Hike to Massanutten Ridge in George Washington National Forest

It's not every day that we can explore a meaningful hike directly from our campsite -- but today we could!  The trail is known as the KOA Harrisonburg Trail and climbs over 1100 feet in two miles to the Massanutten South Trail on the ridge between Bird Knob to the north and Grubbs Knob to the south, all in the George Washington National Forest east of Harrisonburg, Virginia.

The campground posted  a cute trailhead sign to let us know where the trail started:

 

 

The trail generally followed an old woods road up a drainage, where flowering mountain laurel were everywhere:

 

 

We eventually crossed a drainage, paralleling the old Bryce Lane to its south.  Eventually, we crossed the drainage and turned up a long shoulder, where we shortly met this gate.  We're not sure why it is there, because the woods road is not really accessible to vehicles; perhaps the gate is meant to discourage ATV's on the upper part of the trail.

 

 

After the gate, the trail climbed more steeply, so that our last half mile was probably a grade of 700 or 800 feet to the mile.  Eventually we left the shoulder and switched back and forth up to the ridge.  A view was accessible at only one spot on the hike, looking west toward Interstate 81:

 

 

Finding no documentation the trail before we hiked it, we weren't sure what to expect for our efforts; we weren't even sure the trail would take us all the way to the ridge.  As it turned out, we climbed straight to the ridge, where the trail met the Massanutten South Trail, crossing north-to-south, and another trail continuing east, down from the ridge to Cub Run Road.  A sizeable cairn marks the trail junction, and Kathy wasted no time adding her stone to the pile of rocks:

 

 

This was a morning hike after which we planned to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants in Harrisonburg, so we brought no snacks.  After a short rest, rehydration and dowsing of bug spray, and we were ready to return down the trail.  We stopped again on the way down for another look at the view west:

 

 

By the time we got halfway down, the sun had moved and lit up a large flat boulder, where David perched for his trail photo:

 

 

It reached about 90F as we were finishing our hike, but, even so, the trail was shaded so that, with the less strenuous walk downhill, we didn't feel as warm as we had on the initial climb.

 

 

Reaching the trailhead in our campground, we realized that we had been so intent on finding the trail, that we walked right past this cute little pirate ship designed for imaginative adventure on the high seas.  Kathy rushed over and claimed her place on deck, raising what was left of the mainsail in victory!

Not every trail we hike is momentous.  However, this outing was supposed to be a short walk in the woods, but transformed itself into a moderately strenuous half-day hike to the top of a ridge.  That made it memorable and worth telling you about in this blog.