Lands Run Falls - Another SNP Easy Day Hike

This afternoon, a review of the second of two little hikes I took over the weekend – yesterday was Snead Farm, and today will be Lands Run Falls. Both were selected from the “Best Easy Day Hikes – Shenandoah National Park” book, which you can find on Amazon here:Best Easy Day Hikes Shenandoah National Park, 3rd


The book’s review of the Lands Run Falls hike begins with the admonishment, “[The falls] is not especially high, nor can you see the entire falls from the trail.” I have been using this book for more than five years – long enough to have been disappointed in one or two of the routes, and this is the first one I’ve read that understates an otherwise excellent short hike.



Here are some examples of past disappointments:


· the Ivy Creek route describes the destination as a lovely pool – although the trail progresses through interesting terrain, it never gets far from Skyline Drive, or the sound of motorcycles; and the enticing pool at the end practically drives up during the summer;
· the Mary’s Rock route, while it does mention the 1,210 feet of elevation gain does not do a good job describing the actual steepness of the ascent; and
· the Limberlost review could use an update – this is a very crowded route due to its accessibility to the Parks main developments, Skyland and Big Meadows.

I guess that three out of ten disappointments is a lot for this little book of 26 hikes, but on the whole I’ve been happy with the experiences we’ve had. The short Stonyman interpretive trail is well worth taking; of course, I love the Hawksbill Summit (our mountain, as I like to call it, since it overlooks the hollow where the cabin sits); and there is the Dark Hollow Falls that Mary and I have gone back to many times.


So, despite the foreshadowing of disappointment, I decided to take a chance on Lands Run Falls nonetheless. This trail follows a fire road, so it is well marked. Like many others in the Park, the trail descends from the trailhead, so the return route is an ascent, and while short, it is steep.



Despite all of this, the route treks down through a forest of mature oaks and chestnuts, tucked away in a hollow. I don’t remember taking a lot of trails like this one in the Park – the photo above is of a spectacular group of oaks that is a short way down the trail.

A second photo here is of a new blow down, which was probably less than a month old (there was a recent storm with an F1 tornado in Stanley – I assume this tree came down then). The tree must have blocked the fire road because of the clean up that had been done. The reason I took the photo, however, is because of the long vertical split in the trunk that happened when the tree came down – there was a lot of energy when this happened, as the split is more than 30 feet long, vertical along the trunk!




Just a few feet from the fallen tree, the sound of the falls can be heard, even though it is still a bit of a hike away. The sound accompanies you, and gets louder as you continue downhill around a switchback in the road. Finally, there is a little stream on the left, uphill, side of the trail, which passes through a culvert under the road.




There is a spur trail that follows the stream a hundred feet or so to the top of a little bluff, over grown with ferns and mosses, and with that wonderful canopy of oaks overhead. This is where the stream catapults itself over in a small but beautiful little waterfall.



As I stood on the bluff looking down at this beautiful site, I pondered the hike book’s review. It’s funny that the description there set me up for something altogether different than what I experienced.

After a quick look at the Heatwole guide, it is appropriate to post his review here too:

"The falls are a series of small cascades that descend a total of about 80 feet in a narrow gorge. Except in spring, when the snows are melting, there isn't much water. There is no point from which you can see all the cascades at once. To see the first one, cross the stream to its left bank and cautiously work your way down through the rocks. If you've become attuned to small and subtle pleasures, this place has a great deal of charm. The rocks are covered with mosses, lichen, and polypody. But the hillside is very steep. The ground is carpeted with needles of pine and hemlock, and sometimes dead leaves, so that the footing is treacherous and the descent must be classified as difficult. As I said, this trip is not for everyone. We have bigger falls that are easier to see. This is for the very few hikers who are willing to go to a lot of trouble to find solitude beside a small pool on a mountain stream."

Now, neither of the two hikes here, Lands Run Falls and Snead Farm, is rigorous in any sense of the word. If you’re after “extreme” or “adventure” there are plenty more to choose from in the Park or nearby (you can start by checking the “Day Hikes: Moderate” label, or by taking a look at http://www.hikingupward.com/).

But I will say this about the two hikes – I enjoyed both of them, a lot more than I expected. They helped me with the writer’s block I have been having on the proposal I’ve been working on. And, just as I turned to start my hike back to the trailhead at Lands Run Falls, the young family with their two dogs I’d seen earlier at Snead Farm turned onto the short spur to have a look at the pretty little waterfall.