Riprap Trail at Shenandoah National Park - Final Post

As we finally turned on to the part of the trail that promised to lead us to a view and then the two rock formations – Calvary Rock and Chimney Rock, the heat was getting to us and Mary was feeling the after effects from a week of painting the cabin interior. We slowed our pace so that we could get to the Calvary Rock vista at least – she was a real trooper.

The first photo is of her at one of the talus fields on Rocks Mountain. At this point, there was still a climb and about 500 yards to go before we reached Calvary Rocks. There is another photo of the talus field below.

Below, there is a photo of Calvary Rocks. The rocks in this formation are made of white quartz, and the geologic history of them dates back 500 million years, apparently they are among the youngest rocks in the Park…a Google search of “Calvary Rocks Shenandoah” will take you to a very interesting history, not only of the quartz formations but of the whole ridge.

The next two photos are some of the scenery from Calvary Rocks, and one of me at the top there. The rocks are named because of pretty exceptional views northwest into the Shenandoah Valley area.

After reaching this viewpoint, we decided to turn back for the day, rather than going on to Chimney Rock. Other guides describe a number of other worthwhile features on the longer Riprap circuit hike, which we didn’t take. That hike is about 9.5 miles long, as it was, due to the detour we took at the beginning of this hike, we’d done about 4.5 miles on our route.

We are now going to be looking for some sturdier hiking boots for Mary; the pair she’s been using dates from a 2002 visit to Yosemite, where we first climbed the Mist Trail. She’s probably only 100 miles into them, but due to the time, and a couple of creeks crossings, I think they are worn out. We’ll keep you posted on the gear search.