Little Schloss is just one of the many beautiful circuit hikes that are possible in the Great North Mountain area. Little Stoney Creek is also a favorite with backpackers, with many camping sites along its banks. The vista from Little Schloss is spectacular. This area also experiences an explosion of Mountain Laurel in early to mid June.
From the parking area cross FDR92 and start up the purple blazed Little Sluice Mountain Trail. The trail will increase in steepness, then in 1.0 miles turn down its eastern side before heading steeply back towards the ridge. At this point, there are also several good views of Stultz Gap to the southeast. The trail will also make several switchbacks near the ridgeline.
Turn left/south to go the Little Schloss overlook. This is an unofficial trail and is not blazed. The 70ft rock scramble to the Little Schloss overlook is a very steep.
Return from the overlook and head north on the purple blazed Little Sluice Mountain Trail passing several vistas. 0.3 miles along the ridge, the trail will turn right passing the first good campsite, then enter a high mountain meadow with campsite, and stand of mature spruce.
After passing through the meadow the purple blazed trail continues, now following a wider seasonal forestry road (FR), then gradually descends before reaching the intersection of the orange blazed Bread Trail/FR in another 0.7 miles.
Stay left along the purple blazed trail/FR for 2.6 miles, where the purple blazed trail ends at the intersection of the blue blazed Tuscarora Trail, and orange blazed Racer Camp Hollow Trail that continues straight.
Turn left uphill on the blue blazed Tuscarora Trail as it passes over Sugar Knob, before arriving at the intersection of the yellow blazed Little Stoney Creek Trail in 1.0 miles.
Turn left and hike the remaining 2.5 miles along FDR92 back to the Little Sluice Trail parking area.
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Reviews For The Little Schloss Hike (5 Most Recent)
Did this hike last weekend as an overnight. Overall a great hike. Nice views, not too difficult but still challenging enough that I felt like i got a good hike in. Some nice camping spots, mostly on the creek side of the hike. There are several more established sites than are listed on the map. The creek is running pretty full right now so made for fabulous sleeping noise! Didn't have any of the problems that other reviewers mentioned--i.e. overgrown trails, etc. The trails were in good condition and easy to follow.
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Rating:
Date of Hike: Friday, July 22, 2011
Late July 2011, thorns weren't too bad on the trail itself, but in spots you do need to pay attention to avoid running into them.
Friday after work, I headed out for a camp-overnight, counter-clockwise circuit. I saw 3 black bears (a mother and two cubs) near the peak of Little Schloss on the way in.
The view on the ridge is impeded by heavy plant growth in a lot of places, but there are still several spots you can get some great views.
I camped at the spring/camp on the ridge about 4 miles in. Shortly after falling asleep I was awakened by a bear walking around in the woods and grunting outside the camp area. I made some noise to let it know I was there and didn't hear anything for a while.
As I started to doze off again, I heard it chuffing and sniffing about 20 feet away and repeated the process of making noise, this time whistling very loudly. I heard it retreat so didn't think much of the encounter.
Around midnight either that bear or another one woke me up with a bump against my a-sym hammock rope and constant sniffing and chuffing around the head end of my rain fly. My guess is some of the smell from my food (my food bag was hung hung about 50 feet away) had rubbed off on something I had in the hammock. The bear froze when I started to shift around so I whistled again (I can do an ear shatteringly loud whistle). It left peacefully enough, but it sounded like it stopped 30 or 40 feet away.
Figuring I wasn't going to get any more sleep that night because the bear would keep coming back and having enough adrenaline in me to keep me awake for a couple of hours even if it didn't, I broke camp uneventfully and continued my hike.
After a 110 degree day, the night hike was actually really pleasant and the views overlooking the lights in the valley to the east were really nice.
After leaving my car at the south parking lot, I didn't see another human (or pass another encampment) this entire hike. I'm sure the temperature and it being a Friday contributed to that though.
By:
Robert Swart
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, July 02, 2011
Did this hike as an overnight trip. Hiked down to Stony Creek and camped beside it. Beautiful views from the top of Little Schloss. Back end of trail in a couple of sections was very narrow due to brush. Saw a few deer, and an owl.
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Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, February 12, 2011
I thought the temperature was supposed to be in the upper 30s on this day, but it never got out of the 20s--and there was a significant wind chill effect. The google map directions to the trail were good, but Johnson road was closed (with the gate shut) right after entering the National forest boundary. However, there was a place on the LH side of the road where 3 vehicles could park. There was one vehicle parked there when I arrived. After I secured my vehicle, I crossed the gate and proceeded down the road approximately 1 miles when I encountered the FR92 road on my left. I followed FR92 to the trailhead which was easily discernible by the purple blaze and the parking area right across from the trailhead. The trail itself was easy to follow I was unsure where the trail leading to the Little Schloss overlook started, and mistakenly tried to scale it by bushwacking through the dense brush on the southeastern approach. Once I got back on the trail, I found the "unoffiicial" trail right in the saddle of the ridge after you go through all the ascending switchbacks. It was cold and windy on the overlook, but the view made the effort worth it. I ran into two hikers who were doing an overnight hike on the Racer Camp Hollow trail their car was evidently the one that I parked next to at the gate entrance. Again, following the blue and then the yellow trails were not a problem. Towards the end of the yellow trail I ran into 2 hikers with a dog one of them was frantically trying to control the dog (what I would describe as a dirty white colored schnauzer mutt), which bit me on my left hamstring. I didn't think anything of it at the time because there were no perforations on my jeans, but I later discovered that there was a bleeding wound caused by the dog bite (from the blood caking up on the inside of my jeans0. When I got back to the parking area near the gate, I noticed a different vehicle parked next to mine, and I jotted down the license plate--which I furnished to the Shenadoah Sheriff's department when I reported the dog bite. Otherwise, it was a great hike.
By:
Wayne Taylor
Rating:
Date of Hike: Monday, June 07, 2010
We did not take the proscribed counter clockwise path. Good thing too, or we would have quit! The purple trail leading up was unmanageable! Overgrown with brambles and every other kind of undergrowth. We couldn't even find the correct parking lot! Last year it seems, they installed an equestrian parking lot that we confused for the "lower parking area". It was not on the above map. We couldn't find the trail head, so we gave up and left from the lot across from Little Stony Creek. The little stony creek trail was beautiful. There were a few campsite that were not shown on the map above. My brother and I camped 5 minutes from the Spring near Sugar Knob cabin. The trail leading to Little Schloss was crummy. There was no view since all the underbrush has grown up. There was no "trail magic". The majority of the Little Schloss trail is a fire road. Most of the campsites were trashy too. Filthy people!! The last campsite before we could bail off the purple blaze had a "Brenda" floor mat and glass beer bottles thrown in the fire pit. The trail from there to Little Schloss was almost impassable. We got lost three times. We had to double back and search for the blazes (that were not always present). We couldn't even reach Little Schloss. That trail was completely covered with briars! I do not recommend this trail AT ALL.
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