Massanutten Mountain Day Hike

Directions

From DC, go West on I-66 towards Front Royal. Travel about 50 miles to exit 13. Turn left at the bottom of the exit and go about 1/4 mile to a light with two gas stations. Turn right at the light onto VA 55 towards Front Royal. Continue about 5 miles passing a shopping center, a McDonalds, and get into the left lane. Turn left onto VA 340 (aka Stonewall Jackson Highway). Continue about 9 miles to entering the small town of Bentonville. Turn right onto Indian Hollow Road or VA 613. (The right turn is about 1000 ft passed the left turn for VA 613) Continue on Indian Hollow Road about a mile. (You will cross a bridge with no guard rails shown in the photo).

Just after the bridge, bear right on Panhandle Road keeping the river on your right. Travel up the country road following the blue blazes until you reach the intersection of Panhandle and River Oak Road. You will see a fence and a sign on your right (right photo). Turn left at the intersection following the small path (left photo) and park in the lot to the right of the Road Closed Sign.

The Hike

It is amazing to be hiking in February on dry ground with blue skies and temperatures in the 50s. We traveled up the Tuscarora Trail (blue blazes) up the side of the mountain. The hike up was fairly straight with hardly any sharp turns or switchbacks. Lots of leaves, but not too rocky. At the top of the ridge we turned left onto the Massanutten Trail toward Milford Gap.

With no leaves on the trees, we had spectacular views of the winding Shenandoah River below. Even on top of the ridge, we only had a slight breeze so it was surprisingly warm enough to be in short sleeves. Along the ridge we found a lunch spot with rocks to sit on, lots of moss, and a clearing in the trees with views of the river below. The time of our hike was about 1:40 minutes up, then about a 45 minute break/lunch, then about 1:30 minutes back.

In the map below, the approximate location of the trailhead and our lunch spot are marked.

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