At 12.7 miles the Mudhole Gap loop isn't
as difficult as a lot of shorter hikes. After you compete
the first 3.8 miles to the ridge line near Meneka Peak the
remaining 3/4 of the hike is either downhill or mostly flat,
with the exception of a gradual ascent on the back loop. Little
Passage Creek that runs through Mudhole gap is beautiful in
the spring when the water is running with snow melt. One thing
to keep
in mind is the area is very popular with mountain bikers,
so make sure to keep an ear out for them as they come up from
behind.
Start by crossing the road taking the blue blazed Tuscarora
Trail uphill for .2 miles to the first
intersection. Turn
left .9 miles continuing on the blue blazed trail as
it winds around small ridges and crosses two small streams
passing the
white blazed connector trail that comes in from your left.
Continue uphill on the blue blazed trail as
it traverses the mountain and passes the pink blazed Sidewinder
Trail in another 1.2 miles on the left. Continue
straight on the blue blazed trail as it enters the
Bear Wallow area and and traverses the mountain until it reaches
the ridge line and the junction
of the Meneka Peak Trail in another 1.5
miles from the white blazed trail.
Continue straight downhill on the blue blazed trail
as it descends for another .9 miles where it crosses Little
Passage
Creek
and intersects an access
road that leads up to the Transmitting
tower on Signal Knob.
Turn left following the orange blazed forestry service road
that is part of the Massanutten Trail and in .5 miles the orange
blazed trail will turn right, stay straight, a little
further
you will pass
the reservoir. 2.2 miles further on the access
road you will come to a gate with
a small
parking
area. Continue straight
100 yards passing a small road and two cabins on your right.
Turn left
off the access road onto the purple blazed Mudhole
Gap Trail. This will immediately cross Little Passage Creek
as it heads down through the gap. Cross Little
Passage Creek three more times before
the trail turns left uphill in
1.0 miles.
Stay on the purple blazed Mudhole Gap Trail as it
widens into an old access road and traverses and descends the
mountain for another 3.1 miles passing the pink connector trail
then white
blazed connector trail will come in from your left.
Turn left uphill on the white blazed trail for .1 miles to
meet the orange/blue blazed trail you ascends earlier. Turn
right
traversing
the mountain and re-crossing the two small streams before meeting
the Tuscarora intersection in .9 miles. Turn right
descending the remaining .2 miles back to the parking lot.
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Hiker
Reviews For The Mudhole Gap Hike (5 Most Recent)
Pros: 1) Proximity to DC. When I hike, I prefer at least a 1.5:1 boots to wheels ratio (or time spent on the trail vs. time spent in my car). This hike, being only an hour and 15 minutes from Arlington, provided nearly a 2:1 ratio for me (even more trail time for most folks) 2) Little Passage creek and the reservoir -- I love my lab and he loves water. 3) Only encountered two mountain bikers. This probably was because I went on a cool, overcast Wednesday in March. (I wouldn't recommend this hike on a warm weekend, given its proximity to DC and Front Royal.) 4) If you're somewhat out of shape, this is a good hike to shake the rust off your legs and clear the static from between your ears. After not having hiked all winter, this was long enough without having any particularly steep ascents or descents.
Cons: 1) Seemingly at least half of the loop is on wide, relatively flat forest service trail/road. Good for bikers, but somewhat boring for hikers. (You might want to consider the suggestion of one of the earlier reviewers to stay on the blue trail rather than taking the left onto the orange trail.) 2) No challenges. While this hike is well suited to rusty or inexperienced hikers (though not too out of shape, since it is 12.7 miles long), I wouldn't recommend this for someone seeking challenging climbs.
Editorial Note: The trail description near the end says something like "after 3.1 miles (on the purple trail) you'll pass the pink trail then a white blazed trail will come in from your left." That "then" elides about half a mile. Have faith in those white blazes, you'll see them, just not as soon as you might have thought reading that sentence. Don't do what I did and double back to take a detour on the clearly pink blazed cut through trail that appears about 50 feet after the initial pink intersection. (Or you could intentionally take the pink trail all the way back to the blue, adding an extra mile and a half or so to your trek.) There's also a short unblazed trail leading to a campfire site about half way between the pink and white trails.
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, November 29, 2008
Beautiful late autumn day, starting out at 31 degrees at around 9 AM, and ending in the mid fifties by 2 pm. Lots of sun. Lots of hunters and quite a few mountain bikers on the trail. This is a long walk, but most pleasant. The trails are all well kept and clearly marked. It has a little or a lot of everyting. It begins with a pretty steep ascent, a brief walk along the ridge line, and then a sharp descent to a long walk on a forest service road. Turning off on Mudhole Gap Trail is a great way to end it, with lots and lots of creek crossings, and a final mild ascent returning to the trail head. Leaves were none to sparse, but this allowed for some great vistas along the route. The reservoir you pass before reaching Mudhole Trail is quite an eyefull. I did this in 5 hours, but it's probably better suited to a more leisurely pace, maybe with a lunch break in the middle. By the end of the trail, I was fixated on getting to the new Mexican Restaurant in Strasburg ASAP. BTW, Strasburg could be a DC or Baltimore hiker's HQ for a week full of hiking on this trail, Signal Knob and its off-shoots, and the gaggle of trails around Shawl Gap.
By:
M. R. Hyker
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, June 04, 2005
I reviewed this outing a couple of months ago. I stated that I hiked it with a friend in June, 1998. It was actually July, 2000. That was a very bad drought year. Little Passage Creek was a mere gutter. The old woods roads were open to the sun and hotter than heck. This last time was different and I have to change the rating. Little Passage Creek was full and gurgleling with life. Large sections of the woods roads were still quite sunny but other sections have grown in more in the past 5 years. While the woods road sections might still be considered mundane, the footpaths along Little Passage Creek and on Bear Wallow Tr were quite pleasing. As in 2000 we started at the campground and hiked the loop clockwise instead of as derscribed here. The highlight for me was all of the wildflowers. I saw over 20 different species. Here are a few: Whorled Loosestrife, Yellow Salsify, Yellow Star Grass, Blue-eyed Star Grass, Fringe Tree (AKA Old Man's Beard), Littleflower Phacea, Violet and Yellow Wood Sorrel, Beardtongue, False Solomon's Seal, Pink Lady Slippers, Lyre Leaf Sage and Mountain Laurel all over the place. Aslo had a nice lunch beside Strasburg Reservoir where we startled a large water snake. I finally got to hike up the back of Bear Wallow Tr. Been putting it off for years. That is one of the most challenging pieces of trail I've ever hiked. Fortunately it was brief. The rest of the hike was a proverbial romp!
By:
Philip Hamm
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, April 02, 2005
Great hike! instead of going down the orange trail down little passage creek we took the Tuscarora trail over the ridge of Three Top Mountain. The Tuscarora here is very disused and was quite hard to find in places. However, the ridge is quite beautiful and a much more pleasant hike than the big road in the valley. There's really only one good campsite up there about 3/4 of the way down the ridge. Luckily we found it and set up camp in the rain before we got too tuckered out. Following the rain the night of 4/2/2005 it got much colder and we were happy to have nice camping. The many creek crossings in Mudhole Gap are much more challenging after two or more days of heavy rain. I found this hike here, thanks for the site! Saw some mountain bikers.
By:
MRHyker
Rating:
Date of Hike: Wednesday, June 10, 1998
Did something like this years ago with my friend Jack. We car camped at Elizabeth's Furnace Campground. If you park across the road from the camp and start the hike there you can make this a 10+ mile loop instead of 12+. I'd also recommend hiking it in the reverse direction. The climb up the forest road (purple Mudhole Gap Trail) isn't that bad and if you're into flowers the road is lined with them in the spring and summer. Jack and I still felt fresh by the time we got to the Bear Wallow Trail. Back then we didn't have a Topo map and Signal Knob didn't seem that far away. We hiked up there (Jack fell asleep on me at the top!) and we returned to the original route via the Meneka Peak Trail. Ended up doing almost 15 miles that day. The beer sure was cold that night!.
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