The Duncan Knob Hollow hike is essentially the same circuit as the Duncan Knob Hike, except starting from the other side of Middle Mountain. This hike is also longer, with several excellent multi-tent camping sites, and is accessible in the winter and late spring months when FDR674/VA211 is closed.
Start south on the orange blazed Massanutten Trail as it winds along the valley on the east side of Little Passage Creek. Cross a small wooded footbridge placed over one of the side streams, and come to the first of three crossing points on Little Passage Creek in 0.7 miles.
After crossing Little Passage Creek, pass the second campsite on the opposite bank (the first campsite is 100 yards from the trailhead). Continue up the valley on the orange blazed trail and pass a small seasonal spring in another 1.0 miles. In 1.1 miles from the spring is the best multi-tent campsite on the circuit, right on the banks of Little Passage Creek. This campsite has a large fire pit with several stone seats.
After passing the campsite cross Little Passage Creek, then back again, and continue 0.3 miles to the intersection of the blue blazed Gap Creek Trail. On the left/east bank of Little passage Creek is another multi-tent campsite with a large fire pit and stone seats.
From the orange blazed Massanutten Trail, turn right uphill on the blue blazed Gap Creek Trail for the steepest section of the route. In 0.8 miles arrive at the ridge of Middle Mountain, and third multi-tent campsite.
Turn right on the white blazed trail that leads up to Duncan Knob. In 0.1 miles there is a multi-tent campsite on the right of the trail, and single tent campsite on the left. In another 100 yards from these campsites enter the rock slide portion of the white blazed trail. The blazes can be hard to locate during the rock scramble to the summit. At the top of the rock slide, stay right to the Duncan Knob vista.
After returning to the saddle, and blue blazed Gap Creek Trail, turn right downhill on the west side if the mountain, and in 0.3 miles reach the intersection of the yellow blazed Scothorn Gap Trail. Turn left on the yellow blazed trail and in 0.6 miles pass through a small clearing. In 1.0 mile from the clearing reach at the four way intersection of the Massanutten Trail. The Massanutten Trail comes in from the left and continues straight, and the Scothorn Gap Trail turns right.
Turn left uphill on the orange blazed Massanutten Trail and arrive the ridge line in 0.7 miles. At the ridge there is a nice vista point 100 yards off the trail to the left/north. Continue downhill 0.4 miles on the east side of Middle Mountain as the orange blazed trail steeply descends to the valley, then makes a turn back to the left/north where the descent is less steep.
From the left turn, continue on the trail for 1.8 miles back to the intersection of the Gap Creek Trail. From this point continue straight on the orange blazed Massanutten Trail, retracing your steps across Little passage Creek three times, and arriving back at the trailhead and VA675 in 3.1 miles.
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Hiker
Reviews For The Duncan Knob Hollow Hike (5 Most Recent)
Duncan knob was a nice hike with some challenging sections, but not too bad overall. We only saw 2 other people during our hike, and only while taking a break on the knob itself.
We had some difficulty locating the trail head following the Google Map directions from Washington, DC. They're 99% accurate, but in final 5 miles "Google" got lost. Off of Bixler's Ferry Rd (VA 684), make a left onto S. Page Valley Rd, (very quickly becomes N Egypt Bend Rd). Make the first right onto Fort Valley Rd. The trail head is in about 2-3 miles and past the "top" of the road. Hard to miss.
The campsites are nice, though the first and third (with the stone chairs) are nicest.
We parked at the trail head and camped at the first site, enduring an unexpected storm overnight. While the trail was wet in some areas, it was not in bad shape the next day. The first part of the hike along the fire road was a little dull-- fairly straight and not too much change in scenery. We did come across 2 snakes right on the trail- one definitely a northern copperhead (who really didn't want to move off of the middle of the trail), and the other possibly a timber rattler, though I don't think so. Gnats were sometimes annoying, but the bugs weren't really that bad. Plenty of horse dung on the trail--so watch wear you step.
The trails are well-marked, except for the white blazes on the knob itself. But we didn't see that as too big a deal. At that point, you know where the top is, so you can navigate yourself up if you want. The view from the knob is pretty great. The blue blaze trail up to the knob is a bit steep, but not terrible. Probably the only section of the trail I would consider calling somewhat difficult.
By:
misha
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, March 07, 2009
The views from Duncan and Stickler Knobs are spectacular. Thanks to recent trail maintenance it is easy to walk everywhere. Campsites along the creek are really 5-star.
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, March 07, 2009
This has become one of my favorite hikes in GWNF. In 2005, a friend and I hiked combinations of this route and the Duncan Knob hike described on this site three times in preparation for a hike to ascend the Half Dome in Yosemite - the altitude gain and length were perfect for helping us get ready.
This year, having formed a small hiking group with the goal of exploring the GWNF trails, which are far-less travelled than the ones over in SNP, we are taking hikes every other month - and Hiking Upward is an excellent source of referrals.
This trail has always been well maintained and excellently marked. It follows Passage Creek a long way, and the little stream is very pleasant company. As you turn to go up to Duncan Knob, you face a pretty steep climb after the gentle incline near the creek. The ascent is not long distance wise.
Then suddenly, after passing some great campsites near the summit, you come upon a talus field near the summit. Although it's challenging, this is one of the great parts of this hike...the views from the summit are just ahead and above, and are well worth the effort.
We did this as a two night backpack, camping the first night up near the knob and the second night along the stream. The hike to the knob along the fire road was easy, while the short climb to the top was a bit overgrown and quite steep. We camped along the trail at the top because campsite #7 was all weeds and the fire circle was barely visible, and we couldn't find #6. We hadn't seen anyone that first day. We did see a small bear, which was nice. We went to Duncan Knob the second day and the views were awesome. Such a shame the 2006 Cardinal Fire destroyed a large amount of forest in that area. Definitely worth the effort to climb to the ridge though.
We encountered a lot of day hikers heading down the Gap Creek Trail and along Scothorn Trail. Quite a few people were heading up to Strickler Knob. The hike along Scorthorn and up the Massanutten Trail were great and fairly easy going, but the descent down into the valley was a nightmare. The fire killed a good number of trees in the area and everything is overgrown and you're exposed to the sun. We hacked through a good number of thorny bushes. I highly recommend wearing old long sleeve shirts and pants for that section. Someone really should pack a machete the next time they go down this trail! The bugs were horrible but we didn't have a problem with ticks like the previous poster had. Once we got back down to the intersection with the Gap Creek trail the bugs cleared a little and we had shade. Campsite #3 was a really nice campsite and we enjoyed listening to the stream and having nice rock chairs to relax in. The ~3mile walk back to the car was uneventful the following morning.
By:
Mark and the dog
Rating:
Date of Hike: Thursday, June 26, 2008
My wife took the kids to Minnesota for the weekend, so the dog and I headed to the mountains for some backpacking. We linked this trail with Stephens Trail which makes a nice weekend figure eight loop combination going through the same trailhead. A few comments about this trail. (1) It's pretty easy. Most of the trails follow old jeep roads, so they're moderately graded and pretty smooth. In fact, although I don't like to run into mountain bikers while I'm hiking, you could bike a good portion of the orange trail (at least up to the intersection with the blue trail) and all of the yellow trail. (2) Duncan's Knob has nice views, but the rock fall could be tricky to navigate with children or a dog (my 10-year-old dog wasn't too keen on hopping through the rocks.) (3) We couldn't find either of the two campsites along the white trail near Duncan Knob. The campsite at the intersection of the blue and white trails, however, is easy to find and is ok. (4) Berries. If you head back down the orange trail in July, you'll probably find tons of ripe raspberries. Even if the berries aren't ripe, you'll get torn up by bushes (if you're wearing shorts) since the trees are (depressingly) all dead, so the berry bushes are everywhere. (5) Bears (who probably love those berries.) We saw four bears in two days on this trip, including a pair of cubs which scurried off in one direction while we retreated in the other (don't want to mess with a mama bear.) That's more bears than I've seen in years of hiking, so just be aware that they're out there on this trail. (6) MOST IMPORTANTLY, BUGS. While the gnats and mosquitoes were pretty annoying, the BIG problem was TICKS. We encountered more ticks than I've seen in my entire life. They were literally dropping out of the trees onto us and our tent near our campsite up by Duncan Knob. My dog was a magnet for them, so I spent a restless night picking them off in the tent. Really, really unpleasant. So wear appropriate clothing (I didn't), bring your bugspray (I didn't), and remember to use your dog's anti-bug stuff (I didn't). Honestly, I've braved unbelievable swarms of mosquitoes in the Wind River Range, fought off black flies in Minnesota, but the ticks in this area were the worst bugs I've ever encountered. I picked about thirty of them off my dog when we got back to the car and am still finding them on her now that we're home.
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