This
is a short and pleasant hike, and has
some of the best vistas in the Shenandoah National Park. Little Stony Man, just below the main peak, has a popular rock wall with local climbers. Make
sure to pick a haze free day, because you don't want
to miss all the views along the the ridge!
Start the hike on the left of the parking area at the trail junction. Turn right on the on the yellow blazed Stony Man Trail for 0.5 miles to the intersection of the Horse Trail.
Turn left uphill on the Horse Trail for 0.5 miles and come to the first of the
Shenandoah Valley overlooks. Continue up the trail for another 50
yards to the junction of the the
blue blazed trail, and horse rail. Turn left, and in 80 yards arrive at the main Stony Man Mountain overlook.
Return back, passing the trail you turned off in 80 yards, where the blue blazed trail splits. Stay left, and in 0.4 miles the trails rejoin. Continue downhill for another 0.1 miles to the the four way intersection of the white blazed Appalachian Trail.
Turn left on the white blazed trail for
0.7 miles to the Little Stony Man overlook. As you continue
downward make several switchbacks before reaching the left turn for the blue blazed Passamaquoddy Trail. The Passamaquoddy Trail turnoff is easy to miss. Look for a concrete post marker and a double white blazed tree marking the junction.
The Passamaquoddy Trail will pass a lower vista at the base of the Little Stony Man Mountain cliff face. Continue around the mountain for 1.0 miles to the junction
of Furnace Spring Road. Turn left uphill for 20 yards, then make a sharp turn to the left again onto the yellow blazed trail. Follow the yellow blazed trail as it winds uphill, arriving back at the Stony Man Mountain parking area in 0.5 miles.
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Hiker
Reviews For The Stony Man Mountain Hike (5 Most Recent)
Hiked this with my non-hiker mom, as I never have interest in a 3.7 mile hike. Parking lot was maybe 1/4 - 1/3 full when we arrived and when we left. Views were great, from the main summit, the smaller overlook along the AT, and the small overlook at Passamaquoddy . Saw some climbers tackling the wall. Also, due to all the recent rain, there were numerous instances along the Passamaquoddy of streams intersecting the trail, or small waterfalls off the rocks. Right before the yellow-blazed trail you could really hear some water gushing in the valley below, but sadly I could not investigate.
The reason for 4 stars not 5 is because the yellow-blazed trail looked to be very rarely used with infrequent blazes (some of the blazes weren't even the normal yellow but some fading neon yellow color). Hiking along the Canyon Rim in Roaring Plains was easier than following this trail. The leaves on the trail were barely worn, if at all. Thus, my non-hiker companion was very nervous along this stretch.
Total time: 2:40 with frequent photo stops but not stopping for lunch.
By:
litework
Rating:
Date of Hike: Sunday, November 08, 2009
Nice hike on a beautiful autumn day. The hike including the summit was not crowded. We took a horse trail back to the parking lot and didn't see one person outside our small group. I've made this hike a number of times taking quite a few newbies they all found the views at the summit to be breathtaking. This is a good hike to take a first timer. I think the "1" rating for ease is misleading, especially in comparison to the "harder" trails that I've hiked in the area-these higher scoring hikes didn't seem more difficult than the Stony Man Hike.
By:
tim_j
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, November 07, 2009
I hiked Stony Man today with my girlfriend, following the 3.6 mile loop described here. The summit of Stony Man was fairly small outcropping of rock and was pretty crowded with a dozen people or so there around noon. We thought the best view on the hike was actually the Little Stony Man overlook where you get an almost equally majestic view as Stony Man, with a lot less traffic. The way back on the Passamaquoddy Trail under the rock face was a bit more technical, but it allowed for a bit more solitude and still gave a great view to the right of the valley below as you move along under Little Stony Man and Stony Man. Overall, it was a very fun hike, with well-marked trails, and great views. It took us a little under 3 hours to finish, but we took our time and stopped for almost 30 minutes at Little Stony Man.
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Sunday, August 16, 2009
After doing Old Rag yesterday, my girlfriend and I thought that we would spend day two of four by going a little easier on ourselves today. This little scenic hike was perfect for allowing us to work out the kinks in our muscles from yesterday without straining ourselves too much. We arrived at the trailhead a little before 7:30 am and found ourselves alone in the parking lot....except for our escort. A medium sized doe was waiting for us right at trail entrance. This deer walked along, just off to the trail's side, with us for a little more than 3/10ths of a mile. This doe wasn't shy at all and let us take several photos and was within a just a few feet of us on several occasions.
I didn't take us long to reach the summit of Stony Man. Along with our escort, the scenery and the turns in the trail kept our attention (I always like to see what might what might be waiting around the corner for us). We did see two more fawns at the top of the trail...these were pretty skittish and kept their distance.
The view from the top of Stony Man was gorgeous and I thought it was very comparable to the Old Rag views with a lot less work. When we started the hike the temperature was 65 degrees out, so it was probably in the low 70s when we reached the summit. Just perfect, clear weather for a great view.
On the way back down, we did see several small pairs or groups of hikers working their way up the trail. To me, getting on the trail early is worth the extra effort....you'll have more solitude and may see more wildlife as a result.
After we finished up with this hike, we headed over to the park office/dining room. During our short walk in the surrounding woods, we spotted another sizeable doe (who allowed photos) and a medium sized black bear (who we got some distant photos of, before he quickly headed off in the opposite direction).
Off to the more challenging, longer White Oak Canyon/Cedar Run Hike tommorow for some waterfalls & cold mountain water swimming.
By:
Rating:
Date of Hike: Saturday, July 25, 2009
A very nice hike with outstanding views and if you add the Millers Head 1.6 mile out and back it makes for a good morning outing. The trail is interesting for the most part but the top of Stony Man can get crowded on a summer Saturday. Except for the summit we saw only 1 other hiker on the Passamaquoddy trail and a couple on the Millers Head trail which is located on the south side of the Skyland complex and has a great view of the valley from a stone observation point. It is easy enough for beginning hikers and those that aren't looking for solitude but enough of a challenge to make it worthwhile.
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