Hollow Brook Hike

Hollow Brook - Mt Weather, Virginia


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Length	Difficulty	Streams	Views	Solitude	Camping
3.8 mls
Hiking Time: Elev. Gain: Resources:	2.0 hours plus a half hour for lunch 860 ft Printable Topo Hike Map (PDF) Bluemont Weather Forecast Graphic Precip/Temp Forecast Current Weather Radar Loop (Java) Garmin (GDB), GPS eXchange (GPX) (What's this?) 3D View of Route!
From:	e.g. 12000 Government Center Parkway 22035 or Fairfax VA Park on Morgans Mill Rd where the Appalachian Trail crosses.

This short out/back hike has a beautiful waterfall at the top of Hollow Brook, with a nice walk up to the summit of Buzzard Hill as well. Close to the Washington D.C. metro area, this is another hike that is perfect when you can't make it out to the bigger mountains. At only 3.8 miles, this is fun for all skill levels.

This hike is at its best in the spring, or after it's been raining.

From the parking on Morgan Mill Rd., start uphill/north on the white blazed Appalachian Trail (AT) as it climbs the first ridge. Begin descending into Reservoir Hollow on the other side of the ridge and arrive at the main stream in 0.7 miles.

Cross the stream, then immediately on the other side look for a small unblazed trail that follows the stream uphill. In 40 yards pass a small campsite, then continue to follow the trail for another 50 yards to the base of the main waterfall.

From the waterfall head back down to the AT and turn right/north. In another 0.3 miles pass the ruins of one of the many old homesteads in this section of the AT.

Continue following the AT, then in another 0.4 miles pass through a small saddle between ridges and another nice campsite.

Continue uphill for 0.2 miles passing yet another campsite on the right near the top of Buzzard Hill, and in 25 yards there is an unmarked trail that leads to the summit. Turn left and follow the trail for 50 yards to the main summit.

To return, retrace your route south on the AT back to the parking area on Morgan Mill Rd.

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Hiker Reviews For The Hollow Brook Hike (5 Most Recent)

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By: John	Rating:	Date of Hike: Sunday, December 04, 2011
Pretty good day on the trail. Trail head could be better marked I guess but once you see the trail of cars parked on the side of the road you shouldn't have a problem. A bit rockier than I expected. Take care with slippery rocks crossing the "falls". I guess that goes without saying. Beautiful view at the top.

By: NathanT	Rating:	Date of Hike: Saturday, December 03, 2011
Earlier reviews commented on the downed trees, so we were ready to climb over deadfalls, but PATC has done a great job of clearing the trail. The waterfall was nice, and climbing on the rocks was an enjoyable break too. My wife and I only had a few hours to do this hike as we couldn't get to the start until at least 1pm. We enjoyed the waterfall for a bit, then continued on to the top of Buzzard Hill, and still had time to get out of the woods before dark. Good day hike for us!

By:	Rating:	Date of Hike: Sunday, November 13, 2011
Lot's of blow downs along the trail. Saw one hiker the whole trip. The waterfall was flowing and made for a pleasant stop along the way. This is an easy hike and a great view on the summit! Just past the waterfall area on the way out watch out for an area where the blazes are missing. Trail leads up the hill and with the blow downs and heavy leaf litter this year it's easy top lose the trail.

By:	Rating:	Date of Hike: Wednesday, November 02, 2011
My husband and I were looking for a nice day hike on a warm fall day. We decided on this hike since it mentioned a waterfall and it was close by. The "road" to reach this hike is dirt and some gravel and fairly steep in spots. We just kept following the directions we had printed out and finally found what we figured was the "parking area" It was actually just a small cleared area for pulling off the very sparsely traveled road. No one else was there which we figured was due to it being in the middle of the week. This proved to be a huge plus in that our small dog could walk along with us without a leash. We found the trail head and started our hike on some well laid out timber steps. We figured on this being a well cleared and maintained path but found quite the opposite. Due to the recent snow storm, there were trees down everywhere as well as all over the path. We found it almost impossible to find the path at times and wandered about looking for it. Several times, we almost turned back. The tree litter definitely made a moderate workout of a hike into a challenge as we climbed over and under and detoured around trees at every turn. We did make it to the waterfall which was less than spectacular with little water at that time. Continuing on we made it to the summit and found it less than spectacular also. The old tree there was neat but the view was partially obscured by trees. We were lucky that most had lost their leaves so that we could see through them. All in all it was a great work out and gave us a chance to enjoy the beautiful fall day and get some great exercise with our dog.

By:	Rating:	Date of Hike: Saturday, October 15, 2011
A good overall hike way too short ran into a lot of other hikers plus the parking lot was full of cars when we arrived at 10. We did the hike in 2 hrs 30 min with long breaks at the waterfall for pictures. The summit was so not worth it except for the calorie burn. The fall was nice but with all the people you almost have just enough time to take the picture the need to keep it moving.

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