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Moormans River Loop
The “Moormans River Loop” hike in the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia is a beautiful hike that starts out as a ridge walk, descends into a 10-mile river valley crossing, and ends with a 2.5 mile strenuous switchback stairclimb. My brother and sister and I put in at the Turk’s Gap parking lot around 10 am on a clear, cool Friday in early November 2009. You can reach this area via the north-south ridge-running Skyline Drive, using Highway 250 from the south, or Highway 33 from the north. The first part of the hike is essentially a ridge hike, walking along the top of the Blue Ridge mountains at 2,500-3,000 feet elevation. There were frequent picturesque views of the mountain ranges and at one spot (Rip Rap Overlook, about 3 miles into the hike) we could see at least 50 miles west across the range. From that elevation and with that view, we could easily see the smoky blue haze that hangs over the mountains and gives the Blue Ridge its name. There was an enormous flood, and almost 100 landslides, in this area in 1995. The floods decimated the fish population, washed out roads, streams and bridges in the river bottom, and left huge trees, boulders and bridgeworks strewn across the mountains. 14 years later, although a lot of repair work has been done, the devastation is still obvious, and there are eerie stretches of enormous broken tree trunks, twisted driftwood and rockslides all along the AT. (Note: there is not much water on this stretch of the trail—best to start with enough to last 10 miles or so). We hiked 8.9 miles north from Turk’s Gap parking lot on the AT, according to my GPS, to an intersection with the North Fork Moormans River Road, an old fire road that is now unusable because of the flood. But it makes for a nice hiking trail, and we turned right and east and descended from about 2,800 feet into the Moormans River Valley about 1,500 feet below. Navigation so far had been pretty easy—trails clearly blazed and signs indicating turnoffs. The hike along the North Fork of the Moormans River is quite scenic. The river ran in the same direction as we walked, starting as a bubbling brook, but soon becoming a rocky, shallow, trout stream that stretched 25 yards across in spots. At around 10 miles into the hike, the old fire road actually takes you out of the park for a stretch and onto private land, but you re-enter after about 1.5 miles. Water obviously becomes adequate at this point. Hiking another 3 miles along the river, and crossing it back and forth several times, we found a rock ledge where we made camp for the night. At this point we had 13.5 miles under our belts and earned a well-deserved rest. On Saturday morning, after some hot coffee to shake of the chill of a sub-freezing night, we got back on the North Fork around 8 am, still criss-crossing the river at shallow points. The scenery kept improving—small waterfalls, trout pools (made me wish I had brought a hook and a line), massive rock outcroppings. We were obviously walking right down the fall line of two mountain ridges, and that type of geography leads invariably to a lake or, in this case, the Charlottesville Reservoir. The reservoir is visible in spots, but the trail diverts away just shy of it. At around 16.5 miles into the hike, we came to a parking lot with a trash barrel and a bunch of signs telling us what we couldn’t do (fish, hunt, camp, swim…basically we were allowed to sit there and look around but don’t even think about a campfire. It’s a good spot to dump trash, though). It is not well-marked but to pick the trail back up we needed to go through the parking lot and once again cross the river. At this point we began to hike the South Fork of the Moormans River, which ran against us now, as we began to go back up the mountain. The Nothing Permitted parking lot is right at 1,000 feet, and Turks Gap is at about 2,500 feet, so we had some climbing to do. The South Fork makes the North Fork look like an ugly sibling. The waterfalls get bigger, the trout pools deeper, and we began to come across old chimneys, housing foundations and washed-out bridge abutments that clearly indicated life in these hills going back generations. At around 19 miles into the hike, the trail forked: we picked the right fork, the Turks Gap Trail, and began the 3.5 mile hike back up to the parking lot. There is plenty of aerobic workout and leg burn in that little stretch. We got back to our cars at around 12:30, giving us total trail time (not counting the camping) of about 10 hours. The total distance of the hike was about 22.5 miles. Necessity Rank (for the serious AT hiker, where does this rank on the importance scale? 10=must do someday before I die, 1=I’d rather be bowling): 10. If there is a prettier stretch of hiking than the 10 miles or so along the Moorman’s River, I haven’t seen it, and it is a fun, challenging hike. We went in the fall, when the leaves were still colorful, but I bet a summer hike here would be the bomb. Difficulty Rank (how strenuous is the hike for the casual-but-in-decent-shape hiker? 10=Mt. Katahdin in winter, 1=take the grandparents and the kiddies along): 6. With overnight rucks, we crossed the river over a dozen times and only fell in once. But those rocks can get sharp and slippery and a fall on them would hurt—a lot. The ridge and valley hikes were pretty easy, but that last stretch back up the hill called for several breaks and not a few curse words. Other Notes: --Best wildlife spotted: Two juvenile bobcats, maybe the size of Jack Russell terriers, seriously muscled, jogging across Skyline Drive with a cocky manner fit to freeze a squirrel’s blood. --Shorten or lengthen the hike based on where you put in on Skyline Drive. More southerly gaps like Beagle or Jarmans can give you several more miles if you want it, or more northerly gaps like Wildcat or Rip-Rap can shorten it. --The motto of my crowd is, less hiking, more camping, and pass me that bota bag! But the more ambitious hiker can certainly do this loop in one rigorous day. Alternatively, if you want to overnight but don’t like slinging a tent, hike past the North Fork River Road on the first day another mile or so to the Blackrock Hut, overnight there, and in the morning backtrack to start the descent into the river valley. --The Shenandoah National Park could do a better job of explaining the rules on their website. $15 for entering Skyline Drive seems a little stiff. So does the “no fires anywhere” rule, not even at the shelters. Overnight stays also require a permit (just paperwork, no additional fees). They do have good maps at the entrance stations, though, and weather forecasts. --Looking for a family option? Google map Sugar Hollow Road, drive past the reservoir going west about 1.5 miles, to the Nothing Permitted parking lot. Leave the mini-van there and hike up the North Fork about 1.5 miles—there is a beautiful natural pool there perfect for picknicking, rock skipping and summer swimming.
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