This trail ended up being my final hike out of the Best Easy Day Hikes book, number 26 of the 26 that are reviewed there. Both the Easy Day Hikes book and Heatwole describe the Byrds Nest Summit and Shelter Number 4 as an easy hike through pleasant forest scenery, and I couldn’t argue with that. Although the Easy Day Hikes book outlines a circuit of 3.2 miles and climb of nearly 500 feet, I added in a little section of the AT that passes through here, freelancing off of the trail map I picked up at the entry station – so my hike was probably a little longer and had more altitude variation than their review had.
I should note that I had some photos taken in June 2010 to accompany this post, but failed to upload them…when I dropped the Moto RAZR last week I lost them. Maybe sometime I’ll revisit Byrds Nest Shelter Number 4, and if I do, I’ll post photos at that time.
Interestingly, looking at the Heatwole guide (my copy is the 1988 fourth edition), Henry describes the facilities at the shelter as having a pit toilet and a water faucet, but I either didn’t see or didn’t notice these during my visit…Heatwole also mentions a couple of nearby viewpoints that should be only a couple of hundred yards away, but I think they are overgrown now, and Henry goes as far as to qualify the description of them with the remark, “if they are still there.”
For a few minutes I considered the quality of this location, and then I chuckled to myself remembering a couple of passages in Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods.” In one place, he mentions a shelter somewhere south of Byrds Nest Shelter 4 where some Boy Scouts arrive shortly after he and hiking buddy Katz arrive. The Boy Scouts set to work, are cheerfully incompetent, and are “better than TV.”
In another passage Bryson describes coming to Gravel Springs Hut, which is north of Byrds Nest 4, again with Katz, but this time arriving in the rain. They are joined there by a group of six day hikers who have decided to “rough it” in overnight in the shelter, complete with libations.
Upon encountering Katz and Bryson in the shelter, one of the women says, “Ooh, do we have to share?” and things rapidly go downhill from there. Katz gets a form of revenge at the end of the story as they part ways – and that’s what gave me a laugh as I looked out on the meadow in front of the shelter. Gravel Springs Hut is probably another dozen miles north of Byrds Nest 4, but still, I was happy for the little memory.
Things were going nicely for a short while, and the shelter was a very nice facility, looking out over a little meadow. The weather was changing, it was growing overcast, and then I heard some thunder rumbling off in the distance. Growing concerned, I sped off into the woods.
With so many trails coming into the shelter area, I must have made a wrong turn somewhere along the way, and found myself on a side tail that I could not find on the map in the Easy Day Hikes book (I keep it in my pocket for reference when I do these hikes). I decided to put that book away and exclusively use the Park Service map, combined with the trusty compass on my Pathfinder watch, in order to navigate back to Skyline Drive.
It was very dark in the woods for the remainder of the hike, and my anxiety about the wrong turn made the walk seem very long – even though it really wasn’t. I remember that this was quite a beautiful part of the forest, as a matter of fact, in a hollow on the west side of the ridge, and not yet fully leafed out. At those times where I could put the worries out of my mind I enjoyed the views, and thought that a car shuttle hike doing a few miles of the AT through this area could be nice.
For all the anxiety, this pleasant memory of a book well read and the glimpses of natural beauty made up this into a not-so-bad experience. I exited the woods at Skyline Drive, and quickly assessed that I was south of where I had parked the car. I hiked a couple of hundred yards along the Drive back to the parking lot.
The moral of this story is simple – while it is relatively difficult to get lost in Shenandoah National Park, since you are always only a few miles away from Skyline Drive if you are on a blue or white blazed trail, you should always take the precaution of having a map, a compass, and some extra drinking water with you. Given the terrain, there are still a lot of areas where cell service doesn’t reach. Even so, it shouldn’t be too difficult to survive here with these things, and being without them will probably more likely mean you are in for some discomfort rather than in an actual life-threatening situation.
So that’s a lesson I’ve taken to heart – even though I will scamper off on many of the Easy Day Hikes book’s hikes sans backpack, I will typically have extra water, a couple of maps, and my trusty Casio Pathfinder with compass on hand. Since I use my cell phone for photographs, I always have it with me, too, although I don’t expect to have service much of the time on the hikes.
To close the post, here are Amazon links to the Easy Day Hikes book and the Bryson book, both mentioned above. Appalachian Outdoors Adventures in Luray often has them in stock. You can also find a link to the Casio Pathfinder over there - - > in the right hand column!
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