 Review the Stephens Trail hike here! Average Rating:
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| By:
C&J
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Date of Hike: Thursday, October 20, 2011 |
Great views in late fall, much more solitude than advertised (encountered nobody on Stephens trail). Great hike, more likely to encounter a bear than another human!
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| By:
Renee'
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Date of Hike: Saturday, July 02, 2011 |
I started this hike on 4th of July weekend and expected it to be crawling with other hikers from beginning to end. I started at 9am Saturday morning July 2, 2011 on the yellow blaze Stephens Trail. I'll admit - If it wasn't for my GPS on my phone and a gut feeling, I would have zoomed pass the parking lot opening. This hike was a last minute thing so I was looking for something specifically in Luray with high "View" ratings so it would be worth the 4hr+ drive. The trail was very well marked and it was pretty hard to get lost, although near the end when I had to walk a few yards in the road to the next trail opening for the Massanutten kind of tripped me up slightly.
I must admit, the Stephens trail was a bit disappointing to me because it was nothing more than a plain hike in the woods with nothing special to it at all. I left better hikes near my home to come to this one, which is kind of sad. The best part about it was the solitude - Not another living soul, human or animal (other than the occasional butterfly) greeted me on the yellow blazed Stephens Trail. HOWEVER, once I got on the Massanutten Trail (orange blaze), I must have passed at least 35-40 people minimum, mostly families in groups of 3-7. Most of them were ill-prepared, hiking in jeans, flip flops, with one water bottle or nothing at all. One even asked me (about 1.7 miles into their hike the way they came) if they were close to the end…I kindly told them I was on mile 7-8, so they definitely weren’t close to the end at all. With that note, I’m thinking none of them were really going to hike the entire thing – leaving more solitude for the “real” hikers in the beginning and middle of the 2 trails.
I followed the directions on the board right at the beginning of the trail head, which was dead on. One reason for my boredom on the trail - which is completely my fault – like a few others here I DID NOT follow the recommendation to hike this when the leaves are off the trees. You get a peak here and there through the leaves but the views are kind of touch and go because of all the foliage. I never made it to the overlook – just kind of wanted to get it over with honestly, haha.
The views that I did catch through the trees were very pretty. After careful consideration, I guess I could give the hike another try, but ONLY when the leaves are dead and gone off of all the trees. Note – Be careful hiking down the Massanutten portion of this hike, as there are plenty of rocks that would love to have a hand in helping you twist your ankle. All in all, IF you’re in the area it’s a nice hike to clear your head and relax, not difficult at all, only minor elevation spots here and there. But don’t make the trip if it’s out of your way, unless you know you’re going to be able to catch some great (leafless) views, and even then, you might as well just skip the Stephens portion and just hike the Massanutten.
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Date of Hike: Saturday, February 12, 2011 |
I have wanted to do the Stephens Trail hike a long time I have a little getaway house near Luray and Kennedy Peak simply dominates the Page Valley view, and so it's been a destination for me since I started coming here. Now I've got it checked off (working my way through peak bagging Massanutten mountain, having completed Duncan Knob a few years back), and I'm looking forward to getting a few more folks out there with me. Last Friday I got into Luray a little bit earlier than usual, and I checked my iPhone to find that that my friends at Appalachian Outdoors Adventures (AOA) had planned to do Stephens Trail on Saturday. There is a full review with photos on my Hawksbill Cabin blog at http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2011/02/kennedy-peak-moderate-gwnf-day-hike.html. Hiking Upward (by the way, I love this website) has this hike as being at its best in the early spring, before the leaves start to bloom. That's good advice. On a number of these summit hikes in the GWNF it's a good idea to knock them out early in the year, not just because of the views. You want to get them in before the weather heats up too much because of all the critters that will likely be sunning themselves on the rocky summits.
We began our hike by meeting at the store at 10:30 I arrived a few minutes early, only to find everybody already there and ready to go. Gary, Howard and CFM had made the plan, with me as the straggling fourth, and the dogs would be joining us on the trail as well. Referring again to Hiking Upward, they have the trail at 8.5 miles, while we have the route as 9.2 miles...I don't have a way to reconcile the difference at this point, so I will go with the AOA measure. I rushed out this time without my altimeter watch, so I couldn't verify the altitude gain, but it's listed at 1,390 feet. The trail is a big loop that ascends gently through one of the valleys in the GWNF before turning to climb along the ridge. As you approach the peak, the trail steepens until you are working up to the summit, where there is an observation platform with a little shelter built into it. The panorama is 360 degrees and includes beautiful views of Page Valley.
I learned a few things on this hike in some cases, it was info passed along by the AOA guys, but in others, it was just assimilating hiking experience. For example, they showed me an alternate parking area that provides shorter access to the summit, making an out-and-back of about 6.5 miles. And in another case, while I knew that during the winter, the leaf litter in GWNF accumulates in the trail footpaths on north-facing areas, I didn't understand that these areas are the last to melt after snows, and can be filled with hard-frozen ice hidden under the leaves long after the precipitation has fallen.
It was cold on our hike but there weren't that many icy patches to deal with. Most of the climbs were long, gentle stretches &ndash sometimes a couple of miles long, in fact. The last stretch to the summit was probably steepest, and then a mile or so descending in the shadow of the mountain was the iciest. But, there were no falls, although there were some close calls.
We took a break near the top, and everyone broke out their lunches. Gary from AOA had his backpacking stove there and fixed up a hot meal read the gear review on his blog at: http://runtechinthevalley.blogspot.com/2011/02/kennedy-peak-loop-gsi-telescoping-spoon.html. One of the highlights of this stop was the peanut butter and raisin sammiches that we shared. Just one more little thing I learned on this pleasant walk.
Near the top, there were traces of a fire from the fall. I've done some follow-up research on this, obtaining a map of the boundaries from the NPS, and there is a post at http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2011/02/last-falls-fire-on-kennedy-peak.html.
The summit with its observation platform is a great finish to the hike. We did the 9.2 miles in about 6 hours, about 1.5 miles an hour. That's quicker than my usual team does these routes, since we plan for a mile per hour. I think I learned a few things that will help us with the pace, which in turn will give us more planning flexibility for the summer hikes ahead.
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| By:
Lamassu
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Date of Hike: Saturday, January 15, 2011 |
Perfect little day hike! Amazing winter views of the South Fork Shenandoah River and Skyline Drive across the valley. The summit, however, was recently burned, but the obsevation deck was uneffected. Based on the amount of horse usage we observed, I would recommend this as a winter hike...not too long and we saw only one other couple all day. Kennedy Peak is amazing. The deck / shelter is really neat. I wish I'd brought my camera as no one has posted a nice photo of this edifice. This hike really surpassed our expectations.
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| By:
mel
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Date of Hike: Saturday, October 23, 2010 |
Folks I live right down the road from this place and I've been contacted by some people and seen some post on here about an easy way to get to the place, I could give you 3 ways but just look on mapquest and just type in the zip for Luray which is 22835 and then look for bixlers ferry road and follow that until it ends you'll cross the shenandoah river then take a left on north egypt bend road and go straight until you reach 675/ fort valley road then take a right and drive until you reach the peak, youll see a area on the left where folks park and also a small area across the road for maybe 2 or 3 cars.
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