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| By:
John V.
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Rating:  |
Date of Hike: Saturday, June 26, 2010 |
| Hiked Big Schloss on 6/26 - 6/27 with our Boy Scout crew preparing for Philmont. We continued on the Mill Mountain Trail for 2 miles, camped at Sandstone Spring Saturday night and had the area to ourselves. The campsite was fine for our group of 8. Water was available at the spring even with the recent dry weather. Saw very few people on the trail probably due to the heat in the DC area. The trails are very well marked and easy to follow. The first 3/4 of a mile from Wolf Gap Recreation area up to the ridge is a good workout especially with a full pack. Saw several piles of bear scat, digging and other evidence, but no bears. The water from the pump at Wolf Gap looked like tea even after pumping for quite a while. Planning to do this one as a day hike with my family in the fall.
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| By:
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Date of Hike: Saturday, June 12, 2010 |
| This hike was spectacular. It offers nearly 360 degrees of views in Virginia and West Virginia, and in protected forests no less. In addition, the hike itself is not too bad, once you get past the first stretch, and the walk along the ridgeline is terrific in June - lots of butterflies, wild flowers, and beautiful smells in the air. If you had the patience, you could easily stitch together a nearly 360 degree picture of the surrounding vistas, which is hard to find in VA/WV, or anywhere else for that matter. In my estimation, this hike easily rivals Strickler's Knob for views, and should probably be rated a 6 rather than a 5. A terrific hike!
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| By:
Pete (again)
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 |
| I go on this hike frequently after work during the late winter and early spring. Yesterday I went on the hike and I knew it was breezy, but it was a full blown blow once you got out on the rocks. When I sat down, the wind was so strong that you could feel the rock shaking underneath you. This hike is a wonderful one to go on late in a weekday afternoon. It's relatively short (4 miles or so) and you can complete it and still enjoy the really good views in about an hour and a half. I've hiked this 15 times now with my dog and I have seen only one other pair of people on it.
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| By:
Pete
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Date of Hike: Friday, January 22, 2010 |
| I went on this hike yesterday after the snow and ice event the previous night. No one was around. The hike is really easy once you get up on the ridge. Big schloss in the snow and ice was really incredible. This hike is worth the trouble after it snows...
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| By:
Greg Thompson
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Date of Hike: Friday, January 01, 2010 |
| Man, What a awesome hike. It was a little on the chilly side but it was well worth the view. There was snow everywhere but it didnt seem to slow me down or make it to bad. Once I got to the ridge line headed toward the overlook, it was great. The wind was a little rought and the rocks a little more icier than I would have liked, but it was a great hike. Everyone should try it. I bet you would like it.
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| By:
Austen
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Date of Hike: Saturday, November 07, 2009 |
| I hiked both Big Schloss and Tibbet Knob with a buddy this past weekend. Both hikes are fairly short with fantastic views. We began Big Schloss at 9am and encountered only two other hikers on the summit. On our way down we passed at least 2 dozen folks, so hitting the trail early is a good idea. Thank you Hiking Upward for making us aware of such great trails!
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| By:
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 |
| Hiked both Tibbets Knob and Big Schloss today with my son. Both trails are very well marked and easy to follow. Awesome panoramic views on both trails. Lots of leaves + lots of rocks = really sore ankles.
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| By:
Jessica
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Sunday, August 09, 2009 |
We did this hike on a Sunday starting out at 9:00 AM after camping in Wolf Gap campground. We had the entire trail to ourselves and the views from the top were a real treat. For you backpackers, there is a nice, small camp site right near the top with a great view. Also, another larger one on the left near the top. My dog had a very close encounter with a skunk along the way -- we are still dealing with that stench. Other than that, it was a great way to escape the city heat.
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| By:
Steve J
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Sunday, August 02, 2009 |
If you're looking for a shorter, less-crowded alternative to Old Rag that's still close to the DC area, this is a good option. It was fairly hot the day we went -- 90 degrees at the base elevations -- but still bearable on the mountain. The first portion is a little strenuous but only lasts for .75 miles or so, and it's extremely easy after that. You're rewarded with a fantastic view from the rock-lined top -- one that I believe is better than Old Rag. Even though it was a Saturday, there were only 2 other people at the top when we were there (perhaps because of the heat).
If you have the time and energy, I'd recommend combining it with Tibbet Knob as the review recommends. If you're interested in camping, Wolf Gap has good sites for car camping. You could also backpack in and camp at Sandstone Spring, which is another 2.7 miles past Big Schloss, for a nearly 10 mile round trip hike (or go another mile to the great sites at Mill Mountain).
One other note: I had a very close encounter with a Timber Rattler on the top -- on the rock ledge at the highest portion of the peak (accessed by climbing up to the immediate right after the wooden bridge). No reason for alarm (they are not aggressive), just be careful in the shaded areas (where this one was hidden) or the cracks. As the previous reviewer said, the trails are somewhat overgrown in parts, which made for a slightly jittery hike back after seeing the rattler. Despite this, it was still a great hike worth doing again.
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| By:
Alec
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Rating:  |
Date of Hike: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 |
Mid July had something I had never seen before. Lots of grass. The worn path was about a foot wide in parts and I had the fear of snakes ebbing in the back of my head the entire way. 3 other friends of mine and I departed at about 10:30 and had made the top at a little after 11:30 (none of us physically unfit). We had the entire Schloss to ourselves for an hour and a half, which was amazing, being able to crawl around and explore, and yell to friends without worry of weird looks or inhibiting someone else's experience. At about 1 o'clock a tour group lead by 4 guides arrived with 30+ guests. We took our leave.
Beautiful hike with lots to explore, if you can go on a day without tours.
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| By:
Zack, Ant, Logan, and Stephen
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Saturday, April 11, 2009 |
Would you not like to be, sitting on top of the world with your legs hanging free?
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| By:
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Thursday, April 09, 2009 |
| Extremely nice hike, other than the amount of people (25-30) the scenery was great. Have yet to try the tibet knob hike but sure to happen in the future! P.S. the spring on Wolf Gap rd is AMAZING water to drink!!
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| By:
VA Family Hikers
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Date of Hike: Saturday, March 07, 2009 |
| Great hike! With no leaves on the trees, there are views all along the ridge line portion of the trail. Four hours is extremely generous for the hike time. Our group of 4 adults, 5 elementary-aged kids, and a dog took 3.5 hours round trip - including time to enjoy the views, take photos, and find a letterbox and a geocache.
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| By:
Jessica
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Date of Hike: Thursday, July 31, 2008 |
| This is a great hike! The best part is the end where you are treating to panoramic views of the surrounding area. Great spot for a long lunch. We did this just after setting up camp at Wolf Gap, followed by Little Schloss on day 2.
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| By:
Jeff and Dana L.
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Date of Hike: Monday, May 26, 2008 |
| Great day trip from DC/Northern Virginia. The views from the top are fabulous! We hike in the Shenandoah NP often so it was nice to see a different area. Best of all, no entrance fee! :-)
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| By:
Robert Godlove
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Date of Hike: Sunday, May 04, 2008 |
| Very Nice, Had a good day...nice weather, clear skies, The First leg of the Hike from Wolfs Gap is about 1/3 mile leg burner and then it caps out and has great east/west views, The trail was in good shape the views are killer, ran into about 8-10 people total in and out...some were out of gas on the side of the trail. Seen a nice big and fat Black Rat snake laying in a dead tree (6ft.)
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| By:
Brad Z
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Date of Hike: Sunday, October 28, 2007 |
| We really enjoyed this hike...a great 4 mile leg stretcher with fantastic views both west and east. After the steep first 1/4 mile or so the trail levels out for a relaxing ridgeline hike.
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| By:
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Sunday, October 21, 2007 |
Great day hike, w/ views and trail as advertised. One drawback: it was a bit crowded, detracting slightly from the overall effect.
One comment on directions: bridge referenced in driving directions is closed. If travelling from the East (from 1-81) turn R on Union Church Rd. and follow signs for Wolf Gap. You'll promptly see the closed bridge and be on rte. 675 which is well marked all the way to the campground.
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| By:
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Thursday, July 26, 2007 |
| Made a great decision to hike the Big Schloss hike on a weekday (Thursday) and it paid big dividends. Didn't run across another hiker on the whole trip, just a couple of campers at Wolf Gap. Very nice hike with the steep portion (more dangerous on the return downhill IMHO) out of the way in the beginning, then nice fairly level ridge hike along Mill Mtn Trail then a short steep leg up to the summit. Views are excellent as advertised. However, there isn't much room for error on top and I would hesitate to bring small children (for excellent safer views I might take kids up to Hawskbill or Stony Man summit). Had a nice lunch alone at the top then headed back. Finished entire route in 2.5 hours. A couple of pieces of trash and campsites along the trail, but the trash was minimal and the campsites clean and litter free. One downside was lack of wildlife sitings - not even a whitetail. But a highly recommended day hike.
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| By:
Whitey
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
Getting There:
Leaving at 6am traveling from Oakton VA on RT66 to 81, we arrived at the trail head in just about 2 hours time and had no problems with the directions.
The Hike:
The start of the trail, up to the ridge, is very well worn and is wide enough to accommodate side by side hiking. Several switchbacks and a few deep breaths and you're at the ridgeline which opens up with a decent view into the surrounding valley. Follow a grassy shaded path along the ridge (1.9 miles) until you see the split (wooden sign) signaling you have a quarter mile to go. A quick jaunt further and you'll have great 360 degree views of the surroundings. Great views and worth a hike.
The Cons:
The trail is obviously well traveled. Several points along the way were remnants of open fires, plastic lunch bags, and empty plastic bottles which were very frustrating to see. Also due to the traffic, my recc would be to either start early or pick a day with less than ideal conditions so you get the trail to yourself. Overall though, a great hike.
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| By:
Quanta
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Date of Hike: Saturday, February 10, 2007 |
| At last! I have been obsessed with getting on this trail in winter. Saturday was ideal : crisp, clear, cold and windy. About 2-4 inches of snow covered the trail and mountain top. Perfect photo conditions. Bliss! Saw quite a few folks, including campers at the Wolf Gap campground.
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| By:
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Date of Hike: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 |
| I hiked this trail with Snappers for the first time. Big Schloss is absolutely one of the best hikes you can take if you want a hike that is not to difficult and doesn’t take a long amount of time to complete. We parked in the parking area at Wolf Gap and proceeded around the circle to campsite #9 which is the double orange trail head. The first mile of the hike is the hardest part. You climb the orange trail up some pretty steep inclines to the top of the ridge and the Mill Mountain trail. When you reach the ridge line you will see the Mill Mountain trial veering to the left. Before continuing to the left along the ridge line make sure you walk about 100 yards to the right and check out the views there as well, they are pretty good. Then continue along the MillMountain trail for about 2 miles. The 2 miles along the ridge is packed with awesome views of Woodstock and the surrounding area. You will not get a better view on any of the other hikes in the GWNF. You arrive at a sign that is clearly marked Big Schloss Mountain trail and continue to your right for about a ¼ mile up a pretty steep incline to the summit of Big Schloss Mountain. The views are the best in the but use caution because a slip would be very unforgiving. Then simply follow the trail back the way you came. Over all this is the best short hike in the GWNF and took less than 3 hours.
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| By:
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 |
| My father and I decided to take advantage of this mild, crisp Virginia December day to play hooky and head out to the GW Nat'l Forest to hike Big Schloss. We had heard about it in years past, but neither could recall if we had done it or what it was all about, so we set out to explore. After a breif re-energizing stop a service station in Columbia Furnace, VA, heart of Shenandoah County (approx. 95 miles from Arlington, VA), we winded on the side roads to the Wolf Gap Recreation Area. At camping lot #9 you find the trail head, marked with double-blazed orange, and you begin to ascend, with sufficient, but limited switchbacks. The weather yesterday was about 40 degrees F, average, and we thought this was a perfect time to be outdoors, as long as you have thermals, a windbreaker, and gloves/scarf for when the wind picks up on the ridgeline. The Mill Mountain trail, which you take upwwards to a ridgeline and then follow to connect to the Big Schloss Trail off-shoot, is a lovely wind through the deciduous and evergreen flora, is extremelly well marked, and is immaculately taken care of. You begin to see expansive views of the valleys below when you get up to the ridgeline (1.0 miles along or so). The Big Schloss off-shoot is easy to navigate and has the expected shorter trees and increasing size rocks as you ascend to the pretty summit at the top. The pictures on the bottom of this page, with the wooden bridge near the Schloss end point, are a great illustration of how fun this final leg is. When you get to the top of Schloss, you have a pretty good 300 degree panorama. You see two large valleys on either side, one on the West Virginia side and the other on the Virginia side-- we noticed the contrast in small development and preservation of nature: the VA side is as untouched in the valley, sans a fire road, as it probably was when it was first marked for National Forest land one hundred years ago. The West VA valley side had some lots carved out for local farming and small farm industry as well. The whole trip, from Wolf Gap Recreation Area to the Schloss Summitt (4 miles round-trip), took us about 2 1/2 hours, and we were hiking at a moderate pace, with a 1/2 stop for a crisp and chilly lunch at the summit. Bring your binoculars and a camera! This is a great, simple hike with spectactular views.
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| By:
Alexandria Poky-Boy
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Saturday, November 18, 2006 |
| Last Saturday my friend (formerly, Tater-Girl; but now Thin-Girl) and I walked the 2 miles to Big Schloss peak. After we parked at the trail head, we learned that it was the first day of VA hunting season, and that we should have brought orange hats. (WV hunting season began the next day, 11/19/06.) During the 4 hour walk, we must have seen about 22 people (two of which were wisely wearing orange vests) and two dogs along the trail Thus, it's clearly a popular hike for a Saturday morning/afternoon. We did hear gun shots in the "far-off" distance due to the hunting season. The leaves were all down, which added to the scenery, as we had more long distance views than if the leaves were out and in the way. There was one spot just 15 feet from the very end of the trail that we thought a bit dangerous, as we had to step over a crevice; so anyone hiking with youngsters should absolutely not let them lead the trail when approaching the end! That crevice even seemed to be a bit dangerous for a dog too. After the hike and from the parking lot, we drove west into WV on Trout Run Rd, and after driving only 2 or 3 miles from the parking lot, were able to look to the east (i.e. the right) and see the Big Schoss peak. The peak really stood out, and we thought it was neat to see what the peak that we hiked up to. This was my friend's last hike as Tater-Girl, as she has lost 60 pounds in the last 12 months. Using HIKINGUPWARD as a guide, we look forward to more hiking.
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| By:
shirlenne
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Date of Hike: Saturday, October 14, 2006 |
| I really enjoyed this one... The hike is not too difficult and probably takes less than 4 hours for most people. The first half mile is the only significant elevation you have to tackle, so once you get past that, it's basically just a nice walk. There are a few more small rolling hills, but nothing major. The views on top are great, so we lingered for quite awhile after having lunch. It's great to go during the fall, because the neighboring mountains look gorgeous with all the different colored leaves. You get a great panoramic view once you get to the very top, so it's very much worth the trip!
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| By:
B. Gordon
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Date of Hike: Monday, April 10, 2006 |
| What a great hike, temperature was in the 70's!! I was looking for a relatively easy hike for my 8 year old daughter and 12 year old nephew who had never hiked before. The views were so good at the top that we stayed for 2 hours soaking it in and having lunch. The first 3/4 mile up gets the heart going but once on top of Mill Mtn Trail, the going is much easier. I would have to say the views rival those of Old Rag. We also did the Tibbet Knob Trail the following day, also a great hike, and relatively short.
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| By:
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Saturday, December 03, 2005 |
| I had a great time!I had a great veiw from the rock!I think EVERYone
should go there!My sister got up easily,and she is only 3!I am 8.It took
2 hours.It was very cold! (Notes from Dad: We stayed at Wolfgap campground, the only campers on an extremely windly 15 degree night. It never got above 30 hike day but the kids did great. The first mile is the toughest but was over before they knew what was happening and the rest is a easy walk. We'll be back to camp on the ridge next time. Excellent hike. Thanks for the information on the site. All 100% accurate).
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| By:
ALEXANDRIA-HIKER-MAY
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Saturday, May 14, 2005 |
| My Brother and I completed this hike exactly as shown during mid-morning on Saturday. The hike up the hill was rocky, and seemed wide enough to be a road, so there was no mistaking the trail. There were very pleasant views along the way up the trail, but the view from Big Schloss was tremendous. Big Schloss is really allot of huge rocks at the end of a hill (only 30 yards from the wooden bridge shown in the photos on this site), permitting for a 270 degree view from an elevated position from which to watch birds soaring below. During our 3 1/2 hour hike, we saw 3 other groups of hikers (totalling 11 people), so it's not too barren. However, we did see a rattle snake in the middle of the trail, so it's best to keep your eyes on the trail. I would not bring a dog on the trail to Big Schloss, as I'd be concerned that he would accidentally get too close to an edge. The difficulty level really is a 2, and the views really are a 5, so you get a big return for a nominal effort. You must definitely tackle this trail.
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| By:
CajunClimber
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Friday, February 04, 2005 |
| If you follow the route in PATC Circuit Hikes in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, you'll end up with an intense 12.5 mile hike from near Big Schloss up towards Sugar Knob, then back down to Big Schloss. The views are fantastic and different all four seasons; this winter the approach up to Big Schloss was a lot of fun with snow up to knee-deep. Bring a headlamp, get there around sunset, enjoy the view from the top and then hike down in the dark. Highly recommeded.
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| By:
Jeffrey
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Date of Hike: Sunday, May 01, 1994 |
| I took my wife on her first backpacking trip ever on the loop described in the Circuit Hikes book. We did it in reverse order, charging up to Big Schloss first for lunch, then camping at the spring and coming past the Sugar Knob cabin the next day. Everything people say about the area, and Big Schloss in particular, is true. Terrific views, very nice hiking!
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