A reclaimed old iron ore mining area, St. Mary's Wilderness has an abundance of diverse scenery from waterfalls, fern forests, open meadows, valley vistas, and high mountain wetlands, in Virginia's largest designated wilderness area. No wonder it's one of the most popular circuit hikes in the northern section of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Note: The trails in St Mary's Wilderness are no longer blazed.
Both Hikes:
From the parking area, start down the narrow trail just to the left of the bulletin kiosk (not the wider road continuing past the closed gate), and walk 150 yards to the intersection of the Mine Bank Creek and Bald Mountain trails. Turn left downward on the Mine Bank Creek Trail as it descends into the valley, crossing Mine Creek several times, then passes through a rhododendron area before ending at the intersection for the St. Mary's River Trail in 1.9 miles.
For The Additional 5.5 Mile Out/Back To St. Mary's Falls:
Turn left downstream on the St. Mary's River Trail passing several campsites before reaching the intersection of the St. Mary's Falls Trail in 1.9 miles. Note: There is no camping permitted beyond this point. Turn right upstream fording St. Mary's River passing several swimming holes before there is a blowout on the trail in 0.4 miles. Follow the footpath to the left of the blowout that leads around the blockage back to the trail. At 0.6 miles from the last intersection the trail appears to end at a cliff about 15ft above the river. Climb down, re-ford the river, and climb up a steep bank. The falls are just ahead from this point. To continue, retrace your steps back to the intersection of the Mine Bank Creek and St. Mary's River Trails. (Thanks to MRHyker for the St. Mary's Falls trail notes.)
Both Hikes:
If you did the out/back to St. Mary's Falls continue straight on the St. Mary's River Trail. If you are doing the shorter hike, turn right onto the St. Mary's River Trail from the Mine Bank Trail.
Shortly cross a creek before passing a campsite on the left in 0.2 miles. Continue along the trail for another 0.2 miles, cross another creek, then directly ahead over a small mound is a large group camping area. Stay right climbing steeply for 50 yards and pass another campsite before reaching the main St. Mary's River Trail intersection in 0.1 miles.
Turn left (turning right would lead the 0.1 miles back to the stream crossing you just made), and follow the trail as it becomes considerably more overgrown with rhododendron before climbing out of the valley. The trail will level out in 2.0 miles from the last intersection and arrive at the Green Pond area. There is a bulletin board kiosk on the left, and following the small trail on the right leads to a multi-tent camping area. Look for a small trail that leads to Green Pond here.
Return to the bulletin kiosk and continue on the St. Mary's River Trail and pass another pond view on the right in 50 yards, then arrive at what looks like a trail intersection. Continue straight and in 100 yards the trail will veer right. Continue for the remaining 0.1 miles on the St. Mary's River Trail where it ends at Forestry Service (FS) Road 162.
Turn right. Note:FS162 is open to motorized traffic. Be prepared to see 4x4 vehicles and dirt bikes. Follow FS162 for 1.2 miles as it descends then climbs to the high point of Flint Mountain.
150 yards from the high point on FS162 there is a Forestry Service side grade used to clear debris. Look for an unmarked trail on the left that in 100 yards goes to the best vista of the hike. The view is of Kennedy Creek, with Kennedy Ridge on the left, and Kelly Mountain on the right. Return to FS162 and turn left continuing to descend the mountain. Follow the forestry road for another 1.9 miles, passing several campsites with views before arriving at a split in the road.
Stay right and in 0.4 miles, just before FS162 bears left, look for a single post and unmarked trail on the right. This is the Bald Mountain Trail, and is not marked at the junction. Turn right onto the Bald Mountain Trail as it descends the valley and arrives at a small campsite at its low point in 0.9 miles. Continue as it starts climbing back towards the ridge, then arrives at an unmarked trail intersection in 0.9 miles from the campsite.
Stay right for another 0.2 miles back to the intersection of the Mine Bank Creek Trail. Turn left uphill for the remaining 150 yards to the parking area.
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Hiker
Reviews For The St Mary's Wilderness Hike (5 Most Recent)
We hiked a short version of this from a trailhead at the end of FR 41 (St. Mary Fall Rd?) to the Falls. It's about 2.5 miles each way. High 25, Low 8 degree's....
We camped overnight...
The hike from 41 is likely challenging in good conditions, but was quite technically challenging in these conditions with lots of slick ice inviting disaster. The trail is often times very close to nearly on top of the river. Washouts from hurricane Isabel in 2003 necessitate numerous river crossings which were bad ideas in these temps. It is possible to navigate without crossing, but very difficult and dangerous. We didn't cross on the way up and decided to forgo the risk of life for some temporary wet feet on the way back.
However, the hike was gorgeous. The views with the snow and ice simply could not be had at another time. I wish I had taken more pics on the way to the falls because there were innumerable ops for incredible photography. But I needed both hands at all times and with a group of 7 I needed to press on.
Early January is not the best time for this hike unless you are well prepared, with good gear and boots and with several experienced hikers in case of emergency.
Check out www.everytrail.com and do a user search for javaslinger for some pics
By:
GFL
Rating:
Date of Hike: Friday, October 09, 2009
All in all, a pleasant hike. The area was beautiful, and there were enough trails to keep us busy for the three days that we were out in the mountains. We hiked in from the top side on the parkway, which is the entrance suggested by this site. It should be noted that there is another trail that leads down the river to another parking area. We set up camp at the last spot that you are supposed to camp, basically at the T of the trail where it meets the river. I suggest camping further back up the trail away from the river, as we had virtually no privacy during the day. The site itself was beautiful, but anything more than a few days would get boring. My two biggest complaints were related to seclusion and trash. Over the three days, we encountered roughly 50 people on the river trail, most being day hikers from the lower parking area going up to see the falls. At night, we were alone however, which was nice. Trash/clothing was found at various points on the trails and the river. Also, while the info says the trails are no longer blazed, have no fear of getting lost. The trails are well packed and hiked often enough that they are easily seen and followed. Have fun, safe hiking.
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, May 16, 2009
Great hike and not as many people as we expected over the busy weekend. Cloud cover and light sprinkling kept the heat down. we had out 7 yr old with us so we broke the hike in half and stayed the night near the St. Mary&rsquos trail junction. Very nice camp site about 250 yards of the trail. Only down points were the lack of respect by other backpackers and hikers, a few camp sites had trash in them, some trash was found up by green pond, and we even found a smoldering camp fire at one site we that we put out.
That said the rhododendron were blooming and it was just beautiful with some fun stream crossings and a great view at the top of FS 162. We are glad we found this site with the hiking directions and printable maps.
By:
Derek
Rating:
Date of Hike: Sunday, March 08, 2009
The beginning of this hike is great the stream is lively and steep, and the plantlife is abundant. However, after the initial descent into the valley, the hike gets boring pretty quickly. I would recommend that most, actually, all, hikers go to the waterfall and go back the way they came. I'm about to get really negative, so let me emphasize that hiking to the falls and back would be a completely enjoyable experience that I would highly recommend to anybody who hikes in the area.
I see no reason for anyone to do the circuit hike. After the rhododendrons, the trail becomes very boring, Green Pond is not very compelling, and an awful lot of time is spent on a very be-littered Forest Service road. (You do get to pass a deserted bus, for those of you looking for assurance that you're going the right way.) The trail is fun again once you get onto the Bald Mountain bit, but this final two miles hardly justifies the 3 or 4 miles of unadulterated lameness on the FS road. Even hikers simply looking for high mileage hikes would do well to avoid this circuit due to the litter.
I can't really comment on the difficulty. My miles were kind of slow, but then I haven't hiked or biked all winter, and I don't run, so my legs are non-existent right now.
By:
Nate
Rating:
Date of Hike: Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Some friends and I did a two night trip over New Years Eve. It was windy the first morning and well below freezing the next. Not a hard hike, but the river crossing were difficult with ice on the rocks...I got pretty wet. We all jumped in the river by the falls for a few seconds just to see how it feels, very cold! This is my third time camping here and I need to come back in the spring.
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