Top Trails: Shenandoah National Park. Johnny Molloy

       Geological Interest

       Great Views

      Descend among rocky woods. Notice how the winds have sculpted the trees to face easterly. Reach the slender Sugarloaf Trail at 0.3 mile. 3 Turn right onto a singletrack path lined with mountain laurel beneath scattered oaks. Briefly run parallel to Skyline Drive, joining an old wagon road. The Sugarloaf Trail curves back to the right, winding on a slightly sloped ridge, former pastureland. Descend to step over two rocky streamlets, wide but shallow feeder branches of the Piney River. Straight rock pioneer walls contrast with the fluid shapes of nature. Backpackers can find legal campsites off the trail in the next mile or so. This loop is a great break-in trip for the novice overnighter and a quick, quality one-night getaway for everyone.

      Reach a trail junction at mile 1.7. Turn right onto the Pole Bridge Link Trail. 4 The land is level in these parts—for mountain land. It was cultivated too, despite the rocks you see. Pass through a changing forest, where hardwoods, such as black birch and yellow birch, are vying to replace the fallen hemlocks that once colored the vale evergreen. The gradual descent leads to another trail junction at 2.1 miles. Stay right with the Piney Branch Trail. 5

      Step over the rocky branches you crossed earlier before reaching the upper Piney River in 0.1 mile. Large boulders and rocks line the watercourse. Cross the river to reach a grassy flat flanked by a large boulder. This locale makes a nice respite. A set of cascades downstream of this crossing are worth a look.

       Stream

       Geological Interest

       Wildlife

      Leave this low point of the loop—you are now a little higher than 2,500 feet—and start climbing toward the crest of the Blue Ridge on a gentle grade. Big rocks line the trailbed. At mile 3.2, pass through an open area with a tremendous rock face rising up the hill to your right. 6 In September, bears converge and eat cherries from trees that grow nearby. You will see much purple, seed-laden bear scat along this path in the fall.

       Ridgeline

      Curve uphill away from the roadbed to cross a second roadbed near a national park survey marker. The AT is just uphill, at 3.5 miles. Turn right onto the AT, making northbound tracks through open woodland where large widespread oaks grow over grass. 7 Younger trees vie for sunlight. Undulate over a rocky hill to reach Skyline Drive at 3.7 miles. 8 Rattlesnake Point Overlook is just up the road on your right. Keep northbound, crossing Skyline Drive, and ascend the south side of Hogback Mountain.

       Great Views

      A side trail at mile 4.0 leads left to an outcrop with views. 9 The ridgeline that is Massanutten Mountain forms a backdrop to South Fork Shenandoah River Valley. Range upon range of Shenandoah’s mountains roll south. Dip into a pretty, grassy gap, then resume climbing to reach the Tuscarora–Overall Run Trail at mile 4.5. 10 Pass a limited vista point on trail right before drifting into the parking area at mile 4.7, completing your loop. 11

       MILESTONES