Skyline drive front royal entrance12/6/2023 ![]() You look across the Valley, 800 feet below at a stretch of the Shenandoah River, to the two ridges of the Massanutten Mountain, with Signal Knob at their right-hand end. The view here is quite worthwhile, and if the air is fairly clear give it a little time. On the east side it goes 2.6 miles to the Fox Hollow Trail, across the Drive from the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center. On the west side, the trail goes 1.9 miles to its origin at mile 0.05 on the Drive. Use the parking area at mile 2.0 if you want to hike from here. There's no marker or sign here, and the trail is hard to see from your car. Park here if you want to hike on the Dickey Ridge Trail from the crossing at mile 2.15. A paved parking pulloff, about 100 feet north of the milepost, with room for several cars. They have been metamorphosed by the pressure of other rocks above them, so that no bubble spaces remain except where the minerals that filled them were later lost by weathering. At no point do the Catoctin lavas have the porous appearance of recent lava. These were once gas bubbles in the lava, which were later filled by minerals. Near the downhill end of the rock cut you can see pale tan spots, 1/4 to 3/4 inch in diameter, on the purplish rocks. Here, weathering has produced a variety of colors: gray-green, light brown, and dark gray-purple. ![]() In a fresh break the rock is mostly gray-green - the green color caused by the mineral epidote (calcium aluminum iron silicate). Geology: The rocks across the Drive from the parking area are basalt of the Catoctin formation they were molten lava about 800 million years ago. And like all the park's falls, this one is at its best in spring or after heavy rains. This is the only waterfall that's visible from Skyline Drive. There, directly in front of you, is a charming cascade of water some 60 feet high. Waterfall: Cross the Drive and walk south (uphill) about a hundred feet, then look to your left. Geology: The Front Royal fault crosses the Drive here, separating the limestone and dolomite of the Rockdale Run formation from the lava flows of the Catoctin formation. Beside it, on the west side of the Drive, are several Kentucky coffee trees, a species rare in the park. There's a parking area just south of the entrance station. Map MN-1 - Map of Dickey Ridge - Fox Hollow Area Ahead, the trail climbs rather steeply for half a mile to the Drive crossing at mile 2.1. It is suggested that you return to your car from this point. About three quarters of a mile beyond the bridge the trail leaves the stream and, at a concrete marker post, switches back sharply to the right. At about 0.4 mile beyond the stream crossing, look for the remains of a stone chimney, now filled in, to the left of the trail. Throughout the rest of your hike you'll see evidence of the former residents: stone piles, stone walls, and traces of old roads. Just beyond, you cross the stream on a small but sturdy bridge. A little more than a hundred yards farther on the main trail, another side trail (actually an old road) also goes left to the Drive. Sycamores are not common in the park they occur only near streams at low elevations.Ībout half a mile from the start, a side trail goes left for 200 yards, and reaches the Drive just south of the entrance station. Beyond that point, look for tall young sycamores on the right. The stream bed may be dry where you first see it, but there's water after you walk about 0.4 miles. This area shows what your front yard may look like if you do not mow the lawn for eighty years. Now it's grown up with spindly black locusts and other pioneer trees, and it's carpeted and festooned with Japanese honeysuckle. The first half of your walk goes through an area that, when the park was established in 1935, was pasture with only an occasional tree. The blue-blazed trail starts at the marker post on the west side of the Drive before the parking area. A pleasant, easy walk beside a small stream. Round trip 2.7 miles total climb about 440 feet time required 2:10. A short walk up the Dickey Ridge Trail (Hike HN-1) returning by the same route is described below. It goes more or less parallel to the Drive for 9.2 miles, then joins the AT (Appalachian Trail) near Compton Gap. ![]() The Dickey Ridge Trail begins at this parking area. But you can't see it, because it's covered by soil and broken rock that has washed down from the Catoctin formation on the ridge.įrom this point the Drive climbs steadily on Dickey Ridge, finally reaching the Blue Ridge at Compton Gap, mile 10.4. This is the lowest point on the Drive, and the only place in the park where the basement rock is limestone. 340, you come immediately to an extended shoulder parking area on the west (right) side of the road.
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