After viewing the film "A Walk in the Woods" in 2015, my wife decided that she wanted to hike the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, commonly known as the Appalachian Trail or just the AT. After months of research, we decided that we would day-hike as much of the trail as we could before buying the gear needed for backpacking the more remote portions of the trail. This would give us a taste of the trail without the extra weight of camping supplies. During our research, we found this type of hiking is called "slackpacking."
Next, we had to decide where we would start hiking. We chose the section of the AT through Shenandoah National Park for several reasons. First, the trail crosses Skyline Drive numerous times in just over 100 miles. Second, the park is far enough north that we would be ahead of the majority of through-hikers during our mid-April 2016 visit. Third, by utilizing two vehicles, we could shuttle ourselves from trailhead to trailhead without having to hike the trail twice. We chose to start at the southern entrance of the park at Rockfish Gap. We also chose to limit our hiking to about six miles per day for our first week of slackpacking and to evaluate our results before planning further hikes.
Since we had five hours of driving to reach Waynesboro, we planned a short 3.7 mile hike from Rockfish Gap to McCormick Gap for the afternoon of our arrival. We confirmed with the ranger at the entrance station that parking in the grassy field at McCormick Gap was permissible as long as we didn't block either of the gates that allow private landowners access to their property. We parked the second vehicle at a small parking area at the boundary between the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive. With two vehicles, we had to pay two entry fees or have two valid passes.
Although fairly steep, the trail from Rockfish Gap to McCormick Gap was in good condition and well marked with white blazes. Most of the trail is on private land in this area as the park boundary is basically a 500 foot wide corridor centered on Skyline Drive.
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| Topographic map with GPS route |
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| Elevation profile |
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| Rockfish Gap kiosk |
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| Follow the white blazes across Interstate 64 |
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| After following Skyline Drive for a few hundred feet, the trail climbs into the woods |
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| Stone waterbar |
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| Backcountry camping sign-in kiosk |
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| Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) |
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| Moss covered rock outcrop |
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| The trail continues to climb |
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| More rock outcrops |
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| Sedimentary rock tilted to almost vertical |
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| First gate |
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| Trail maintainers sawed a path through the blowdown |
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| Another bloodroot beside the trail |
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| Lichen and moss covered outcrop |
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| Second gate |
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| Old road on left intersects with the trail |
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| Third gate |
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| More boulders on the mountain |
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| This part of the trail has been paved with flat rocks |
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| Looking back at one of the switchbacks |
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| A tree seemingly grows out of solid rock |
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| The trail skirts numerous large outcrops |
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| The AT is marked with white blazes |
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| Ice along the trail |
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| View west toward Waynesboro |
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| Climbing past more outcrops |
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| The trail continues to climb |
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| An unblazed trail descends to the left |
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| This side trail up the mountain is off limits |
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| Roots and rocks |
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| A natural gap in the stone provides a path for the trail |
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| Descending among the boulders |
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| More ice along the trail |
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| An old pipe is used as a trail blaze |
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| Remains of a reinforced concrete trough |
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| Balanced rock |
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| Fungi |
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| Stone stairs |
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| An outcrop along the trail... |
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| ...provides another view of Waynesboro |
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| Skirting another large outcrop |
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| A steep descent, even with switchbacks |
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| Descending Scott Mountain |
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| Fourth gate: "Go everywhere, study everything, fear nothing" |
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| Park boundary with Skyline Drive |
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| McCormick Gap |
A Shenandoah National Park entry fee of $20 per vehicle, $15 per motorcycle or $10 per person is valid for seven consecutive days. Other fee payment options include the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands passes including the Annual Pass ($80), Senior Pass ($10 for lifetime), Access Pass (free with documented disability) and Military Annual Pass (free for active duty personnel).
The Shenandoah National Park website is https://www.nps.gov/shen/index.htm.
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail website is https://www.nps.gov/appa/index.htm.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy website is http://www.appalachiantrail.org/.
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