While
this hike may not have the sweeping vistas you often find
on other Shenandoah National Park hikes, it features great trails
that wind through scenic valleys. More strenuous with long
vertical ascents this hike can give you quite a workout.
Veer left on the Hull School Trail for 0.8 miles downhill
to the junction of the Piney Branch Trail.
Turn right on the Piney Branch Trail and in 200 yards cross
Piney River. At 0.5
miles on the Piney Branch Trail the Piney Ridge Trail will
come in on your left. Continue straight for another 0.7 miles
where you will cross back over Piney River.
Ascend the Piney
Branch Trail for another 1.0 miles on the right side of the
valley until coming to the junction of the Poll Bridge Link
Trail on the left.
Continue on the Piney Branch Trail and pass the Sugar Loaf
Trail on the left in 0.4 miles.
In another 0.5 miles arrive at the junction
of the Keyser Run Fire road.
Turn right on the yellow blazed Keyser
Run Fire road and begin your descent for the 2.3
miles back to the intersection of the Hull School Trail
and the Bolen
Cemetery.
Turn left down the Keyser Run Fire road for the
final 1.1 miles back to the parking lot.
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Reviews For The Piney Branch Hike (5 Most Recent)
8 hikers did a different version (11-13 mi) of this hike. We started up Little Devil Stairs. I've been on LDS many time but this is the first time the waters created quite a challenge. At Keyser some of us turned Right heading towards the AT. A left onto the AT took them to Piney Branch where we then picked up Hull School. It was the first time I've seen the waterfalls on Piney Branch. they were beautiful and the two river crossings were more challenging than LDS. It was best to just get our feet wet. Great day perfect fall day.
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Date of Hike: Saturday, October 08, 2011
We (me, sister and the dog) did a modified and shortened version of this Piney Branch hike. We started around 10:15am at the Piney Branch trail head off Skyline Drive (across from Mathews Arm Campground where we were camped). We descended the Piney Branch Trail down to the AT, then turned right on the AT for about .4 miles. Then we turned left onto the Piney Ridge Trail for the next 2 miles. The trail was very flat and pleasant and seems to follow a saddle the entire time. We had a lot of company on this part of the trail with a couple of really nice backpackers and a couple of medium sized groups of day hikers. Shortly before reaching the Piney Ridge/Fork Mountain intersection, we saw a side trail to the right that was marked only with a rock cairn. We scampered to see where it went and in about 50 yards discovered the 2nd cemetery that is shown on the Piney Branch area maps. The readable stones were marked with last names of Dwyer, Curtis and Payne. Back on the Piney Ridge Trail, in about another 50 yards, we then turned left to continue on the Piney Ridge Trail (continuing to the right would lead you to Fork Mountain Trail). We knew this part of the Piney Ridge Trail would take us straight downhill for about a mile. And it was a pretty steep downhill. We were passed on this downhill by a group of 4 trail runners, one of which seemed to be training for the military with his gov't issued gear. We finally (FINALLY) bottomed out shortly before reaching the Piney Branch Trail intersection. This was about the halfway point for us, so we took a short lunch break here. We then turned left and continued up stream on the Piney Branch Trail. It was a constant ascent and got very rocky in places. The trail also meanders from being close to the river to going uphill and away from the river. We knew even going uphill that the river would eventually rise up to meet us each time. We followed the Piney Branch Trail upriver like this for the next 2.7 miles (or so). At some point, we crossed Piney Branch from the left bank over to the right (going upriver). It was about the halfway point of this 2.7mile stretch when the rocks and constant ascent finally took it's toll on the feet and the wheels started to fall off. We met quite a few hikers along the way that were coming down to find the falls and were inquiring "how much further?" to us. :) There are a couple of small waterfalls on the Piney, but both of them require a little bushwacking to get down to and up close. We didn't see any social trails leading to the falls and we were too tired at this point to bushwack. We finally reached the Piney Branch/Pole Bridge Link Trail (leads to Sugarloaf) intersection and took another break. Since we were so close to Skyline at this point, we saw lots more day hikers, most of which looked a little less than "prepared" for a moderately strenuous hike. We turned left to stay on the Piney Branch Trail and crossed over Piney from the right side back to the left in about .2 miles. Then it was 1.2 miles uphill back to the AT and .1 on up to where we parked. This uphill wasn't quite as severe as I thought it would be. By doing this route, we shorted the hike to about 7.5 miles or so. We started at 10:15am and didn't finish until about 5:15pm for about 7 hours of hiking. We didn't see a lot of wildlife, mostly strange bugs and a cute frog along the Piney. We did see some bear scat along the Piney Branch Trail, but alas no bears. Temps were in the mid-60's and perfect for hiking. Fall colors seem to be around 30%. This wasn't a spectacular hike, but it was a challenging walk in the woods for us.
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Date of Hike: Saturday, July 31, 2010
Thought I'd get the last mileage out of my annual pass which expired this weekend. Decided to make the Piney Branch trail my goal. Now in wetter seasons, there is a 3 ft deep little hole on the Piney where Hull Road crosses the trail, but this year has been very dry. Anyway, since this was an over-nighter for me, I parked at Elkwallow Wayside (thinking about lunch the next day when I came back out), and headed across Skyline to catch the AT headed NE. Its a nice little trudge up this portion of the AT until you get to Pole Bridge Link Trail, but I considered it a nice warm-up. Once you get to Pole Bridge Link Trail, its all down hill (more on this later), and I quickly warmed up to the trail. I took a right at the Piney Branch Trail (not to be confused with the Piney Ridge Trail) and spent the next hour trying NOT to fall on my face while navigating the rocky downhill. Other than my footing it was a VERY pleasant walk, very quiet with no one on this portion of the trail. Not to say I was alone on the trail since I spotted two black bear, who were busy eating the raspberries that were ripe at the higher altitudes, about midway along the Piney Branch Trail. Actually it may have been the same bear since the sightings were within a half mile or so of each other, and I think he might have been a bit fractious that I was interrupting his dinner. Anyway, I managed to reach the more level ground of the lower Piney about 4:30 and started looking for a campsite. There are several in this area. The first was a stone circle to the right of the trail just a few hundred yards S of the link trail to Piney Ridge, the second was a nice pine needle covered spot where the trail crosses the Piney, and the third is usually my favorite and is about 100 yds west on Hull School Fire Road from the intersection with the Piney. However, since I was meeting several groups hiking up from the lower parking lot, I decided to spend the night at the stone circle since its a little more "off the trail". This meant backtracking a bit, but I was still set up by 5:30. It was a beautiful night, even though it apparently rained at some point which I didn't even notice, and I was warm, dry and cozy in my hammock anyway. The next morning was great, everything fresh from the nighttime rain, quiet, still, and peaceful shattered only when I realized that my water bladder had developed a leak. Well, nothing much to do, but hike back to a deep pool in the Piney, refill the bladder using my filter pump and make breakfast. After a nice filling breakfast, I refilled the bladder as best I could, and started UPHILL. Now here's the problem with hiking DOWN from Skyline, you gotta go back UP to get to your car. I took the link trail between the Piney Branch and Piney Rodge Trails. Not sure this was such a great idea. One, the link trail is pretty steep, two, I was the first one on this portion of the trail and managed to break all the spiderwebs with my face, and three, I had a leaky water bladder dripping on my butt the entire way. By the time I reached Piney Ridge, I was almost dry except for an emergency 16.9 oz plastic water bottle (that I thank GOD I carry to mix Gatorade in). The last few miles to the AT intersection was a battle of mind over matter. My mind kept telling me that once I reached the AT, I'd have a quick mile hike DOWNHILL to the wayside and my car, and my matter (body) telling me that 16 oz of water was not NEAR enough. Being the cerebral individual that I like to think I am, my mind was actually correct, and it was with joy that I crested the ridge and saw the trail marker for the AT. Swallowing the last dribbles of my water, I briskly set out for Elkwallow arriving maybe 20 minutes later. After dropping my pack at the car, I availed myself of a large Gatorade and a can of my favorite "adult beverage" purchased from the wayside. Whereupon I congratulated my foresight in parking next to such a remarkable store/landmark. If you want a workout, I highly recommend this trail, I know that I really enjoyed it, but make sure you check your water supply THOROUGHLY before you embark.
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Date of Hike: Saturday, January 23, 2010
We hiked up #18 Little Devil Stairs and down #19 Piney Branch (reverse directions). It's about a 9 mile hike 4 hours for us. 1.5 hours up icy LDS was not overly difficult to navigate because it was thawing. The fun part was Piney Branch trail at the beginning. No one had hiked it since the snowstorm of a couple weeks ago. It was fun crunching along the trail and finally got a chance to try out my yak trax although I really didn't need them. As Tony's pictures show, it was definitely challenging to cross the streams along Piney Branch today. We couldn't at the trail but with some creativity were able to stay dry. It was not all that strenuous (last weekend's up #39 Cedar Run down White Oak Canyon was much more challenging) but this was definitely enjoyable. Rae's in Sperryville VA is closing anyone know of other good restaurants in the area or on the way back to DC?
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Date of Hike: Sunday, December 13, 2009
Nice hike. Liked the uphill early on and found I made great time on the way out on the fire road. One word of caution: the directions have a mistake. The Poll Bridge Link Trail enters from the right, not the left, and hikers should turn right on the Poll Bridge Link Trail instead of staying on the Piney Branch Trail. I followed the directions and found myself re-crossing the Piney Branch and headed up to Skyline Drive. Luckily it was a nice day and the extra mile or so didn't hurt,
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