11 Great Day Hiking Trails in Virginia

Stony Man vista at Sehnandoah National Park

Five Great Chesapeake Bay Trails for Families
Kids will love the ocean views, water-free trails through bald cypress swamps, and an enchanted forest that lay in Virginia's Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States. Here are five trails area trails perfect for children.

Trail leads to incredible vista on Stony Man
Fantastic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and its famous Shenandoah Valley await day hikers on a segment of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail in Shenandoah National Park. About 101 miles of the famed backpacking trail passes through Shenandoah, with many sections accessible from Skyline Drive. An excellent segment to hike is the Stony Man Trail, which runs about 1.6-miles round trip and gains 340 feet in elevation.

Best trails for seeing Shenandoah's wonders
Among the best ways to see Shenandoah National Park’s top sights is via a day hike. Just five short trails will allow you to enjoy each of the park’s highlights – Blue Ridge Mountains vistas, Eastern hardwood forests, river cataracts, wildlife sightings, and one of the nation’s longest footpaths.

Learn more about national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks series.

Trail leads to incredible vista on Stony Man

Fall colors from Stony Man Overlook. Photo courtesy of Shenandoah NPS. 

Topo map, Stony Man Trail.

Route covers
segment of
Appalachian
Trail in Virginia

Fantastic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and its famous Shenandoah Valley await day hikers on a segment of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail in Shenandoah National Park.

Often simply referred to as the Appalachian Trail, the route runs about 2200 miles between Mount Katahdin, Maine, and Springer Mountain, Georgia. It’s the world’s longest hiking-only trail and takes months to traverse.

About 101 miles of the famed backpacking trail passes through Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, with many sections accessible from Skyline Drive. An excellent segment to hike is the Stony Man Trail, which runs about 1.6-miles round trip and gains 340 feet in elevation. Avoid crowds by arriving early.

Ancient mountains
To reach the trailhead, from Luray, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley, head east on U.S. Hwy. 212. Turn right/south onto Skyline Drive. After a scenic drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains, leave your vehicle at the Stony Man parking area.

Pick up the blue- and white-blazed Appalachian Trail on the parking area’s east side. The trail heads roughly northeast through a beautiful forest, gradually gaining 200-plus feet over about 0.4 miles.

This segment of the trail crosses the ancient and greatly eroded Blue Ridge Mountains, which formed about 320 million years ago when the tectonic plates carrying North America and Europe collided. At that time, Blue Ridge’s peaks were among the highest in the world, comparable to the younger mountains in today's Alps.

Upon reaching the junction heading to Stony Man Mountain, go northeast on the trail. This is a stem trail, that in about 0.1 miles reaches a loop; go counterclockwise or to the right/north on it.

Stony Man Overlook
The loop curves around the east and north sides of Stony Man Mountain, the park’s second highest point at 4011 feet (Hawksbill Mountain is 40 feet higher.), for about 0.3 miles. Stony Man is the Blue Ridge Mountains’ most northerly 4000-foot peak. The summit is basalt that has metamorphosed into greenstone.

On the loop’s west side, take a 0.05-mile spur to the viewpoint. Upon reaching the Stony Man Overlook, the Appalachian Trail crosses its highest point – 3837 feet – in the park. At the viewpoint, you’ll be rewarded with an expansive view of the Shenandoah Valley and the Massanutten and Allegheny Mountains beyond, as you breathe in clean, crisp air. The view is particularly impressive in autumn when the trees below are alit in color.

After taking in the vista, head back to the loop and go right/southeast. Be careful not to accidentally turn onto the Stony Man Horse Trail.

In about 0.15 miles, the loop reaches the stem trail that takes you back to the Appalachian Trail. The stem is to the right/south. Once at the Appalachian Trail, retrace your steps back to the parking area.

Learn more about national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks guidebook.

Best trails for seeing Shenandoah's wonders

Dark Hollow Falls. Photo courtesy of Shenandoah NPS.

Among the best ways to see Shenandoah National Park’s top sights is via a day hike. Just five short trails will allow you to enjoy each of the park’s highlights – Blue Ridge Mountains vistas, Eastern hardwood forests, river cataracts, wildlife sightings, and one of the nation’s longest footpaths.

Blue Ridge Mountains vistas
For many, vistas of the Blue Ridge Mountains rank among the nation’s most beautiful natural scenery. The 4-mile hike up to the summit of Old Rag Mountain via the Ridge Trail (8-miles round trip) is challenging, but the 360 degree view from the top is unparalleled, as nearly 200,000 acres of wilderness stretch below you.

Eastern hardwood forests
Chestnut oak and red oak cover about three-fifths of the park’s Eastern deciduous forest. The 1.3-mile Limberlost Trail passes through some of that hardwood forest including a stand of mountain laurel, which is best seen when blooming in June.

River cataracts
Shenandoah National Park boasts a number of waterfalls, called “cataracts” in this section of the country. The Tuscarora-Overall Run Trail (6.8-miles round trip) heads to the park’s highest falls, Lower Overall Run Falls (aka Big Falls), which tumbles 93 feet into a gorge. Before getting there, the trail passes Twin Falls, which splits Overall Run into two streams that each drop 29 feet.

Wildlife viewing
The sometimes steep Dark Hollow Falls Trail, a 1.4-miles loop to a waterfalls, offers the opportunity to spot a variety of the park’s fauna, from the eastern tiger swallowtail and bobcats to white-tailed deer and black bear. Hike the trail in late summer when deer and bear bring out their newborns and congregate at the stream below the ridgeline that the trail runs along.

Appalachian Trail
About 101 miles of the famed backpacking trail passes through the national park, with many segments accessible from Skyline Drive. The 2.9-miles round trip segment between the Little Stony Man parking lot and Stony Man Overlook crosses the trail’s highest point (3837 feet) in the park but sports a strenuous 750-feet elevation gain to do so. To the trail’s west is Stony Man Mountain, the park’s second highest point at 4011 feet.

Learn about other great America national park sights in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Park guidebook.