Those of you who are familiar with my blog probably think that this trail sounds familiar. It is. I had intended to go hiking on a much different trail, but I ran into difficulty:
Always check road conditions before heading out. The place I wanted to go was on a Forestry road. I didn’t check to see if the gate was locked. It was locked. So, rather than call it quits and head home, I thought I’d revisit this trail, since it was in the area and I knew the route more or less.
This time, there was no snow, so it was a lot easier going. Winter is still holding on stubbornly (although Spring is quite definitely here now as of this writing) so it was still quite chilly when I first started out, although I could tell that this would probably be the last hike I’d need my long johns for quite some time.
The trail follows a lot of switchbacks on the way up, and it is very steep, probably doing about 1500 feet of elevation within a few miles. Once you get up to the intersection at Shawl Gap, it is pretty easy hiking along the ridge to Buzzard Rocks themselves. There are pretty views all around and plenty of interesting rock formations.
This time, I was actually able to use the (steep and somewhat unmaintained) shortcut trails on the way back. I’d been entirely alone up until the very end, when I did finally see a couple of hikers making their way up, and I helped them out with directions. They complimented me on my hiking staff.
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| 2013-04-09 Buzzard Rock |
Hiking Northern Virginia 