Jones Run - Doyles River Part 2

This is the second part of my review of the Jones Run/Doyles River hike we took last Saturday. I posted the first part yesterday. There are quite a few additional points of interest about this hike that I came across while we were planning the outing, so along with some more photographs, I thought I might mention them here.

In the post yesterday, I mentioned the three large waterfalls that you encounter while you are on this 6.5 mile trek – one on Jones Run and two more on Doyles River. Because the two streams tumble down separate gorges on the way to their confluence, there are a number of smaller waterfalls and cascades along the path. There were so many we didn’t even keep a count of them.

I took a look at the newly updated and now web-friendly “Heatwole Guide” that I like to consult for my Shenandoah National Park hikes – the link here will take you to a page with this and several other hikes: http://www.guidetosnp.com/web/LogoftheDrive/logs4.aspx . Heatwole mentions the Brown family, settlers in the area starting in the mid-1700’s, as a part of the local culture. This family prospered and expanded, and as I learned in the “Undying Past” book, eventually had a second branch in the North District area as well – the locale Browntown near Bentonville is named after them, as Brown’s Gap here in the South District is. There is an Amazon link to that book at the end of the post.

Heatwole also notes that the Fire Road, which we used to close out our hike and is shown in one of the photos, was built as a turnpike by the Browns. It was used for Civil War traffic by Stonewall Jackson and Jubal Early. The Heatwole guide also mentions a couple of other Civil War sites in his review, including the location of a gun placement by Early’s troops, which allowed for mustering without Union harassment after the defeat at Winchester.

A last note on other sources: earlier this winter Backpacker magazine posted a review of this hike, which can be found with a search for “Jones Run Shenandoah” or similar on their website (down for maintenance as I write, I may come back and update with a link in the future). One of the highlights I recall from that article is a note about the hardwoods in the Doyles River gorge. They are tulip poplars – many of the ones we saw on our hike were more than 100 feet tall. There is more about them on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_poplar .

As far as a recommendation goes, if you are after a hike with waterfalls, you will get your money’s worth here. There is a nice historical context for the area, and the hardwoods are beautiful, even if they were just leafing out during our trip. But you’ll definitely want to go in the spring, while the streams are flowing. By September, the falls are nearly dry.