The
Austin and Furnace Mountains loop is one of the most strenuous
day hikes in the Shenandoah National Park. Not only is the hike long, at over 13 miles, but the steep descent down the Austin Mountain ridge, and long climb up the exposed Furnace Mountain trail, make the 3000+ vertical feet of gain seem even that much harder.
From the Browns Gap parking area pass the closed gate, and start down the yellow blazed Madison Run Fire Road (FR). In 0.8 miles look for the yellow blazed Big Run Spur Trail where the FR makes a right bend. Turn right and follow the Big Run Spur Trail uphill for 0.3 miles to the ridge, and intersection of the blue blazed Rockytop Trail.
Turn left on the Rockytop Trail for 0.4 miles to the intersection of the blue blazed Austin Mountain Trail. Stay left on the Austin Mountain Trail as it follows the ridge, then gradually begins to descend. Pass several vistas of the Furnace Mountain summit, before passing through four rock slide areas. In three miles from the Rockytop Trail, the Austin Mountain Trail will make a sharp left turn, and descend the mountain very steeply for the remaining 0.3 miles to the valley, and ending at the Madison Run FR.
Return the 0.5 miles to the Furnace Mountain Trail, and turn left uphill. In 2.1 miles the Furnace Mountain Trail ends at the intersection of the blue blazed Trayfoot Mountain Trail. Stay left, on the Trayfoot Mountain Trail as it descends, then climbs to the intersection of the AT/Blackrock Connector Trail in 0.6 miles. Stay left towards the Blackrock Summit, and in 0.2 miles pass through the lower section if the Blackrock area, before arriving at the intersection of the white blazed Appalachian Trail AT and Blackrock Summit.
Turn left on the white blazed AT. In 0.3 miles pass the Blackrock parking area, before crossing Skyline Drive on the AT in another 0.6 miles. After crossing Skyline Drive, pass the Jones Run parking area in 0.2 miles, and stay on the AT for the remaining 1.2 miles back to the Browns Gap parking area.
Interactive Hike Map BelowPrintable
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Hiker
Reviews For The Austin/Furnace Mountains Hike (5 Most Recent)
When I read this was one of the most strenuous hikes in the park I was initially dismissive. Although not much harder than other hikes in the park, it wore me out more than I can remember and I have done the majority of the hikes in SNP. Rocky terrain along with some steep and monotonous uphill climbs made this hike very tiring. We completed the hike in 5 1/2 hours. Walking on the rock slides which were ever present in the beginning is not one of my favorite things took away from the hike. The side trail to the peak about halfway through the hike was worth the effort and it was enjoyable to reach this nice rock outcropping that I didn't expect at all. This is a good workout but not greatly different than other hikes in the area. The Blackrock area was nice but I had previously seen that when doing the Trayfoot mountain loop.
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, April 03, 2010
Did the hike in 6 hours with more than 30 minutes of breaks. The sections of scree/talus and the steep descents made for a good work-out! Personally, I thought the west-facing view of the farmlands on the approach to the Furnace Mountain summit was nicer than north-east facing overlook at the actual summit.
There is a picnic area and 2-3 additional trail intersections around the Black Rock summit area that are not mentioned in the route description that gave me pause. I thought the picnic area was the parking area mentioned in the route description. Follow the arrows on the trail markers and you'll be fine. If I recall correctly, you just keep taking the left fork.
After you cross Skyline drive, the trail resumes about 300 feet to your left.
And don't be confused by the Dundo campground (also not mentioned in the route description, but visible on Google's topo map). It's about .6 miles from the end of the trail and at first I thought that was the area where I parked.
By:
Sam and Thunder
Rating:
Date of Hike: Sunday, November 15, 2009
I did this hike on a warm and clear day for November and had a great time. I kept a pretty good pace and took a few short breaks since the Skyline Drive closes at dark. It took me 6 hours, but I wish I had spent more time taking in the scenery this trail provides. I'd recommend hiking boots and poles for this one. Great workout and on this clear day some great views. I recommend this trail,just allow enough time and remember that it gets better after you get up Furnace Mountain.
By:
Andrew Tucker
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, February 07, 2009
Since the high for the day was above 60, and we had just come out of a stretch of days when the temperature did not top freezing, I decided that it was high time for a hike. On this day, I simple started on the Trayfoot mountain trail, following it for 3.4 mi until the Furnace Mountain Summit trail branched off. After another 0.5 mi jaunt, we had reached the summit. At the summit, there was a great view of Austin Mountain, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Massanutten Mountain in the distance.
I found this trail to be quite enjoyable. It's approximately 4 mi to the summit, for a round trip of 8 mi. It is pretty much all uphill to the top - no reprieves. This, however, is not as strenuous as Austin Mountain, so it seemed easy. The round trip took about 2.5-3 hours, but we didn't take many breaks at all, except for at the summit and one other point where were some nice boulders (on the Furnace Mtn. Summit trail) to climb and play around on. I highly recommend this trip for able bodied people who enjoy a nice hike.
By:
Greg and Pearlly
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, November 08, 2008
This was our first hike in the SNP (we did Old Rag the next day). We stayed in the Big Meadow campgrounds (the only ones open this time of year), and were surprised by the number of other campers there. By Saturday night all the sites were full, so our advice is to get there early. But about the hike: it's very vigorous, but there are great payoffs along the way with spectacular views. Make sure to carefully follow the instructions since this hike switches between trails several times along the way. However, we never had any trouble finding the right way to go and the trails were well marked the whole way. We ran into about 25 other hikers along the way and everyone was very friendly. Late fall seems to be an ideal time of year for this one there is still plenty of color on the leaves and the temperature is nice and cool.
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