Dobie Mountain is not as popular as its neighbor, Humpback Rocks, but is a nice hike if you want to get away from the crowds. Less than 1.1 miles into the hike you will reach the Glass Hollow Overlook that has some great views of Rockfish Valley. We had lunch at the Paul C. Wolfe Shelter and then returned via the Albright Loop Trail with a side visit to a visible plane wreck just off the trail.
We parked at the Humpback Rocks Parking Area (MP6 on the Blue Ridge Parkway). This hike can be done as a shortened 4.0 mile hike or as a 6.8 mile hike if you choose to go to the shelter for lunch.
The blue-blazed trail begins to the right of the picnic table and directly in front of the first parking spot, do not take the well signed Albright Loop Trail to the left of the picnic table or you will miss the Glass Hollow Overlook. There is no sign for this trail, it is the Old Howardsville Turnpike and will take you to the A.T. intersection in 0.3 miles. At the intersection take a sharp left onto the white blazed A.T. heading north. Continue 0.8 miles to reach the spur trail to the Glass Hollow Overlook. Take a right on the blue-blazed spur trail reaching the overlook in 0.2 miles for some great views of Rockfish Valley.
Return to the A.T. and take a right heading north. In 0.3 miles you will pass the first intersection of the Albright Loop trail, go another 0.1 miles to reach the second intersection of the Albright Loop Trail. If you want to do the short 4.0 mile hike, take a left at this intersection. If going to the shelter, bear right staying on the A.T. going north.
The next 1.4 miles down to the shelter is a fairly gentle series of switchbacks, dropping 700 ft. At the 0.5 mile mark there is an overlook with views of Scott Mountain and Bear Den Mountain in Shenandoah National Park to the north. I-64 will also be visible. Just before the shelter you will cross over Mill Creek and to the right you will see a beautiful granite bench that is a Memorial to John Donovan, a long time Old Dominion Appalachian Trail Club (ODATC) member who died in California while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. The ODATC maintained shelter is one of the nicest on the A.T. in VA. After lunch, head back south on the A.T. and at the first intersection you arrive at take a right onto the blue-blazed Albright Loop Trail.
Go about 0.7 miles and after the second switchback look uphill to the South for plane wreckage that is visible from the trail. Mr. Henri Weems provided information that it is a Beechcraft that crashed in 1964 and was found a year later by ginseng hunters, no flight plan had been filed. Please respect this site and adhere to the Leave No Trace principle "Leave what you find".
Continue on the Albright Loop trail, passing the intersection of the east portion of the Albright Loop trail, arriving at the Humpback Rocks Parking area in 1.3 miles.
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Reviews For The Dobie Mountain Hike (5 Most Recent)
Nice Hike. Perfect Weather. It was very easy to find the directions are great. I would say in another week or two, as the warmer weather hits, this hike will be absolutely gorgeous. We started around 11 am and took my 3 year old daughter. She loved it. The only difficult part for her was the hike back up from the shelter and the last portion of Allbright loop. It was moderately difficult with the elevation changes. We went to the Glass Hollow overlook and you could see everything with the lack of leaves etc. The shelter area is great and just to the left of the end of the trail to cross Mill Creek there is a very easy rock crossing.
The only disappointing part of this trip was my inability to see the plane crash area. Myself and two others looked and looked. I will be doing this hike again at some point this summer. Overall a nice hike.
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Date of Hike: Sunday, November 04, 2012
Great hike. We did this as one of our annual 2 50+ dads and their 2 12 year old sons November camp. The Shenandoah NP was iffy because of Hurrricane Sandy, so we looked elsewhere and found the Dobie Mountain hike on this site (many thanks). Parked at the Humpback Rock parking and followed the trail to to the AT, where we turned the wrong way (12 year olds in the merry lead), but the sharp left is sharp but well marked as we saw once we got turned back the right way.
Because of time of day (started at 3PM), we bypassed the Glass Hollow overlook and headed to the shelter area, but got a nice view of the Rockfish Valley anyway. Several groups of campers were already at the shelter, so we found a good site for 2 tents 100 yards or so east of the shelter. Plenty of flowing water. Enough fallen wood for fire. Sheltered location close to the stream. Hiking back the next morning, the initial climbing segment got our attention but was not uncomfortable for a couple older hikers or their younger sons. Next time I hike this loop, I'll be a little more critical about the contents of my pack. (I had several duplicated items to test and compare.) Nonetheless, we had a great time and would do it again and recommend it as a really good late fall overnight.
Thanks to the ODTC, who had members out on Saturday cleaning up the trail from Sandy's effects.
By:
Jane
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Date of Hike: Thursday, October 25, 2012
Great instructions for locating and then navigating along this trail. Thank you. We went to the Glass Hollow Overlook and on to the second overlook (Scott Mountain and Bear Den) but did not continue to the shelter. We came back to the Albright Loop Trail, saw the Beechcraft wreck and then followed the trail to the top of Dobie Mountain and back to the Humpback Rocks parking lot. This was a great walk for us old fogies (76 and 66). Less wear and tear on the knees than the Humpback Rocks trail though the views are not as impressive! It was a prefect Autumn day and we passed only one hiker.
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Date of Hike: Saturday, January 28, 2012
Did the part of this hike that led to the AT North, and on to the Paul Wolfe Shelter for a night of Winter camping. Temp got down to 28 F at night. This website and directions, and printable map, really helped me get situated and find my way. The forest this time of year is absolutely silent and awesome, and the only sound (at about 10 AM coming back on Sunday morning) was my own breathing. The serenity was magical. Um... it was a bit of a surprise on Saturday night when I had to cross the stream to get to the shelter. I balanced (with my heavy pack) walking over the big log, and it was scary. Coming back, I crossed using the big rocks placed there by the ODATC, and that was a breeze. Still - somewhat adventurous though. This website made the whole thing great and gave me the confidence i needed to plan and go through with it. Thank you Hiking Upward!
-Mike Shaw
By:
Ryan
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Date of Hike: Sunday, January 15, 2012
We did the Humpback Rocks first, and then hiked the Dobie trail just to the Glass Hollow Overlook - I feel like it was a great combination. Humpback is a real workout, and was very crowded at the top, so the Dobie trail was a nice easy hike afterwards. We didn't see a single other hiker on the Dobie trail. It was very cold (27 degrees) but we only felt like that was really a problem at the top of Humpback, where the wind was really blowing. Next time we go, we'll be sure to bring our dog!
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