Part of Middle Mountain in the George Washington National Forest,
and sister hike to the Duncan Knob Hollow Hike, the Duncan Knob hike offers solitude, a rock scrabble, and
great views of the Massanutten Range and Shenandoah Valley.
Water is scarce over most of the hike, so make sure to bring
plenty.
Start up yellow blazed
Scothorn Gap Trail after crossing Passage Creek. Traverse one switch back
and climb steeply, pass a clearing and
pond (depending on what time of the year it is, the pond
might be completely dry) at 1.0 miles.
At 1.3 miles come to a
four way junction and the yellow blazed Scothorn Gap Trail you
have been on turns left. Directly ahead is the orange blazed Massanutten
Trail, which you will use to return. To the right is Massanutten
Connector Trail.
Turn left on Scothorn Gap Trail, the trail gradually rises and passes a small clearing
before coming to the junction
of blue blazed Gap Creek Trail after 1.5 miles from turning left at
the junction.
Turn right onto blue blazed Gap Creek Trail as it ascends steeply to the ridge line in 0.3 miles. On the ridge line is a white blazed trail on the left. This
leads you to Duncan Knob in 0.3 miles, requiring scrambling
over rocks in places to get there.
To continue the hike return
to Gap Creek Trail and Turn left. Note: it is easy to miss the trail
on the way back, the white blazes in the rock field are hard
to find. Just remain on the ridge line and you will reestablish
the white trail if you miss it.
Take blue blazed Gap Creek Trail downward (steep) for 0.8 miles before
meeting up with the orange blazed Massanutten Trail, at a four
way junction, where you will turn right.
Turn right on Massanutten Trail for 1.8 miles. Veer right steeply
upward for another 0.4 miles then descending 0.7 miles and returning
to the four way junction you turned left at on the way up earlier.
Massanutten Connector Trail turns left here.
Continue straight
on the yellow blazed Scothorn Gap Trail 1.3 miles, re-crossing Passage
Creek and returning to the parking area.
Interactive Hike Map BelowPrintable
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Calculate roughly how many calories you could burn on the Duncan Knob hike:
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Hiker
Reviews For The Duncan Knob Hike (5 Most Recent)
Hiked on 5/3/08 and ran into a group of folks that were clearing the trail with chainsaws. All trails are cleared now.
Between the pond, scramble, views, and burnt sections of the forest, this was a very enjoyable and diverse hike.
By:
Brian
Rating:
Date of Hike: Friday, March 14, 2008
This hike has wonderful views from the top of the knob! I cannot comment on the whole of the loop because when we arrived at Crisman Hollow Road (274?) we found the gate closed. We didn't want to walk the 4 miles of road to the trailhead and instead took the Massanutten trail off of Mountain Top Rd. to the Gap Creek trail and then on up to the Duncan Knob trail.
The knob was completely deserted and we had a wonderful time at the top. We had two dogs with us, and as stated by many hikers, the scramble up to the knob is hard for dogs. Our older dog made it up with few problems, but we were also hiking with a 10 month old puppy who had a heck of a time getting up. Should your dog hurt itself it would be very hard to get him/her down. We risked it and everything turned out fine.
We hope to return to do the full loop as described. Anyone looking to hike this loop may wish to check with the Forest Service to see if Crisman Hollow Rd. is open or not. The good news is there are other routes up to the knob.
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Sunday, January 06, 2008
READ THIS FIRST FOR DIRECTIONS HELP: I used the 'get directions' section from the HikingUpward website and found the GoogleMaps directions misleading near the end of the trip. The directions were fine up thru the Fort Valley Road (19.9 mi) and Camp Roosevelt Road (3.3 MI) BUT then it says slight right at NF-274. At this point you will come to a very obvious turn off at a bend in the road. There are several signs with road numbers and none of the numbers match the numbers given in the directions. There are two roads to the right... you want to take the middle road and you will know it's the right road because there is a road sign that says 'CHRISMAN HOLLOW ROAD' and shortly thereafter a national forest wooden sign that says 'Entering George Washington Forest' after that it's about 4.5 miles to the trailhead. You will first pass a sign for Signal Knob trail head and next one will be Scothorn Gap Trail which is on the left with parking and several nice camp sites available.
That said: Several nice things about this hike... The aforementioned camping sites make this an ideal place to pull in and car camp the night before the hike then you can hike light the next morning and not have to backpack into some place and find a site. The trails are well marked with the exception, as HikingUpward notes mentions, that I found it hard, after having scrambled to the top of Duncan Knob, finding my way back to the white blazed trail which leads back to the main trail. I might suggest tying a flag or two to trees to find your way back. The view from the top is incredible...There's an interesting dead tree trunk near a fire pit where the Duncan Knob scramble trail joins the main Blue Blazed trail which has become a sort of totem in which small objects (troll dolls, small toys, etc) have been placed into woodpecker divots that you may find interesting or perhaps want to leave a small token of your own.
The hike is mostly up and down without a lot of flat walking. The trails can be a little slick especially on the down side of the mountain which had a lot of leaves so walking sticks are very useful.
Enjoy yourself on this nice hike
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Thursday, December 27, 2007
I did a variation of this hike, only starting at the Gap Creek trailhead, then following in the reverse direction described here, and making a side trip out to Strickler Knob (as far as I know, this is an unofficial trail to the knob).
You should be aware the portions of the Massanutten Trail that were the most severely affected by forest fire are in very poor condition. The trail is obstucted in many places by fallen trees, and getting around them in this area is differcult. Most of the trails on this hike, with the exception of this area, are okay, with only occasional obstructions that are easily traversed.
By beginning the hike from the Gap Creek Trailhead, you have a less steep initial climb, but on a more rocky trail. Also, the parking here is very limited. From this point, it is only about a mile and a half to the Duncan Knob cutoff trail, so you either arrive very early, or very late in your hike.
By:
Rgrand
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, September 29, 2007
I was looking for a loop hike between 7 and 9 miles that my dog could go on and this was perfect. The trail was well marked and easy to follow. I would recommend good hiking boots. There are loose rocks throughout the trail and it's easy to turn an ankle or slip on the steep descents.
I agree with the previous review that the rock scramble is too dangerous for dogs. My dog is only 24 lbs so I could pick her up and set her on big rocks, but I only did it for a very short section of the rock scramble and it was really a challenge. As soon as we could see a litte bit of the view, we turned around and went back down.
Other than that, bring a good map of the roads leading to the trailhead. The 211 is not marked so you have to know where to turn in order to find it.
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