This hike is very similar to the Little Sluice and has
nearly as much solitude. The big difference between the two
is the great vista you get by taking the short walk along Mill
Mountain to the Big
Schloss vista. This is one of the best
vistas in Virginia and shouldn't be missed.
Start by waking down FS92 for 0.5 miles to reach the Big Schloss
Cut-Off Trail (don't take the old faded trail but continue for
100 more yards and turn right
on the light blue blazed trail). Turn right and ascend on the Big
Schloss Cut-Off Trail for the steepest part of the hike for
1.9 miles to the ridge line.
At the ridge turn left on the orange blazed Mill Mountain Trail for 0.9
miles then turn left again uphill on the lookout trail to go
to the Big
Schloss
vista.
Return
to the Big Schloss Cut-Off trail intersection to continue the
hike.
Now continue on the orange blazed Mill Mountain Trail hiking along the ridge
for the next 3.4 miles and arrive at the intersection of the blue blazed Tuscarora Trail that comes in from the right.
Turn right downhill onto the blue blazed Tuscarora Trail for 0.6 miles
to reach the four way intersection of the yellow blazed Stony Creek Trail
just past a great camping
spot on the right.
Interactive Hike Map BelowPrintable
Topo Hike Map (PDF) Hike route in Drag the map with your mouse using the icon Zoom with the controls on the left Click the icons in the map below for location shots
Calculate roughly how many calories you could burn on the Mill Mountain hike:
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Hiker
Reviews For The Mill Mountain Hike (5 Most Recent)
This hike is one of those hikes that looks great on paper but lacks a key element: the wild. On the plus side, the Mill Mtn. trail boasts great views at intermittent points from Big Schloss all the way to the FAA site. Water flowed amply at Little Stony Creek, Sandstone Spring, and Sugar Knob Spring. Furthermore, cleared campsites dotted the trail at generous intervals. The Sugar Knob Camp includes a snug one-room stone cabin (a former fire watcher's hut) with a stove that PATC rents for $25/night. The Tuscarora sandstone even revealed some nice fossils in places. Sounds great, right?
Yet the hike failed to evoke wilderness enough for my tastes. Scads of people covered the Schloss. Some of the campsites were littered and bore signs of hard use. What little wildlife I saw -- a pair of grouse, two does, a squirrel, woodpeckers and common back-yard birds -- seemed sparse given that I hiked over twenty miles over two days. The 4-mile hike to the starting parking lot on Fire Road 92 (from Johnstown Road/Va. Rte. 608) passed two major clear-cuts (Your National Forests: Lands of Many Abuses) of at least 50 acres. Hikers must share the trails with horseback riders and mountain bikers frequent horse plops, and moss scarred with knobby tire imprints, distracted from the natural beauty. And of course, the rocks along the trail showed ubiquitous scores from metal hiking poles. (Are hiking poles on this simple trail really necessary? I've been hiking over 30 years in all kinds of terrain and weather, over all kinds of distances, and never needed or wanted them. If I need a staff for a stream or river crossing, I scavenge wood from the forest floor. Nothing looks sillier than suburbanites affecting the "AT" look with those poles.) In short, this hike left me even more wistfully hungry for wilderness than when I headed out. I felt like I was camping in a museum.
Enough of the griping. Here's some possibly useful info.
1. I hiked in solo from Va. Rte. 608 to the parking lot mentioned as the starting point for the hike by hikingupwards.com. Started Sat. 3/7/09 at 9:15. I hiked the route suggested by hikingupwards.com and stayed at the "great camping spot" near the intersection of the yellow blazed Stony Creek Trail. (This was just an "ok" spot, not "great" it was overused, littered and directly on the trail, but it was near the Sugar Knob spring.) On Sun. 3/8 I hiked to the parking lot following Little Stony Creek and then hiked out along FS 92/Va. 608, returning 11:15. Saturday was hazy but cleared in the late afternoon, high in the 70's, breezy. Very windy that night, low in the 40's? Sunday was overcast, in the 60s-70s.
2. If you're hiking in from Va. Rte 608 (the Johnstown Road), the USFS gate barring the road during the winter is about 1.5 miles in from (North of) the turnoff from Va. Rt. 675. At the gate, there's a small turnout where you can park, and there's also room to park on the side of the road. About a mile north of the gate along Va. Rte. 608, you make a sharp turn to your left onto Fire Road (FS) 92. This appears as a hairpin turn on the Google map. There's a stop sign for FS 92 at that point it has "92" carved into the signpost. This is the first left turn you'll see after you leave the gate hiking northward. Turn left at the stop sign onto FS92. A large clearcut will be on your left as you hike from the gate to FS92. The same clear cut remains on your left as you turn onto FS92. About a mile further up the road you'll see another large clear cut on your left.
3. At about mile three from the gate you'll pass a concrete parking lot on your left. There's a sign on the FS 92 road frontage at the lot that says "Timber Sale Area." This is NOT the parking lot that serves as the starting point of the Mill Mtn. Hike as described by hikingupward.com. That starting point for the hike is about another mile down the road, at the floor of the valley formed by Little Stony Creek. See the topo map.
4. The other commenters are right about sturdy boots for the ridge of Mill Mtn. It's not a difficult hike, but your toes will thank you if you protect them.
5. Another hiker familiar with the trail advised me that Sandstone Spring has Girardia. I drank filtered water from it with no problem.
6. Just to the east (upstream/uphill) of the Sandstone Spring is a large hemlock - what passes for enormous in these days of the wooly adelgid. It's impressive. There's an attractive campsite at its base with a fire ring and stone chairs, but the ground seemed pretty boggy. I'll bet it's pretty buggy as well once the weather warms up. There was a LOT of water pumping out of the ground around the spring.
7. The Hiking Upward directions are accurate. A few minor notes: when the directions say "Start by walking DOWN FS92 for 0.5 miles," that actually means "walking southwest, heading uphill." See the topo map. Also, the FAA site is not a tower. It's just a shed.
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Tuesday, February 17, 2009
We did this hike with a slight variation, starting from Wolf Creek Campground which adds another 4 miles onto the hike. We started at about 9:00 and finished around 6:00. making it to the campground with the setting sun. We walked at a comfortable pace, stopping to take photos and enjoy the views. It was beautiful once we were up on the ridge with beautiful vistas all around. Without the foliage, we enjoyed a lot of overlooks. We stopped at the campsites at the top of the Schloss shortcut trail to reconstitute before heading down. This trail always seems to take longer than we think it should but the one that kicks our butt everytime is heading back up along Stoney Creek. It seems to take for ever to get to the top where a nice young couple staying at the stone cottage let us catch our breath before making the sprint back to Wolf Gap. The game were moving around once we were back on the ridge line in the brush around the old beacon. We flushed several coveys of quail. Then later our tired hounds found new energy and went bellowing after some deer, putting them back on the leash after the second chase so we could make it to the car before dark. All in all, I think it's just under 16 miles, but lovely views from the ridgeline and so pretty along stoney Creek.
We do recommend sturdy hiking boots for this hike as it's rocky atop the ridge line.
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Friday, July 18, 2008
I added a pleasant walk to the Halfmoon overlook and was rewarded with another great view. There are excellent campsites along both Mill Mtn and Little Stony Creek trails. The trail is easy to walk, so I would give it a 4 in difficulty.
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Sunday, October 14, 2007
Went for a long/fast walk with the dog and the view from Big Schloss was absolutely fabulous. Definitely one of the better hikes I've done in this area. Weather was clear and temps were in the high 60's which made the view that much more spectacular without the usual summer haze. Didn't see a soul even though there were a few cars in the parking area. The dry weather we've been having has definitely made water scarce, but it's not such a big deal on a day hike - do keep it in mind if you're staying out overnight. We did it the way it shows in the description & map and the climb really wasn't quite as steep as I expected, but it was a long slog down Stony Creek trail with not much to look forward to except the car. Next time I'll try it the other way, but if you have any doubts about your fitness, the way shown gives you the option of cutting the route short without missing Big Schloss. The trails are rocky enough I wouldn't recommend doing it without boots. If you're looking for a great view, this route definitely delivers!
By:
MJ
Rating:
Date of Hike: Monday, September 03, 2007
This was a wonderful trip! Backpacked this loop with the husband and another couple over the Labor Day weekend. We were a little worried about it being crowded but aside from day hikers at the top of Big Schloss we only passed a few other campers over three days. Great scenery and solitude. The difficulty level wasn't too bad, very rocky trails could do a number on the ankles though.
We followed the route in the opposite direction as suggested with Big Schloss as our motivator. We camped near the FAA beacon site (couldn't actually see the shelter) at a nice campsite with stone fire ring our first night. Second night was spent at a beautiful campsite just before the bridge to BS with an eastward overlook to catch the sunrise. We passed a few other established potential campsites during the trip, nice to know you don't have to clear your own tent area. Water is a concern on this trip. The morning of Day 2 we passed Sandstone Spring (very clear water!) and filled up all our water bottles and extra Platypus to make sure we had enough for the remainder of the trip.
Definitely a route to come back to! Maybe in the fall to enjoy the colors, or once the leaves have dropped for better views.
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