One
of the less traveled hikes in the Shenandoah National Park, the Broad Hollow circuit isn't published in any major hiking guides to date.
With a limited number of parking
spaces along SR681, you generally don't see more that four cars, even in the busiest seasons.
Start the hike by crossing Broad Hollow Run, and climbing the
Broad Hollow Run Trail for 2.5 miles, through several switch
backs, and with a few steeper areas, before arriving at the the intersection of the
Sams Ridge Trail where you will turn left.
After 0.1 miles the Sams Ridge Trail arrives at the Hazel Mountain Trail.
Turn left on the Hazel Mountain Trail and in 0.4 miles pass the Catlett
Mountain Trail on the right. Continue another 0.8 miles and
pass the Hot Mountain/Short Mountain Trail also on
the right.
Continue downhill as the trail now becomes
the Pine Hills Gap Trail. Then in 1.8 miles the trail exits the Shenandoah
National Park, and in another 0.2 miles the Pine
Hills Gap Trail ends at a dirt road.
Turn left on the dirt road, and in 0.2
miles pass a gate blocking the road to traffic. Continue another
0.2 miles on SR681 to return back to the parking area.
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Hiker
Reviews For The Broad Hollow Hike (5 Most Recent)
On the trail at 7:30am and saw only two other hikers all morning. Walking at a moderate pace and taking lots of breaks, the hike took about 4 hours. The elevation gain is a little tough for the first 45 minutes if you're not in great shape, but it's a relatively easy hike after that. Due probably to infrequent use, the trail is a little grown up in places and ad hoc detours are required to get around trees that have fallen across the path. There are no obvious places to pause for a snack or lunch... none of the big rocks that one often finds handy in the Shenandoah. Given the dry summer, the stream was almost dry and the "falls" nonexistent.
About two hours into the hike, I encountered a large timber rattlesnake coiled next to the path. I made a wide detour and reminded myself to be more careful.
This is definitely not the path for those seeking dramatic views, but the woods are pleasant, and you will probably have the trail to yourself. The solitude makes this a good hike, even without the big views.
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Friday, November 03, 2006
November 3, 2006 - I hiked Broad Hollow Trail as part of a loop hike, including Pine Hill Gap Trail, and part of what was labelled as Hazel Mountain Trail, which ultimately ends at Meadow Spring Parking Area on Skyline Drive. The day was cold and just a little windy, but very clear - and the fall foliage was still showing brightly at the lower elevations.
I parked at the bottom of Pine Hill Gap Trail, just off the side of the road a bit down from the trailhead. There is definitely a sign for 'no parking' right at the trailhead intersection, with good reason - if you parked there you would block the whole road. From what I could tell, it was ok to park where I did though. Room for maybe 2 cars there. To reach this small country road, I was coming north on Route 231, almost to Sperryville Virginia, and then took the side road labelled as route 681. Keep going straight for about 4-5 miles I guess, and it finally ends in a place where you can see the Pine Hill Gap Trail marker signpost.
Pine Hill Gap Trail rises quite steeply from the road for a couple of miles, till it finally reaches the Hazel Mountain Trail. From there I headed down to the interesction with Sam's Ridge Trail, from which it is just a few tenths to the top of the Broad Hollow Trail.
Broad Hollow Trail is level for a short while at the top, twisting through some very nice laurel and rhododendron bushes. On this day at these upper elevations the trees were all bare. The trail starts descending a bit, and then more, making a wide switchback directly next to the ruin of an old home. Or maybe it is a barn, the wood-thatched roof is very apparent anyway. The trail makes a left turn at the ruined house, and then starts descending even more rapidly. There are a number of rock-stair constructions along the Broad Hollow Trail, and other signs of former human habitation that are very interesting.
At this point the fall foliage was getting really colorful - there are some really beautiful trees on this trail. The trail winds through oaks, poplars, and pines till it finally joins with a small mountain creek on the right side. There is a large rocky hill blocking the sun in midday in this area, at least this time of year, so this little creek was very shadowy and dark. Lots of huge boulders there too - really a beautiful creek!
The trail crosses the creek after a while - which might be tricky if there has been lot of rain - then the trail continues for a half mile or so till it intersects back with the country road I started on. From there it was 0.3 miles or so to where I parked.
The highlight of this trail is the beautiful little stream, and the forest down around the water, so I think Broad Hollow Trail would be great as a short easy turn-around hike, assuming you could find the start of it. The trail marker is near a house, back behind some bushes, so it is not the easiest thing to find.
Oh and there is a really neat little waterfall about 4 feet tall in the creek very close to the bottom of the trail. Requires a bit of rock scrambling to get a good view, but definitely a nice little one.
By:
Jason
Rating:
Date of Hike: Sunday, June 12, 2005
Broad Hollow is a great hike if your looking for solitude. We hiked it on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and did not see a soul. However, the reason for that probably have to do with the relative bland nature of the area. All in all the hike was utterly unremarkable.
The trail was somewhat overgrown at parts, espicially hiking up Broad Hollow. This also led to a proliferation of a variety of insects, most notably ticks. I pulled over 30 of them off my dog when we returned from the dog and my buddy Mike and I had to pull several off of us as well. So wear bug spray.
The hike itself is generally easy to moderate but you definetly want to hike up Broad Hollow and not take the hike in reverse as it much steeper on the Piney Gap trail.
There are no views going up Broad Hollow but do have some limited views on the way back down on Piney Gap, certainly nothing to write home about though. The hike also goes through some sections where you can clearly see the results of acid rain and other environmental stress on SNP. The large trees are all dead and the underbrush is quite thick, which is probably one of the reasons the trail has started to become overgrown.
The best part of the hike was once you reach the top of the mountain. The trail is wide, flat, and their is no underbrush for about 2 miles.
All in all it was a great day to be out in the woods, but I won't be putting the Broad Hollow hike on my top 10 list either.
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