1.  There is barely any water in that hole....certainly no lake at the moment

MRSHyker and I got this hike done just before the heavy rains moved in. We had some sprinkles and high wind and about 45 minutes of bright sun right at the end of the hike. The wildflowers are unbelievable. If you are into wildflowers this is a "must do hike" in early May. The climb to the ridge was pretty gradual, helped by stopping to look at all of the flowers on the way up. Once on top the terrain is flat or rolling with only one other steep, but short climb. During the peak Trillium Viewing Season expect a lot of company, espesially allong a one mile stretch of the AT that is close to a ridge top parking area. On either side of that segment we were all alone.

There were literally millions of Trillium (Janet described them as fields of trillium in the forest and that's a pretty apt description.), thousands of Showy Orchis and a family showed us where to find some very impressive Yellow Lady Slippers in their prime. We even saw a rare double flower on one plant. They are only in one small area on the ridge. These were the most exotic plants. There were also Rue Anemone, May Apple and Wild Geranium - too many to count, several varieties of violets, a lot of Sweet Cicely, Star Chickweed, Fleabane, Dogwood, Blood Root (Out of bloom now but the leaves are quite obvious.), a couple varieties of mustard, Wood Betony or Louse Wort, Gold(en?) Alexander and way to much of that invasive garlic mustard. Don't know what blooms there in the summer but I thought I saw some Wild (Smooth) Hydrangea leaves and we found a lot of False Solomon's Seal that should be blooming in a couple of weeks..

Except for the AT the trails are not signed or blaze so take a map and these trail notes with you. I will definetly be bringing a group up here next spring.

My wife, 7-year-old son and I hike this route this weekend.

The Trilliums were impressive this past weekend. The forest floor, near the Upper Ted Lake parking area, was covered with them. The wild redbuds in bloom were impressive as well.

A thunderstorm rolled in over the mountain around 3:00PM. By luck we were less than 1/10 of a mile from the Manassas Gap Shelter on the A.T at the time when the worst of rain hit. We darted down the path to the shelter and found 13 other hikers at the shelter waiting out the storm. The 3 of us made 16 folks cramped into the shelter.

God bless the good people of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club for mainting these shelters. Although crowded, it was a great place to wait for the storm to pass. All of the hikers were very generous in sharing food, drink and stories. A group of 7 hikers from South Korea entertained all of us with music, including one who was hiking with his guitar in tow.

 I had taken this hike with my wife and daughter in November 2006 and had a hard time finding the way. The first mistake was second guessing the Stone Wall Trail. There were so many downed trees and no sign that I thought it could not be the right way so we continued to walk on the Lake Trail until we came to the AT. The second problem was a new logging road. I was uncertain of the way until we saw the metal shed.

 Last Thursday my wife Terri and I and two friends, Herb and Mary, parked one car at the parking lot below the lake then the four of us road to a parking lot near route 50 and started walking south on the AT. I made an extra effort to look for the Stone Wall Trail as it intersects the AT and I think I know where it is but it was not cleared, no signs, and I was not sure. This was our first early out to walk down to the lake and to the car. We continued to walk  on the AT and we soon came to the intersection of the Lake Trail. We again elected to continue south and pick up this loop trail. I was shocked to see the trail was still unmarked.

 After hiking this two times here is what I think you need to know to find your way. When you come to the logging road (This is the second dirt road on the AT)  turn left and stay on it to the clear cut area with a great view. Walk straight towards a tree with blue paint then go slightly right down hill for about 100 yards then turn left on an unmarked trail. Ignor the blue painted trees. I think they are just survey lines. This trail will come to a dry steam bed that is the trail for about 100 feet. You will soon see the ruins of a small water dam? on the right then the metal shed on the left where there is a new great!! view to the east.

Also note the red barn where you turn left is now white?

This hike has a lot of character and solitude if its not hunting season. I am going to see if I can volunteer to care for and mark these trails.

It rained all night Friday night & Sat. morning so I started this hike at 3 PM.  Fantastic time.  I was not able to print the details so I managed to make some wrong turns but ended up just doing the Vernon Smith Trail backwards.  It is not detailed in the directions but, unless I was in the wrong place, some logging or clearing has occurred on the VST and it gets lost for a few hundred feet (saw about 4 deer right here though).  I ended up back at the lake at about 6:30 and it was perfect.  Also, the old building mentioned at the end of the VST has an excellent view of the valley.  Saw 2 bow hunters and one rifle hunter.    I thought this was a great hike and the ensuing dusk made for a great atmosphere coming down the hill.