Humpback Rocks (mileposts 5.8 – 6.0)

Excerpted from Hiking the Blue Ridge Parkway by Randy Johnson.

Not five miles south of the Blue Ridge Parkway's first milepost, the Humpback Rocks Recreation Area provides a perfect introduction to the cultural and natural riches of this linear park. An interpretive trail through a hardscrabble farm explores the pioneer life still being led by mountaineers long after modern lifestyles had come to surrounding "flatlanders." The small visitor center (where water is available) focuses on life as mountain residents knew it. And just across the road, a short, steep trail lifts hikers to truly awe-inspiring vistas that stretch north and south along the Blue Ridge, east to the Piedmont, and west into the Shenandoah Valley. There's also a small picnic area.

Option 1: Mountain Farm Trail

General description: An eye-opening glimpse into the rustic lives led by 19th century Appalachian mountaineers who lived near what is now the Parkway.
Parkway mile: 5.8
Total distance: .5 mile
Difficulty: Easy (wheelchair accessible).
Elevation gain: Negligible
Maps: A parkway handout map is available at the visitor center. Otherwise, USGS Sherando quad.

Finding the trailhead: Park at the visitor center and take the paved sidewalk south (left when facing the building).

The hike: What a difference a century makes. The cabins and out buildings of the recreated William J. Carter farm-not to mention seasonal programs and costumed interpreters-give startling insight into the lives of Appalachian Mountaineers. This pioneering lifestyle was very much still in existence when the Blue Ridge Parkway penetrated the area in the mid-1930s. The 1890s farm explored by the Mountain Farm Trail isn't the original-in 1950, it was recreated using period structures. Nevertheless, it is an authentic setting explored by a very easy trail.

Pick up the trail's interpretive brochure at the visitor center and take the paved sidewalk that becomes a gravel lane (likely a section of an historic old turnpike you'll encounter on a loop of Humpback Rocks). On the left, you first reach a cabin and chicken house, and then a "gear loft" where the family stored their "plunder" (supplies and equipment). Past those structures and across the lane, a contorted barn is surrounded by a stone-walled pig pen. Farther on, a springhouse channels cold water through a sheltered food storage structure. Beyond that is "kissin' gate." Pass through and you're in "Coiner's deadenin,'" the still grass covered meadows under the towering crag of Humpback Rocks. Here mountaineers cleared fields the slow way-by girdling the trees to kill them and planting crops between the leafless giants (which were later felled). You can walk beyond the gate gradually rising to the height of land in Humpback Gap, where the trailhead parking is located for the Humpback Rocks Trail. Retrace your steps, or park at the gap and take both trails from one central spot.

Option 2: Humpback Rocks Trail Options

General description: A short steep hike from the Blue Ridge Parkway to superb panoramic views at Humpback Rocks, and longer hikes to nearby vistas atop Humpback Mountain and backpacking at an Appalachian Trail shelter.
Parkway mile: 6.0
Total distance: Most hikes start at Humpback Gap Parking Area for out-and-back trips of 2 miles to Humpback Rocks; 4.4 miles to Humpback Mountain (or 4 miles-with much less elevation gain, from Humpback Rocks Picnic Area). Circuit hikes from Humpback Gap to Humpback Rocks and Humpback Mountain include trips of 4.4, 6.4, 8.2, and 10.2 miles. Overnight backpacking trips to an Appalachian Trail shelter include options of 4.6 miles (from Humpback Gap) and 10 miles (from the Parkway near milepost 0).
Difficulty: Strenuous.
Elevation gain: Approximately 720 feet to the rocks.
Maps: A parkway handout map is available at the Visitor Center. Otherwise, USGS Sherando quad.

Finding the trailhead: The Humpback Gap Parking Area is the start of most hikes. The blue-blazed trail on the south end of the lot leads to the Rocks, Humpback Mountain, and the circuit hikes. The shorter hike to Humpback Mountain leaves from the left side of the end loop of the Humpback Rocks Picnic Area at milepost 8. The blue-blazed trail from the north end of the Humpback Gap Parking Area leads to the Paul C. Wolfe shelter and is the return trail for one circuit hike.

The hikes: This classic Blue Ridge Parkway path is no easy "leg-stretcher." Nevertheless, the effort is rewarded with some of the best views in the northern Blue Ridge. The basic hike is a strenuous, one-mile climb to Humpback Rocks, a massive greenstone outcrop at 3,080 feet. The rocks jut west but offer expansive views of the patchwork farms on both sides of the Blue Ridge-the Shenandoah Valley to the west and Virginia's Piedmont to the east.

This blue-blazed trail was at one time a punishing part of the white-blazed Appalachian Trail (hence the white edges to the blazes-imagine this hike with a 40-pound pack). Since then the A.T. has been substantially rerouted to bypass the views-and the abrupt elevation gain. By summer 2002, a once eroded trail location from the trailhead up along the edge of the adjacent meadow had been reclaimed and the path rerouted left into the woods. The now nicely graded gravel trail still ascends steeply-but there are benches along the way.

At .5 mile, you crest at a junction where the old trail used to go left. That extremely steep ascent along the ridge, with a right turn onto the rocks, was closed in the early 1980s but is still useable for the hardcore. The new trail bears right (actually straight) and flattens, going beneath the towering crags of Humpback Rocks with great uphill views (this route reaches the rocks from the right). It soon ascends a staircase of wooden steps, then switchbacks a half dozen times over increasingly rocky turns to a gap and a junction with two signs at .9 mile. Take a left and in .1 mile you reach the cloven crags of Humpback Rocks. Best photos are from the left crag of people on the right crag. The round-trip is two miles, and if you take your time, it can be a moderate hike.

A few cautions when leaving the rocks. Don't get sucked down the old trail-there are actually a couple of possible leftward routes. Bear kind of right to reach the junction with the two signs-and be sure to turn right there. Parkway rangers say some hikers miss that turn back down the mountain, and unknowingly continue on to the next destination, Humpback Mountain. Searches and unplanned overnight hikes have resulted.

The trip to Humpback Mountain is only another mile. Don't turn right back down the mountain but go straight at the signed junction. In .2 mile, turn right on the Appalachian Trail at about 1.2 miles. Continue another mile up the ridgeline, through a gap, and then to the summit at 2.2 miles. The spine of the Blue Ridge soars north and the rolling Piedmont of Virginia ripples off to the east. Retracing your steps, the round trip is 4.4 miles.

But why do that? On the way back, take a right at the junction where the side trail reaches the rocks and descend on the A.T. There's a spring beside the trail .8 mile past the junction on the right. Four miles north of the summit, the trail jogs left on an old road grade that is actually a colonial trace, the Old Howardsville Turnpike.

This atmospheric avenue is leaf-covered and silent now. Built between 1846 and 1851, the road long linked the farms of the Shenandoah Valley on the west with the Rockfish Valley and the James River canal system on the east (be sure to check out where the canal broached the Blue Ridge on Parkway trails near milepost 63). Where the A.T. again turns right off the trace, you can reach the Humpback Gap parking area in .2 mile by staying on the grade (which, be aware, is not a designated trail and should be bushwhacked in a low impact manner). That makes for a 6.4-mile hike if you did go to Humpback Mountain. If you didn't reach the peak of Humpback Mountain, but just went left on the A.T above Humpback Rocks, it's a 4.4 hike.

The 19th-century road rises into Humpback Gap and actually crosses the road farther down the Parkway (between mileposts 4 and 5). Coming from that direction, wagon masters used to track their progress by sighting Humpback Rocks. Going east, the old grade drops 3.5 miles to the Rockfish Valley. If you decide to leave the Parkway trails and become a history hiker, ancient rock walls and bridges are part of this path's appeal as it drops east.

Heading right off the grade and continuing on the A.T., the path heads north of the Humpack Gap parking area, climbing the rise of Dobie Mountain. When it reaches a junction on the left in 1 mile, take that blue-blazed side trail (also once the A.T.) and head one mile back down to the north end of Humpback Gap parking area. This lengthy round trip is 10.2 miles including Humpback Mountain. It is 8.2 miles if you just go left on the A.T. after passing Humpback Rocks.

On a busy autumn day, this northern circuit of the A.T. can actually be a quieter start to a hike. To make it a nice stroll, albeit minus the views at Humpback Rocks, leave Humpback Gap to the north and up the blue-blazed trail on Dobie Mountain, then go right at the A.T. at one mile. On the Old Howardsville Turnpike, immediately go right and bushwhack the gradual grade back to the gap for a 2.2-mile hike. Or continue on the A.T., and either go to Humpback Mountain, or right to Humpback Rocks. That'll be where you encounter any crowd, and the hike back down is a quick one.

The northernmost Parkway section of the A.T. stretches to the border of Shenandoah National Park. That section north of the Humpback Rocks area could be a nice overnighter with an A.T. shelter as a campsite. Just barely south from the developed area where Interstate 64 passes under the Parkway, the AT goes left off the Parkway through a break in the guardrail. It's 5 miles to the Paul C. Wolfe shelter where there's a privy behind the shelter and a waterfall and swimming spot not too far downstream on Mill Creek. Camping isn't permitted on the Parkway except at designated sites, and this is one of those few places. Round trip would be 10 miles.

The shelter is even closer from Humpback Gap. Take the blue-blazed trail that goes north over Dobie Mountain, and at 1 mile, turn left on the A.T. There's a nice view east at 1.3 miles. Cross Mill Creek at 2.2 miles and the shelter is just beyond at 2.3 miles (a round trip of 4.6 miles). The overall elevation gain on this route is only about 1,100 feet, but it could be even less if you use the Old Howardsville Turnpike trail description above and leave Humpback Gap on the old grade. Go left at .2 mile on the A.T. and the shelter is 2.6 miles. The overall elevation gain on this hike is only 600 feet.

Humpback Mountain and the Rocks can also be reached using the A.T. from the south.
To do so, drive south to the Blue Ridge Parkway's Humpback Rocks Picnic Area at milepost 8. Two trails start at the end of the picnic area. The .3-mile Catoctin View Trail leads to a nice view of the Shenandoah Valley. Instead, take the blue-blazed side trail to the left that reaches the A.T. in .2 mile. Take a left and reach Humpback Mountain in about 2 miles (4 miles round trip). That's about the same distance as the hike past Humpback Rocks from Humpback Gap, but the elevation gain is only 520 feet, less than half the climb from the start of the Humpback Rocks hike. This becomes a 6-mile hike if you continue past Humpback Mountain to the Rocks-and it boasts a lot more solitude.