Leonard M. Adkins - Explorers Guide 50 Hikes in Northern Virginia: Walks, Hikes, and Backpacks from the Allegheny Mountains to Chesapeake Bay () (Explorers 50 Hikes)

Cold Harbor Trail entering the woods

Every part of this soil is sacred.

Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove

Has been hallowed by some sad or happy event

In days long vanished.

Chief Seattle

In memory of Leonard Wilson Adkins,

who understandingly said to me,

I know you need to go hiking, son, so go.

I think I know now the secret of making the best person.

It is to live in the open air and sleep with the earth.

Walt Whitman

OTHER BOOKS BY LEONARD M. ADKINS

50 Hikes in Southern Virginia: From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean

50 Hikes in Maryland: Walks, Hikes, and Backpacks from the Allegheny Plateau to the Atlantic Ocean

50 Hikes in West Virginia: From the Allegheny Mountains to the Ohio River

Hiking and Traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway: The Only Guide You Will Ever Need, Including GPS, Detailed Maps, and More

Images of America: Along the Appalachian Trail: New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut

Images of America: Along the Appalachian Trail: Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee

Images of America: Along the Appalachian Trail: West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania

Images of America: Along Virginias Appalachian Trail

Postcards of America: Along Virginias Appalachian Trail

Wildflowers of the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains

The Appalachian Trail: A Visitors Companion

Wildflowers of the Appalachian Trail

The Best of the Appalachian Trail Day Hikes (with Victoria and Frank Logue)

The Best of the Appalachian Trail Overnight Hikes (with Victoria and Frank Logue)

Maryland: An Explorers Guide

West Virginia: An Explorers Guide

Seashore State Park: A Walking Guide

Adventure Guide to Virginia

The Caribbean: A Walking and Hiking Guide

My name may be on the front cover of this book, but I owe a debt of gratitude to all of the people who willingly devoted time, energy, and expertise in seeing that the information presented is as complete and accurate as possible:

Bob Tennyson, Bud Risner, Douglas H. Graham, James Hunt, Dave Benavitch, Dawn Coulson, Sharon Mohney, Ronald Swann, David Rhodes, Wade L. Bushong, Cynthia Snow, Stephanie Chapman, Krissy Sherman, and John Coleman with the U.S. Forest Service; Emond Raus, Michael Andrus, Steve Bair, Donald Pfanz, Deanne Adams, Bob Hickman, Janet Stombock, James Burgess, Stephanie Pooler, Matt Graves, Arthur C. Webster III, and Donald W. Campbell with the National Park Service; Karen Michaud and the staff of Shenandoah National Park; Tim Vest, Scott Shanklin, Paul Billings, Shawn Spencer, John A. Reffit, Charli Conn, Steve Davis, Jeff Foster, Kathy Budnie, Vanessa Lewis, Kenneth Benson, Jess Lowry, David Stapleton, Alison Weddle, and Forrest Gladden III with the Virginia Division of State Parks; Vance Coffey with the Virginia Department of Forestry; Kristi Barber, Becky Holliday, and Andy Lunsford with the Newport News Park; H. B. Radar with the Volunteers of Cumberland State Forest; Calvin Pearson with the City of Hampton; Darrell Winslow and Carol Ann Cohen with the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority; Glen Rowe with the Lancaster Public Works; Dede Smith, Elizabeth Murray, and R. J. Bartholomew with the Ivy Creek Foundation; Vaughn Stanley with Stratford Hall Plantation; Greta Miller with the Shenandoah National Park Association; Rebecca O. Wilson with the Department of Natural Heritage; J. E. Raynor with the Old Dominion Appalachian Trail Club; Nancy D. Anthony with the Natural Bridge Appalachian Trail Club; Henry Bashore of Kilmarnock, Virginia; and good trail friends Bob Ellenwood, Pat Love, Bill Foot, Steve Gomez, and Ann Messick.

Carl Taylor, Robin Dutcher, and Gretchen Gordonthank you for helping make my foot travels become this book. Kathleen, John, Timmy, and Jay Yelenicthanks for opening your home and family to me. Nancy Adkinsthanks for life, Mom. Lauriethanks for sharing life with me.

A thunderous round of applause to the builders and maintainers of all trails.

50 Hikes in Northern Virginia at a Glance

Contents

Only a person traveling by foot can truly appreciate the natural beauty to be found in Virginia. The two flower scars evident on a tiny red partridgeberry or the rich aroma and cool temperatures of an evergreen forest will be overlooked by those passing through in an automobile. Virginias most impressive waterfalls are accessible only to someone who is willing to put forth a bit of effort to reach them, and the majestic serenity of a golden sunset shining on distant mountains is made all the more inspiring when you know you have reached the viewpoint under your own power. Only by walking on a quiet beach will you be permitted to study etchings in the sand that mark the movements of a ghost crab or have the time to watch the swooping silhouette of an osprey outlined by a silvery glow reflecting off saltwater.

The topography of the northern portion of Virginia, stretching from the craggy summits of the Allegheny Mountains to the soft shores of the Chesapeake Bay, provides some of the widest variety of hiking terrain and sights to be found in any of the Middle Atlantic states. In the eastern part of the commonwealththe coastal plain where land meets saltwateryou will often find yourself hiking up and down minor changes in elevation and walking past herons and egrets as they fish in small swamps, brackish ponds, and slow-moving streams. The Piedmont in central Virginia is characterized by gently rolling land that will lead you into grassy meadows for open views almost as often as you will be treading in mixed hardwood forests. Influenced by narrow mountains and their spreading spur ridges, trails in the Blue Ridge and Massanutten Mountains either follow the rises and falls of fluctuating mountain crests or descend past quickly flowing streams and waterfalls into small valleys and coves. The mountains of western Virginia are the least populated, and it is here that you will find the most rugged yet isolated and quiet hiking and have the best chance of viewing the states abundant wildlife.

This book was originally envisioned as a guide to 50 hikes throughout the entire state. It soon became apparent, however, that by trying to incorporate so much area, I would actually be limiting myself, and you, by having to reject and ignore far too many places deserving of your hiking time and attentions. By concentrating on only about half the state, it is possible to include many of the most enjoyable and rewarding hikes in the northern part of Virginia. With descriptions of more than 360 miles of pathways, this book offers hikes for every degree of physical stamina and time constraint. Best of all, no matter where you happen to be at any given moment (north of US 60), you are never going to be more than a 30- to 45-minute drive away from one of the hikes.