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 The Signal Knob hike, in the George Washington National Forest,
boasts some of the best vistas we have seen in Northern Virginia.
Situated 8 miles west of Front Royal, it takes approximately
1.5 hrs to get there from the metro Washington area.
The
hike starts from the right hand side of the Signal
Knob parking area and is marked by both yellow (Signal
Knob Trail) and Orange (Massanutten Trail) blazes.
Start uphill
on the yellow/orange blazed trail as it shortly passes a old
stone house on your left and curves to the right around the
mountain for 1.5 miles until arriving at Buzzard
Rock Overlook.
The trail will take a hairpin turn back to the south then
in 0.7 miles turns back to the north again following a ridge
and passing a couple of great camp sites before meeting the
intersection of the white blazed Meneka Peak trail that enters
from the left 1.1 miles further.
Continue straight as the trail winds around the ridge to your
right and passes the transmission tower in 0.7 miles before
arriving at the Signal Knob lookout area. Continuing take the
orange blazed service road down the mountain for 1.2 miles
where the blue blazed Tuscarora trail crosses the road.
Turn left on the blue blazed trail crossing Little Passage
Creek as it ascends Green Mountain/Meneka Peak until reaching
the ridge line and white blazed Meneka Peak Trail in 0.7 miles.
Continue straight now downhill on
the blue blazed trail as it winds back and forth through the
Bear Wallow area and passing the pink blazed Sidewinder Trail
on your right in 1.7 miles.
Continue straight on the blue blazed trail as it winds downhill
passing a white blazed connector trail for Elizabeth Furnace
just before you cross a creek 1.0 miles from the pink blazed
trail.
Continue straight on the blue blazed trail as it winds around
the mountain before reaching a flatter area close to the valley
and an intersection in 0.9 miles where the blue blazed trail
now turns right downhill.
Again continue straight on the now orange blazed Massanutten
Trail (this section was formerly the the Tuscarora Spur Trail
and was reblazed in 2002) for only another 0.5 miles as it
descends slightly then parallels VA678 before arriving back
on the right side of the Signal Knob parking area. |
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