Great North to Shenandoah Mountain [Dry River Ranger District]

Va 259 is not an appetizing walk, but it "gets you there" until a better route can be found. I did not find Va 820 to be very offensive. There is a narrow grass strip on much of it and the blind spots were much less severe than say Rt 678 coming into Elizabeth Furnace/Passage Creek where speeding cars meet road crossing fishermen and hikers all the time or the similar Rt. 39 at Goshen Pass. In my opinion, the suggested trail route along FDR 85 near Reddish Knob is much narrower and more dangerous. I looked hard for any alternatives but could not find any. The fairly extensive Mennonite Highland Retreat on the east side offers up a possible route down from Church Mtn. I also note that my old map shows a trail on the west side going up a run just inside Va. on 259 and eventually coming down Brushy Run, thus avoiding much road walking. I only found a private farm road near where this trail would start and the Brushy Run Road could have private property issues. I did not scout this. Until a trail can be built bypassing Va 259 and 820 - I think we have a tolerable alternative with this route. I also note that the Green Valley General Store was closed with an undated sign saying "Closed for a week, maybe two." It would be a shame to lose this scarce resource on the trail if the owner has problems.

Blue Hole picnic area does not have water; an outhouse is the only "improvement". I drove up TR 302 (not suitable for my low clearance car) and did not definitively identify TR 594. TR 594 at the southern end was clearly an access point to the national forest on my first visit but the forest access sign on the gate was gone on my most recent visit. This could be a major problem as the federal land on the east side of the trail is rather steep and a detour might be a bit lengthy.

My map shows private land going up Clay Lick Run for almost a mile. Not sure how/why/if the federal government lost the easement here. My map also shows trails going partly up both Snake Hollow and Sumac Run. If these are usable, one could tie in directly to FDR 232 and avoid all paved road walking (Rt. 818) in this area.

The FDR 1117 and FDR 232 route appears much preferable to walking up Va 818 for a considerable distance but I don’t know how much distance is cut off by staying on the main road vs old road "trails". From Rt. 259, it is about 5 miles driving up Rt. 818 to trail 594 and another .7 mi. to FDR 1117. It is marked as Toms Park Lane. Parking for scouting is O.K. here. I easily drove up FDR 87 but was persuaded by some loose rock from continuing on FDR 85. There was a road crew out working on improving both FDR roads, but I didn’t ask whether I could get my city car going much further. I forgot to check the spring (Sand Spring) on 87 a little ways past 85.

1,2: I covered both these sections this trip and recommend we "live with" this route. Need to monitor the general store here as it is the only provision point for the entire northern part of the trail.

3,4: Good route but the private land issue is a major concern. I covered #3 recently but suggest we contact the forest service soon re: access to trail 594.

5,6,7,8,9: I covered the road portions of the route (Rts Va 818 & FDR 87). Recommend the FDR 1117 and FDR 232 route, which should be hiked to note trail junctions, etc. FDR 232 was not gated but did not look easily driveable. Deep ruts were visible.