Hiking Mary’s Rock in Shenandoah

A warm day in the month of May as summer colors finally returned to the mountains. I headed out to Shenandoah National Park for some hiking.

Mary's Rock


Mary’s Rock

This time I picked Mary’s Rock Trail, whose trailhead was conveniently located near Thornton Gap Service Station.
From satellite image, it seemed that the trail and service station were also accessible from a parking lot on Lee Highway / US 211 that didn’t require entrance fees.

Lee Highway / US211

 Lee Highway / US211 Lee Highway / US211
Lee Highway / US211 Lee Highway / US211 Lee Highway / US211
Lee Highway / US211 Lee Highway / US211 Lee Highway / US211
Lee Highway / US211

The standard route from Washington DC to Thornton Gap Entrance of the park was I66 and US211. Once out of Interstate, US211 rolled its way through a few villages with minimal traffic lights. Traffic was light on a Sunday morning, especially true after passing Warrenton. All the right ingredients for a perfect road trip.

After passing Sperryville, Lee Highway / US211 narrowed down to two lanes and wound its way up Appalachian Mountains.

Lee Highway at Sperryville

 Lee Highway at Sperryville Lee Highway at Sperryville
Lee Highway at Sperryville

Lee Highway Climbing Up to Thornton Gap

 Lee Highway Climbing Up to Thornton Gap
Lee Highway Climbing Up to Thornton Gap Lee Highway Climbing Up to Thornton Gap
Lee Highway Climbing Up to Thornton Gap Lee Highway Climbing Up to Thornton Gap
Lee Highway Climbing Up to Thornton Gap Lee Highway Climbing Up to Thornton Gap
Lee Highway Climbing Up to Thornton Gap

After that, I started my hike. Here’s GPS tracking:

Power Lines

 Power Lines
Power Lines

For the most part, Mary’s Rock Trail followed Appalachian Trail under shades of forest, which came handy for a hot early summer day like this.

Trail

 Trail
Trail

About halfway through the journey, I came across a bear by the trail. It was a thrilling moment as we came to only 1 meter apart, before we both realized and were frightened by each other’s presence and backed off.

Bear

 Bear
Bear Bear
Bear

Later, some seasoned hikers joined me in waiting for the bear to pass (and of course, taking photos). They claimed to have often saw bears at this particular location, probably for the presence of a creek behind the bushes. For information, the location was at the first switchback right West of tunnel. About ten minutes later, the bear was probably bored with looking at people and disappeared into the bushes, and my journey resumed.

Trail

 Trail
Trail

Trail through Twisted Tree

 Trail through Twisted Tree
Trail through Twisted Tree

Flowers

 Flowers
Flowers

Trail

 Trail
Trail Trail
Trail

After an hour from trailhead, I was at Mary’s Rock, where views were wide open and spectacular. Only that the company of many insects weren’t the most welcomed.

Field and Mountains to the West


Field and Mountains to the West

View from Mary's Rock


View from Mary’s Rock

Overlooking Thornton Gap


Overlooking Thornton Gap

Field and Mountains to the West


Field and Mountains to the West

Trail

 Trail
Trail

It was still early in the day when I got back to the trailhead. However, I had some issue to address so I decided to head home early. Stil in the mood of the day, I took a detour through Skyline Drive, the park’s main road, and some of Virginia’s country roads to a supermarket in Gaithersburg before heading home.
By the way, it seemed that only the western part of Thornton Gap service station parking lot (closer to trailhead) had cellular coverage. I was very puzzled by this.
Here’s the route that I took:
Route

Skyline Drive at Thornton Gap


Skyline Drive at Thornton Gap

Skyline Drive

 Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive

While driving up Skyline Drive, I stopped at a few roadside overlooks to appreciate the scenery and mountainous landscape that I was in.

View of Mountains from Thornton Hollow Overlook

 View of Mountains from Thornton Hollow Overlook
View of Mountains from Thornton Hollow Overlook
View of Mountains from Thornton Hollow Overlook

Skyline Drive

 Skyline Drive Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive

Passing Overlook

 Passing Overlook
Passing Overlook

Skyline Drive

 Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive

View from Range View Overlook

 View from Range View Overlook
View from Range View Overlook

Skyline Drive

 Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive Skyline Drive Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive

Skyline Drive

 Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive Skyline Drive Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive

Then there’s a nameless roadside overlook.

Skyline Drive

 Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive

Outstanding


Outstanding

Followed by Signal Knob Overlook, indeed, this was one of the few places in the park with cellular coverage.

Mountains and Villages


Mountains and Villages

View from Signal Knob Overlook


View from Signal Knob Overlook

Skyline Drive

 Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive

Skyline Drive

 Skyline Drive Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive Skyline Drive
Skyline Drive

After that and once out of Front Royal, I decided to take an unusual route to cross Potomac River, by Point of Rocks Bridge.

Country Road

 Country Road
Country Road Country Road
Country Road Country Road
Country Road
Virginia route 624/603/638/601, with lovely countryside tranquility through forests.

Country Road

 Country Road
Country Road
Virginia route 287, closer to civilization and lined with farmland.

Country Road

 Country Road
Country Road
Approaching town of Lovettsville.

And result was that, I was quite enjoying this tour of countryside on wheels.

Point of Rocks Railway Station Building

 Point of Rocks Railway Station Building
Point of Rocks Railway Station Building
Where I took a brief rest and set my GPS course. Not much going around on a Sunday for this commuter train station.

Country Road

 Country Road
Country Road Country Road
Country Road Country Road
Country Road

Country Road

 Country Road
Country Road Country Road
Country Road Country Road
Country Road

Country Road

 Country Road
Country Road Country Road
Country Road Country Road
Country Road

Country Road

 Country Road
Country Road Country Road
Country Road Country Road
Country Road

Ranch

 Ranch
Ranch

Country Road

 Country Road
Country Road Country Road
Country Road

Country Road

 Country Road
Country Road
Crossing the town of Barnesville.

Country Road

 Country Road
Country Road Country Road
Country Road Country Road
Country Road Country Road
Country Road


END

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