earlier at Mary’s rock also. We also met a new guy named Mac. He was a 70 year old Vietnam vet. He was very nice but very talkative.
At the top of Pinnacle Peak there was a campsite on the right before the overlook.
We made it to the Pinnacle Picnic area at 7:15pm and got water from the fountain. Not far after the picnic area we found a beautiful campsite with grassy fields and tents sites on the left. The picnic area had water and bathrooms. It was a very wonderful place to camp.
Day 4
We got up and broke camp at 8 AM. There were a few more campsites down from ours. It was a wonderful place. I brought three outfits and about four pairs of underwear. When we got to a bathroom I washed my “number one” bandanna and my sweat towel. I washed one of my pants at a campsite and let it dry overnight. I used a Tinkel Bell to go to the bathroom for most of the hiking. It’s so liberating! My “number one” bandana hung off the back of my backpack to dry and I would wash it when I found a bathroom or when we get to a campsite. Most of the trail is wooded and there wasn’t a lot of open spaces. There were pretty views once in a while but it’s definitely back country and mostly woods. It’s pleasant, but the ups and downs were difficult though.
Mark and I chatted most of the time, but we also had lots of quite time. He was a much faster hiker than me so there were many times he would walk ahead and wait for me to catch up. We only really had one disagreement when I wanted to relax when we go to a camp and enjoy the sunset, but he was in a hurry to set up before the sun went down. It wasn’t a big deal and considering the amount of time we spent together we got along very well!
The weather forecast said it was supposed to storm that night. We were concerned and hunkered down our tent, covered up our backpacks with a tarp and prepared for the worst. A couple hours later it turned out to be light rain in the forecast and by the time it was supposed to hit there was no rain at all. We were very blessed! So far, the only rain we had was on the first day, which was just a drizzle.
We couldn’t decide if we preferred hiking downhill, flat, with rocks, or uphill. They were equally difficult and challenging! Flat with no rocks and soft ground was always welcome!
They say you get your trail legs after the third day. That’s totally true. We really humped it on our third day. We did 15.7 miles total. We were pretty tired, but not as exhausted as we were on day one and two.
I had a bandanna hanging on my shoulder strap in the front. I came in really handy when I was sweating really bad going up hills up and down. Another day I had bad allergies, so it was great for wiping my nose. And it also is wonderful to swat gnats.
I used about 50% of my phone each day. The third night I charged up with my portable charger. I was able to charge it full with only using half of my portable charger life. I did charge my phone in the bathroom for a little while a couple of waysides.
My knee started feeling better on day four. It still hurt but not like it did all day one. It was pretty bad for a couple of days and we really weren’t sure if we could make it the whole way with my knee, but it finally eased up and back to normal thank goodness! The glass in my foot was the same but it was manageable.
Let’s talk about poop: There is a learning curve when pooping in the woods. Finding a private location off the trail and digging a hole is the first thing. Then making sure you have privacy and pulling your pants down so you don’t make a mess on yourself is a trick. Aiming for the hole was a problem for me and I missed every time! I just had to dig around and cover my mess. And, don’t forget, we take everything with us, so after cleaning up, all of the toilet paper and wipes go in a Ziplock trash bag to take out with us. Luckly, we got the hang of it, and there were some priveys and bathrooms along the way.
We ran into our British friends again past Pinnacle said hi, but they were on their way. We were taking our time that day, and a little bit slow. We saw a big rat snake cross the trail in front of us and a couple of wild turkeys. No other exciting wildlife though. Still no bears!
We went out to the Little Stony Face overlook. It was beautiful and very windy!
There are lots of places to camp on the trail towards Skyland on the Appalachian Trail, but not the blue trail.
We had lunch at Skyland Resort. We got there too late for breakfast and too early for lunch dining hours, so we just ate at Starbucks. It was the best sandwich we ever ate! Not sure if it was really that good, or we were just happy to have real food!
We met a family at Skyland Resort that was so excited to hear about our trip. The dad was so interested and asking so many questions! It was the highlight of our day.
We headed to big Meadows. The spring after Skyland was running, but you can get water Skyland so I don’t know why you would need it unless you don’t stop at Skyland.
We found the perfect trail name for mark. He has longer legs and walks faster so he's always ahead of me on the trail. Since he's always in front, he catches all of the spider webs. I even tried walking in the front one time to help him, but since I'm short, he still got webs in the face! So his trail name was "Spiderman."
There was a tiny campsite about eighth of a mile after the spring that crosses the creek trail unless inside of pretty overlook. Another campsite on the left about half a mile past skyline The second spring after Skyland going south on the Appalachian Trail is wet, but not enough to fill a water bottle.
Cut your toenails! I cut mine before the hike, but it still hurt pretty bad. I was wearing Brooks shoes to hike and realized I should have gotten a better hiking shoe. Hiking boots aren’t really necessary, and really heavy. Lots of hikers were wearing Altras. They have more room in the toe and I think that would have helped my toes feel better especially on the downhills. My big toes on both sides really took it bad. And it has taken an entire year for the bruise on my right toe to grow out.
There’s a small campsite on the left at the bottom coming down the trail from Hawksbill summit going south on the Appalachian Trail. There’s a couple more camping spots on Hawksbill mountain. We left Skyland with about 2 1/2 L of water each.
DAY 4-9 BLOG POST CONTINUES CLICK HERE