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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Reviews For The Robertson Mountain Hike (5 Most Recent)
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.
By:
jmgradon
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Date of Hike: Wednesday, December 26, 2007
I did this hike on my 59th birthday. Actually, I combined it with Old Rag, doing Old Rag first in the traditional way, but then continuing on the Old Rag Fire Road and coming up Robertson from the back. This makes for a bit more sporting a hike than doing either Robertson or Old Rag on their own. It took about five and a half hours, but I was pushing it pretty hard. The top of Robertson Mountain is a wonderful spot. There are some boulders to clamber up on and, particularly in winter, there are good views across to the main ridge and the valleys below. I have always had it all to myself and I have done the Old Rag/Robertson circuit now about 6 or 7 times. My guess is about 11 miles and 3,800 feet of ascent.
By:
Jiri Bouda
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Date of Hike: Sunday, April 22, 2007
Nice hike, but the Fire Road is ... How to say it - I like small Footpaths than Higways. Be sure, way from west to east is much easier, but not so nice.
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Friday, November 17, 2006
Weather was great. Mid to upper 50s, sunny. We parked in the Berry Hollow lot. We opted to follow the Old Rag Fire Road from the Berry Hollow Fire Road, after hearing about the steepness of the backside of the Roberston Mtn trail. We were all feeling a bit slower this day. The OR fire road was a bit boring but if you have any interest in the local history, this area was full of mountain families evicted by the Park Service in the 1930's. There are a lot of old home sites on this route. It is interesting to note most trees are not massive as in many other areas of SNP but rather moderately sized due to old farming. There are some huge tulip poplars to be seen though. According to a book I read on the Old Rag area, most of Robertson Mountain was farmed and covered in apple orchards. It's sunny exposure provides a great place for apples, peaches, grapes. The observant hiker will note evidence of these areas. The heavy scrub affords food for assorted wildlife - we saw a huge buck, several pileated woodpeckers, a ruffed grouse and a variety of smaller birds. Also, there is a moderate to significant amout of old fire damage on Robertson.
For the photographer, there are some excellent, unobscured views of Old Rag from the OR fire road. Nice places to take pictures for sure.
The summit of Robertson Mtn is nice...view of the surrounding valleys and mountains is good. A nice place to eat your lunch. We opted to return via the same route we came up. The gravel road was very tough on the feet and knees, but it affords a more open view along the way. Fire roads are bad and good in that regard. I personally think they offer the chance to see more wildlife, as there is always something running across the road. We found a lot of scat along the fire road from various animals, including bear and coyote.
All in all, I think I would do this hike again, after reviewing the book I read on Old Rag. There is a ton of old history on Robertson Mtn so I recommend doing a bit of research to make the hike more meaningful. When you think about the massive amount of labor involved in clearing a mountain of this size for farming, it suggests what kind of hardworking farmers the old mountain people were.
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Date of Hike: Sunday, July 23, 2006
First things first, I didn't park at the Berry Hollow Lot, I parked at the lower lot for Old Rag off of Rt 600 (Nethers Road?). It was a two mile hike to get to the trailhead. The first mile or there abouts was along Nethers Road to the upper parking area and the second mile was along the fire road. This was a good warm up but over all a poor experience. Although I will admit I knew this would be the case before I got out of bed this morning. Who likes hiking along fire roads? I digress... Once we started out on the trail, I got very excited for a few reasons. First the trail reminded me of the old Old Rag trail, before the switch backs were built. That is, it was narrow and quite nicely overgrown At some points it was like being in a tropical jungle, there were walls of green on either side. Second, it was evident that this was an underused, sparsely populated trail so we wouldn't be running into hoardes of hikers. After about 200 yards or less the trail started to climb. It is an awesome challegene, one that I wouldn't suggest if you are not fit. Think of the steepest climb on Old Rag (aside from where you scale rocks) and add 1.25 miles or so and that is what you have on the front side of this hike. Third, there were bear droppings all over the place. I don't recall ever seeing those on the Old Rag trail in 30+ years of hiking it. So after 15 minutes of hiking or so, you start to catch a view here and there of the surrounding countryside. They aren't great but they are better then nothing. You know when you are reaching the top when the trail starts to level out (level being a relative term) but be warned there is a section about midway up where the trail levels out for 100 yds. When you think you've reached the top look for a side trail on the left, follow it for 25 yds and you'll reach a grassy clearing. Look to the right and you will see another trail, follow it for 25 yds and you will come to a rocky clearing, like the top of Old Rag. The views are good, about 180 degrees worth. The hike down was a huge disappointment (my fault for not reading the full discription). You hike for .6 mile through the woods then hike down the freaking fire road back to the parking lot. BORING!!! From the bottom lot up and over and back down the fire road, it was 10 miles according to my handy-dandy GPS. We did it in about 4.75 HRS including a stop for 30 minutes on the top. We only saw two other people who thought they were hiking Old Rag (hello, can you read the signs???) We were lucky to have a very low humidity day and coolish temps (start at 70, end at 82).
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