There are some nice views on both sides of Great North Mountain from the ridge just before arriving at Gerhard Shelter. The views of the valley from Vance's Cove can be wonderful on a clear day as well, but the main attraction is the solitude. We have never seen other hikers on this route.
Begin by turning left uphill on the blue blazed Tuscarora Trail passing a closed gate. At this point the trail is a closed forestry road (FS) that slowly climbs the side of the mountain for 0.8 miles before the blue blazed Tuscarora Trail makes a sharp right, and the FS road continues straight. Turn right on the blue blazed trail. If you start going downward on the FS road you missed the right turn.
The blue blazed trail climbs the side of Great North Mountain steeply and makes several switchbacks before reaching the ridge line in another 3.0 miles. Follow the ridge for 1.0 miles and arrive at Gerhard Shelter. The shelter is generally used by through hikers.
Turn right downhill on the white blazed Gerhard Shelter Trail that very steeply descends Great North Mountain. The footing is precarious with loose stone for the majority of the descent. In 0.5 miles pass a side trail on the left that takes you to a spring, and in another 0.2 miles emerge onto a FS road.
Turn right on the unblazed forestry road. The forestry road is normally closed to motorized traffic, unless your hiking during hunting season (bad idea!). At the end of the FS road in 0.8 miles, just past a burn, the unmarked Vance's Cove connector trail will bear right. Follow the trail for 0.5 miles where it merges with the yellow blazed Vance's Cove Trail.
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Reviews For The Gerhard Shelter Hike (5 Most Recent)
Date/Time: Sat the 14th of Jan 12, from 1215-1445.
Difficultly: The stated difficultly is 4. I am uncertain if it merits a 3 or 4, maybe halfway in-between. The overall distance does make it long, but the ascent is not overly high or steep. There are some loose stones/rocks under foot as you make your way up though. Although they rate in discreet integers, I think a 3.5 is in order if you're looking at picking a trail. Also, I am of mid-fitness level sporting about 15 extra pounds, and with no pack was back at the car in 2.5hrs. Much of the ridge and fire roads are jog-able, as is part of the ascent (most if your in a little better shape than I am).
Streams: The spring described in the directions is a small stream (maybe there was a recent rain as another post stated the spring/stream was practically non-existent). On the return on the fire road, a mile or so is along a large stream I noted a guy fishing in. There were also a couple places here and there where water was flowing across the trail/road. I don't think you'd have too serious of issues doing this one after a large rain, although you would definitely get your feet a bit wet in a couple of places.
Views: I agree with the stated rating (4). Admittedly, I keep on the move to keep my heart rate up, so I am not too focused on smelling the roses, that being noted, I would place this one at a 3, instead of a four, except that the trail does go along the ridge for a good mile, more if you walk some from the trail, and views can be had on both sides of the mountain as you go along the ridge for a nice distance. This does give a nice experience, but then to balance my comments, the views weren't over the top. It is worth doing, please don't take my points as negative, simply trying to round out my opinion.
Solitude: I met three others as I went along. There were 5-6 other cars in the parking area (not too big of a spot). I think the rating of 5 is accurate. I have done Wildcat Mountain, and you could stop to bury a body and smoke a cigarette and not see anyone (rated a 6), so a 5 seems about right having seen three others.
Camping: I've never camped on one of these hikes so I don't have an experiential benchmark. I did note in other comments that some have camped this one, and at the shelter it appeared you definitely could, and with the spring/stream not far it would be an ok place. Perhaps a bit cold up on top in the wintertime (of course that's what fires are for, lol, and there is a spot for one at the shelter).
Foliage/Fauna: I saw no animals. I did hear some rustling leaves from a scurrying something, so maybe a hidden rabbit or two. I haven't had any poison ivy. I noted no ticks. I would expect ticks in season given the grasses growing along part of the ridge.
Weather: Thereabouts low 30s on the day of. It may have been in the high 20s up high, as my beanie cap seemed stiff in parts, I think from frozen sweat. I also noted ice on some streams and frozen over puddles that didn't seem tempted to thaw. I noted no hidden patches of ice on trail rocks (as tends to occur under leaves sometimes) that would make for 'awesome' footing. There was remnants of a snow dusting on the ridgeline.
Other: The trail markings as per the instructions seemed sound, as did the given instructions in general. I will comment on the trail head. The blue blazes are really light at the parking spot. There are many, many prominent green blazes. When you park at the parking area, just off the road, there is a fire road that heads off past a gate, this is where the trail starts (the trail is the fire road). Also, the blue trail that leads off this initial trail/road can be located by two green blazes circling a tree, not too mention that the fire road begins to descend as per the instructions. At the shelter, the white trail would be at your 10 o'clock position if you were in the shelter and looking out (I didn't note a blaze on the trail until going down the trail a bit).
There are houses on the road that the parking area is at. The nearest being maybe 3/4 of a mile, give or take, in the direction that you come in on. I would guess a phone could be had here in an emergency. I had spotty ATT cell service on the hike.
At the shelter I talked to a gal for a second. There is evidently a trail leading from the shelter to an outhouse. I didn't see it but I believe one does exist. This is not on the white trail leading down.
I really enjoyed this hike and felt good afterwards. I noted other comments about the decent from the shelter being hard on knees. The trail down isn't ladder-like, but if you have some knee issues you will feel it given friends I have hiked with. I wasn't overwhelmed on the ascent as it is not as far up or steep as say Old Rag. I didn't get lost either, which is always a plus. Parking might be lacking in the warmer months on weekends. There is a gas station and restaurant on the main road coming thru town before you turn on the backroads leading to the parking spot (call it 5-7mi to gas from the trail).
By:
N & L
Rating:
Date of Hike: Sunday, September 05, 2010
A beautiful day for Labor Day weekend of 2010. Weather was crisp and perfect. We had trouble finding the trail head at first but after backtracking 0.8 miles (per directions) from the last point, we found it. The first 3 miles were uphill via the switchbacks, which were decently marked. Recommend repainting the blue blazes. Hardly any views as trees were blocking but nevertheless, indeed a solace-finding trail. Hike itself was great, with plenty of sweat and breaks. The reward came as we reached the ridge. Again, the views were lovely, not spectacular. The valleys were clear and pleasant. Ridge was not clearly marked to Gerhard Shelter. But we arrived. At this point, we should have been at the 4.0 mile marker but our GPS was 3.87 mi. We enjoyed our small lunch, signed the book and off we went.
White blaze downhill after the Shelter was steep, and pressure on the knees. We bypassed the Spring, and off we continued until we hit the WVA/VA crossing, then all the way down the FS road to the parking lot where we first turned around in the morning. We should have been at around 10 mile mark by then but again, GPS indicated 8.0 mi. Hmm?
Does anyone else have this sense of shortened trail by 3 miles or so? We're not complaining as our backs and knees felt it but felt like we should have done the full 11.4 mi... ?!
I'm amazed more haven't been on this wonderful hike. The first 1.5 hours are a delightful challenge to a spectacular ridge with breath taking views. And then onto Paul Gerhard (not Gerhar"t") Memorial Shelter where we stopped for a snack. I sure wouldn't walk down that slippery spring slope .2 miles to get water to bring back up to the shelter though. This was the best part of the hike by the way. The rest was mostly forest service roads although they were not as bad as some. 14 of us had time for nice conversations on that portion and finished the entire hike in 4 hours 15 minutes. Could have easily cut off a half hour or so if we hadn't stopped as often. There are campsites in a number of places and I suspect we'll come back to camp & perhaps find ourselves back on that ridge for a meteor shower or sun rise. Pictures should be posted on one or both of these sights.
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Rating:
Date of Hike: Sunday, December 21, 2008
I was dumb. On a cold, drizzly December Saturday before Christmas, after a week of rain and wintry mix, I got a late start and left my rain and head gear at home -- what was I thinking? The trail head was a little tricky to find, but once I found it and parked, I wondered how I could have missed it. The ascent up to ridge was as described, and a very good workout. Lots of rock covered with wet leaves -- hmmmm. The trail is generally very well marked and easy to follow, but the leaf covering made some of the switchbacks hard to discern in a number of places. At the ridge, the trail flattens out somewhat to a much more gradual ascent and is an outstanding walk. But it was getting late, had started to drizzle, and fog was settling in as the ridge walk started to climb more severely. I never made it to the Shelter and decided to turn back -- I was probably within a half mile. But with the temperature dropping, the hour getting later and the fog severely limiting visibility, I chickened out and retraced my steps back down to the forest service road and the warmth of my car's heater. Lesson learned. I will go back and start earlier on a better day - the trail was worth it.
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Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, August 13, 2005
I did this loop this past weekend as a sleepover hike using the PATC circuit hikes book as a guide. I took my girlfriend (who has never camped out before) and we had a great time. I hadn't gone on a hike in a few years and was looking for something that would be heavy on the solitude and not too challenging. The only other people we saw on our trek were two mountain bikers who came up behind us on FDR371 the second day. The hike itself was great, save for the heat and the masses of bugs (cant say ive ever seen a horsefly the size of a city cockrach before this :D ) Probably better to do it in the cooler months for sure. The peak offerred spectacular views, but the trail surrounding it seemed to be at risk of becoming overgrown. Lots of fallen trees to hop over as well. The spring mentioned in the PATC guidebook was completely stagnant; we had to wait till PaddyRun to refill our water supply (we camped out at the site right there). Lots of butterflies, some brilliantly colored fungi, bear doo, and a big ol' box turtle added to our experience. All in all a good time; I look forward to exploring more of the GWNF in the near future. :-)
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