Rockytop- Epic Hike

Confronted with a free Saturday of beautiful clear skies (and Brian was out of town), I decided that I should get out of the house and go for a hike. Luckily, Emily Ricks was free as well. I had a Shenandoah park pass, and she had a nice trail map!

Our route- we would leave Brown's Gap and hike along the Rockytop trail, which followed a ridge for several miles before heading downhill to the creek 1500 ft. below. Then we would follow the Big Run Portal trail back along the creek and climb back up to the parking area at Brown's creek. Simple enough? Sure.

So we left the car at 1135 for a nice hike on a clear but chilly day. However, upon reaching the first trail marker, we discovered that the hike we'd estimated at less than 10 miles would number no less than 12 miles total. Eh, what's another few miles? We had six hours before dark and plenty of provisions.

The Rockytop trail was fantastic, offering amazing views of the surrounding ridges and the valley with the leaves off the trees. We hiked along the ridge through numerous quartzite scree piles and noted future campsites. One of the peaks along our path must have suffered an extremely destructive wildfire a few years back, and the mountainside was clear of all mature vegetation, and the new growth of pines and brush was spotty and all less than two feet tall. Overall, a fantastic trail that I would heartily recommend.

At the end of the Rockytop trail, we picked up the Big Run Portal trail, which followed a sizeable creek upgradient to its source. This horsetrail also offered spectacular scenery, and the first mile led us through the bottom of a steep, rocky (for Virginia) gorge. Luckily the stream was running only moderately, allowing us to easily navigate the 10 or so stream crossings without getting our socks wet.

The hike reached epic proportions when we finally reached the trail that would lead us back up the mountainside to our car- at this point, I had a blister about the size of a dime on the ball of my left foot and was complaining heartily in advance about the upcoming 1200 ft. climb. Eh. Like all long hikes, this one was about two or three miles too long in the end, but we eventually made it back to the car to watch a gorgeous sunset. We drove back with the heat on to Charlottesville and had a feast of spaghetti.


This hike is definitely recommended! but make sure you are prepared for the killer uphill at the end. The trails are all very well marked and in great shape. And give yourself plenty of time for side hikes to the cliffs near the stream- we didn't have time, but I can't wait to go back and check them out.

The bottle was dusty but the liquor was clean.