Overlooking Old Rag Mountain, the Robertson Mountain hike has one of the steepest trails in the central section of the Shenandoah National Park, with an elevation gain on the Robertson Mountain Trail of 1,700 feet in just over 1.5 miles.
From the parking area, pass the closed gate hiking up the yellow blazed Berry Hollow Fire Road for 0.8 miles. Here you reach the intersection of the Old Rag Fire Road on the left, the Saddle Trail on the right, and Weakley Hollow Fire Road that continues straight.
Continue straight on the yellow blazed Weakley Hollow Fire Road (concrete post points towards Old Rag Parking Area) for 1.2 miles and arrive at the Robertson Mountain Trail.
Turn left uphill on the blue blazed Robertson Mountain Trail for the steepest section of the loop, and gain 1,700ft in just over 1.5 miles to the top of Robertson Mountain.
Continue down the other side of Robertson Mountain on the Robertson Mountain Trail where it ends at the junction of the Old Rag Fire Road in another 0.6 miles.
Turn left downhill on the yellow blazed Old Rag Fire Road as it descends for 2.2 miles back to the intersection with the Berry Hollow Fire Road.
Turn right on the Berry Hollow Fire Road for the remaining 0.8 miles back to the parking area.
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Hiker
Reviews For The Robertson Mountain Hike (5 Most Recent)
we started at the parking lot past white oak falls lot. drive to the top of the hill until the paving ends. climbed with the kids and wife for mother's day. tough hike for a group that doesn't hike too much. you go downhill after you reach the intersection with Old Rag Trail. if you go to the left up the Robertson Mt. Road it is a much more steady climb until you reach to the blue trail head. if you follow the direction given and go to the right, you go downhill only to then have to gain the altitude back when you hit the blue trail head. tough going but not so tough you can't do it. the hardest part is keeping the kids going when it is difficult to see where you are going to crest the trail at the top. the views are good but seen better and as more leaves come out, the views will be limited. long downhill when you come off the back side of the mountain back to parking lot. took 5 hours.
By:
ian
Rating:
Date of Hike: Sunday, April 05, 2009
I have a love hate relationship with this mountain. It's very buggy, the views aren't that great, but something about it makes me want to climb it. My girlfriend and I climb it after Old Rag. We hike the Old Rag circuit and then tie on to Robertson from the fireroad 1.3 miles from the Old Rag parking lot. We then hike down Corbin mountain or Corbin Hollow depending on our mood. It's a pretty steep trail, so it's a great way to build up some endurance. I would not recomend this hike to someone if it's the only trail they are planning on doing that day there are too many other good ones near by. However, it is an excellant way to tie on to other trails if you want some extra challenge and to knock out some additional miles.
Also, we are thinking about hiking up to Nicholson Hollow trail using the route I described. Has anyone done it, is it worth it, how many miles?
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Monday, February 16, 2009
The only thing that bothered me about this hike was there wasn't a sign like Old Rag stating you reached the summit. I saw the pile of rocks in question but as cold was it was on this day and seeing snow on the ground, I didn't bother to attempt to get on these rocks. I haven't hiked that many mountains, so maybe this is the normal thing. For the most part I had the mountain to myself. I ran across a few people on both fire roads, and two people and their dog on the summit after hanging out there for a little bit.
I park at Berry Hollow which wasn't crowded at all, took the eight tenths of a mile walk to the path that goes up the non-rock scamble side of Old Rag, and then kept walking on the fire road which was flat until I saw the trailhead which was about a mile away to Robertson Mountain. Right off the shoot, it is steep. There are many good spots to take pictures of Old Rag. That is a good berrier to see how high up are as the summit to Robertson Mountain is 5 feet higher than Old Rag. The backside is only eight tenths of a mile and I must have walked that in 10 minutes tops. The fire road though takes forever, and had I done that first, it would have been uphill. I am glad I took the flat part first. It took about 4 hours 25 minutes to walk it all, but it was worth it.
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Sunday, February 08, 2009
Watch out! the mapquest directions from this page to the starting point (parking lot) are wrong. Some frustrated home owner -- on a very rugged road with a "private" sign on it, had written a plea for those trying to use the road to turn around. We did but couldn't find the right parking lot and ended up at Old Rag Parking Lot. So we did Robertson Mountain but from that lot -- which was just fine. Dozens of people were going up Old Rag but we had Robertson to ourselves (and our dogs) -- a wonderful hike on a warm winter day.
HikingUpward.com: Thanks for the note concerning the Google Driving directions. The Google driving directions program had changed to include private roads incorrectly marked as public. The driving directions on this page have been updated to include a waypoint so as not to include this section.
By:
ckwhitman
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, February 23, 2008
This was a great hike. I haven't hiked in over 8 months so this was a good one to get back in shape with. There was lots of fog and it was a really cold hike. The uphill climb after you turn off the main trail is no joke, I was huffing and puffing all the way up. We were with more experienced hikers and the climb didn't slow them down too much. Wear good boots because there were lots of potential ankle twisters on the climb up and down.
It was worth it one we got to the top and saw the view. I recommend having lunch at the top and enjoying the view for 30 to 45 minutes. Make sure to bring enough water (2L+) because you won't come across any water sources once you head up the mountain and won't see any until you are back. We saw about 3 or 4 piles of bear scat so it may be a good idea to make sure you have a bell and pay attention to your surroundings.
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