As I was drinking my coffee on Sunday morning, I was reviewing a few of my PATC Section maps. Although I wanted to check out the Massanutten and Tuscarora Trails, I started looking for a short hike we might take, this time over into the George Washington National Forest. I settled on the Woodstock Tower, a Civilian Conservation Corps edifice dating from the 1930's - this will be a two part post on our little trip.
To get to the Woodstock Tower from Luray, we drove up over the front ridge of Massanutten Mountain, then down into Fort Valley. Fort Valley is so named because George Washington apparently planned to fall back for a winter camp over there after Yorktown, but the war ended before that was necessary.
The road through the valley continues north past a couple of campgrounds, an all terrain vehicle trail, and other recreational facilities - not to mention some wonderful farms. We stopped briefly at Camp Roosevelt, which was the first CCC training camp. The gates were closed, but we were able to see some of the old foundations of the CCC buildings.
The tower is reached via a short, pink-blazed trail from a parking area for about 10 cars. The trail is only 1/2 mile long or so, and it has a gentle climb up the ridge to the tower. Total trail time might be 20 minutes if that. We encountered a couple of families coming down from the tower, so the rating on this would be "very easy."
These are photos of the sign marking the traihead, the stone steps on part of the trail, where there seems to be an abandoned fire road crossing. Finally, the tower itself...and the view from underneath the platform.
A "part 2" post on February 12 includes photos of the views from the platform.
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