Bird Knob Hike

Bird Knob - Shenandoah, Virginia

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Length	Difficulty	Streams	Views	Solitude	Camping
8.0 mls		N/A
Hiking Time: Elev. Gain: Links: Lodging: Resources:	5.0 hours plus a half hour for lunch 1,690 ft with two ascents George Washington National Forest Apple Blossom Inn Printable Topo Hike Map (PDF) New Market Weather Forecast Graphic Precip/Temp Forecast Current Weather Radar Loop (Java) Garmin (GDB), GPS eXchange (GPX) (What's this?) 3D View of Route!
From:	e.g. 12000 Government Center Parkway 22035 or Fairfax VA Park at the Forest Service Headquarters

There are two spectacular vistas just 1.5 miles into this hike after the Massanutten Trail levels off on the ridge. Once you have passed the vistas the route is an uneventful loop with a nice swimming hole on the Bird Knob Trail. Don't forget to stop at Pack's Custard Stand on Rt211 in New Market on the way back!

Start out the hike near the FRONT of the parking area on the white blazed Wildflower Trail. NOT the paved Nature Trial at the end of the parking area. Follow the white blazed trail downhill for 0.3 miles where you reach a bench and the intersection of the orange blazed Massanutten Trail.

Turn right uphill on the orange blazed trail for the steepest section of the hike as it winds around the mountain and climbs through a bolder field before arriving at the ridge line in 0.7 miles from the last intersection.

Follow the ridge uphill and in 0.4 miles arrive at the first of two great vistas. Then in another 200ft the second great vista comes into view. This section of the hike is where you are most likely to run into other hikers.

Continue on the trail for another 0.8 miles to the intersection of the white blazed Bird Knob Trail. Turn right on the white blazed trail. Shortly pass an un-maintained trail on the left, then in 0.8 miles from the Massanutten/Bird Knob intersection stay right as you pass another un-blazed trail that connects from the left.

In 1.0 miles the white blazed trail makes a sharp left downhill through a small clearing then veers left again. Stay on the trail as it descends, then ascending before passing a Forestry Service (FS) road on the left that leads to a swimming hole. Continue up the white blazed trail for another 300ft where you pass a closed gate and turn left on a FS road that is also the orange blazed Massanutten Trial.

Head uphill for 0.4 miles on the orange blazed FS road before the road makes a hairpin right. Stay straight passing a closed gate and continuing on the orange blazed trail. In 0.4 miles from the gate reach an intersection, stay right remaining on the orange blazed trail. Then in 0.7 miles pass through a small clearing and arrive back at the Bird Knob Trail intersection.

Now turn right downhill retracing your steps back past the two vistas and descending back to the white blazed Wildflower Trail where you turn left to return back to the forestry service visitors center and parking area.

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Hiker Reviews For The Bird Knob Hike (5 Most Recent)

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By:	Rating:	Date of Hike: Sunday, December 04, 2011
Hiked into Bird Knob today ...clear w /some haze, 50-52 degrees, Nice hike and was surprised trail is in good shape, nice views and a fairly descent rock scramble towards the peak, nice nature trail paved (at parking lot area), It is exactly what the site says it is, great place to stretch the legs, Nice summit and camping area, all in all a nice hike!

By:	Rating:	Date of Hike: Monday, August 22, 2011
The 1.5-mile hike to vistas makes for a great quick outing if you're in the area. There isn't much to see on the rest of the hike. I'd say the swimming hole is more like a pond. The water is murky and wasn't an inviting place (at least for me) to take a swim. Much better swimming spots can be found at hikes such as St. Mary's Falls, Riprap Hollow, Moorman's River, etc. I didn't have any problems finding the swimming hole/pond. After leaving the clearing on the white-blazed trail, keeping heading downhill. As soon as the trail bottoms out and start going uphill, be on the lookout for a forest service road on the left. Take that road to the pond.

By:	Rating:	Date of Hike: Saturday, July 30, 2011
http://www.meetup.com/funtrailblazers/events/23569641/ I joined the Strasberg Meet up today since they posted Bird Knob which I'd never done. The reviews made it sound like an "unfun" hike. Quite the contrary. It was delightful today even though it was in the 90s and I'm definitely coming back in the fall to see all the colors. I would have given it 5 stars but there was about a mile of the Massanutten Trail which was on the boring Federal Service Road. We never did find the swimming hole along the white blaze Bird Knob trail any tricks to finding it much appreciated.

By: Annie	Rating:	Date of Hike: Saturday, May 02, 2009
I would rate this as a level 3 difficulty hike up until the point of the 2 vistas, which were spectacular, but the remainder of the hike was too easy. Moreover, when we got to Bird Knob, we saw that the area had been freshly cleared by crawler machines. The ground was muddy and all the vegetation had been pulled up. There didn't seem to be a trail to Bird Knob itself, nor was there a vista, which was a disappointment. The remainder of the trail from there consisted mostly of walking on roads, either grassy or of gravel. The best part of the hike was Pack's Custard Stand! :)

By:	Rating:	Date of Hike: Saturday, March 07, 2009
This is our second trip on the Bird Knob hike. We have a 11 month old daughter now that came along for her first hike. We hiked the entire loop on our first trip in the snow and found it to be very uneventful so this time we did an out & back to the overlooks. The best part about this hike is the first 1.6 miles, where you earn the views. There are several rocks to enjoy the view from so we ended up having one outcropping to ourselves for over an hour.

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Early August