Calf Mountain, an Easy SNP Day Hike

To start my vacation outings in Shenandoah National Park – and my so-called “Week on Skyline Drive” – I decided to drive south on US 340 to Waynesboro, entering the Park at Rockfish Gap. Along the way, I passed some industry that I didn’t know was present in the Valley, but was pleased to find: a Miller Brewing plant, and a Merck plant – this traces back to some of the Valley economy posts and will be worth a revisit in the future.

Also, as I was driving up to the Park, I passed a large outfitter shop – Rockfish Gap Outfitters, I think. Howard spoke highly of them, but I didn’t stop there, as I had two short hikes in mind for this day. Passing through the entry station, I saw a couple of thru hikers (south bound, of course) lunching at the picnic tables. I continued north on Skyline Drive to Beagle Gap at milepost 99.5.

My plan was to do the “Calf Mountain” hike described in the Easy Day Hikes book (link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0762734159?ie=UTF8&tag=hawkscabin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0762734159 ). This is a two mile out-and-back that follows the AT, summiting the mountain at 2,900+ feet, after a climb of 443 feet. The trail, as with most sections of the AT, is well maintained and marked. I passed a group of three hikers, north bound, but I am pretty sure they were section hikers. They appeared to have been on the trail for a few days.

This was one of several hikes, like Snead Farm and Fox Hollow, that I have taken after reading about them in the book that offer an anthropological perspective on the development of the Park. Often, the connection you get is a description of a view that is now overgrown with new growth woods – much of this ridge was cleared for farming as the Park was first established, and the woods have obscured this fact over the ensuing 70-plus years.

Not so with Calf Mountain…the hikes starts with a gentle climb through a still cleared field, populated with fruit trees, wild berries, and staghorn sumac. Here are some photos of a small peach orchard and an old apple tree. There are several more orchards along the trail which no longer bear fruit as these do.

Another reminder of the old farmsteads is this stone wall, which I did not find documentation of in the guides I was using. It is well built and surprised me, appearing suddenly just to the right and left, with the trail going over it.

Finally, near the top, there was this large rock formation with the blaze painted directly on it.

A short hop to get up, then a couple of hundred yards further, and there is the summit, marked by a USGS medallion and a small cairn of rocks.

On my return trek, I took a short spur off of the AT to a rock outcropping and found a limited view to the east, but overall there isn’t much view finding on this trail to speak of. So I was content to think about what had been here at one time, as discovered in the traces left behind.

It’s a day hike I’m giving high marks to; and I understand that there is a second summit to Calf Mountain, one that offers views to the West that I’ll have to put on my list for the future.