Turk Mountain is a tough hike with about 2400’ of elevation gain, bring plenty of water, especially if hiked in the summer. We hiked it a few days before Christmas and it was quite cold. It's hard to rate the solitude as the temperature was so cold all normal people were at home and not out hiking. The best views are at the top of Turk Mountain, so make sure you do the out /back Blue-blazed Turk Mountain trail.
All of the trails for this hike are well maintained. Hiking poles would be advisable for the multiple stream crossings, althought the level will be significantly less in the summer. This hike is the last circuit hike in the southern section of the Shenandoah National Park.
We parked at the Jarman Gap parking area, near MP97. There are two yellow gated barriers, the trail starts on the barrier nearest Skyline Drive and goes downhill. Continue past the barrier hiking on the yellow blazed Moormans River Fire Road. In about 0.2 miles you will come to an intersection of the A.T., continue past this intersection, crossing Moormans River multiple times prior to reaching the intersection of the Turk Branch Trail in 2.0 miles. You will cross the river and immediately take a left after the SNP Stone Marker heading up the yellow blazed Turk Branch trail. Note: The Moormans River Fire Road continues straight at this intersection following the Moormans River, make sure you turn left onto the Turk Branch Trail.
Continue on the Turk Branch Trail, crossing Turk Branch a couple of times, with multiple switchbacks prior to reaching the Turk Gap parking area. This part of the hike is about 2.6 miles long and gains roughly 1200’ feet in elevation. One of the crossings had a nice small waterfall with a few others visible upstream.
From the Turk Gap parking area, cross Skyline Drive and head to the Stone marker, bearing left onto white blazed AT going South. DO NOT TAKE the yellow blazed continuation of the Turk Gap Trail. Stay on the AT South for 0.3 miles until you reach the intersection of the blue blazed Turk Mountain Trail, take a right. This is an out and back adding 2.0 miles to the hike, but you will see the best views of the day and have a great place to eat lunch. Be sure when you are at the top of Turk Mountain to continue along the rocks past the Stone marker, so that you can also see some great views of the Shenandoah Valley. Retrace your steps to the AT intersection.
Take a right at the AT intersection heading south for about 1.4 miles before crossing Skyline Drive. To the right is the Sawmill Run Overlook which if you have time, has some great views. Once across Skyline Drive there are some good up and downs on this part of the AT but not too bad. Continue on the AT for 1.7 miles reaching the Moormans River Fire Road intersection. Take a right and reach the Jarman Gap Parking area in 0.2 miles to complete the hike.
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Reviews For The Turk Mountain Hike (5 Most Recent)
This hike was great, tiring but great. The first half is pretty strenuous heading up hill most of the way up to Turk Mountain, but the view you get once you're there is amazing. One of the best places I have ever eaten lunch at. Only issues I had were the high water levels of the stream crossing, but hey what do you expect after all the snow and rain VA has gotten so far this year. Solitude rating is pretty spot on, the only time I saw other people was the Turk Mt climb. Overall this is a great hike and I can't wait to do it again in a few weeks.
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Date of Hike: Sunday, October 18, 2009
We did only the 2.2 hike up to Turk Mtn Summit and back to parking area since we had our basset hound with us and it was a cold, blustery day. It was a great hike, beautiful woods, great views from the rocks beyond the summit marker and saw our first snow of the year at the summit. According to my 12 yr old son, no boring switchbacks made this hike one of his favorites and he likes scrambling on the rocks. This part of the trail is a good workout without being too tough or strenuous.
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Date of Hike: Sunday, August 09, 2009
1) This hike is a challenge, but fun! The directions are great, except when SOMEONE reads “2.0 miles” as “0.2 miles” and you feel as though you’re never going to reach the next stone marker. 2) If you attempt this hike in the summer, you won’t see waterfalls – they’re hidden by thick vegetation. You will barely see water. The “river” can be forged without even getting your shoes damp. 3) Great wildlife – we saw 3 bears, and heard a “beast” (more than likely a frightened deer) just off the trail. 4) Even in the summer, I believe the Solitude rating is accurate. On our 5-hour venture, we saw 4 people.
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Natasha
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Date of Hike: Sunday, February 08, 2009
Since we hiked up to Turk Mtn a few weeks ago, we decided to lop off the out and back to the top and just do the circuit. This is one of my favorite hikes to do since it is close to the southern end of SNP and easy to get to. The climb up the AT to the intersection for Turk Mtn is a nice enough climb to get the heart going but not too hard to make you too tired early into the hike. The descent down the Turk Branch Trail is a nice grade and isn't too hard on the knees. We did this last year in the spring and the blooming trees were so pretty. This time around we encountered quite a bit of mud thanks to recent snow melt. We saw a lot of dear and the streams were flowing well. The slow climb up the fire road back to the car can get a little tiring but it's gentle enough to be able to look around and enjoy the scenery without having to worry about tripping over a rock. Last year we got hailed on and had to carefully make our way up the fire road which had become a raging river following the short but quite heavy rain storm. We only saw one family during the 8-mile hike. I have done this hike in reverse and the climb up Turk Branch can be quite rough.
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Sam and Thunder
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Date of Hike: Saturday, January 10, 2009
Thanks for posting this hike on your site. Its a good hike, and the location at the south end of the skyline drive is great since we travel from Richmond. It was fairly cold and some rain, so we didn't see any other hikers all day. The streams were flowing well and enjoyed the small falls. Good view to the west despite the weather at the top of Turk Mtn. We finished the hike just under 6 hours, with a half hour for lunch and some time to change a wet sock at one of the stream crossings.
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