Fall foliage is coming, and so are the hikers. Here’s how to find trails less traveled.
By Andrea Sachs,
Doug Humphrey
In Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, a concrete pillar on a forested track near Hogback Mountain is more than just a sign; it’s a moment of reckoning. At this fork in the trail, hikers must choose a route to follow: the heavily treaded Appalachian Trail or the lightly footprinted Tuscarora Trail. To help with the decision, they can consult a park map or guidebook, or summon poet Robert Frost.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
“The Tuscarora Trail is the literal embodiment of Robert Frost’s quote about two paths diverging in the woods,” said Jim Tomlin, the vice president of operations for the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, which maintains a 240-mile section of the AT and the entire Tuscarora Trail. “One became the Appalachian Trail, and the other became the Tuscarora.”
We are entering our second autumn of the pandemic, and many of the coping mechanisms we adopted early in the crisis have become permanent fixtures. For travelers, hiking is one of the biggest trends with legs. Last year, nearly 58 million Americans hiked on a trail, a 16 percent increase from the previous year, according to the Outdoor Industry Association. Participation in hiking surpassed other outdoor activities, such as camping, biking and fishing, and the organization expects hiking will hold on to its crown during leaf-peeping season.
“I think hiking will remain strong this fall,” said Kelly Davis, the association’s director of research. “A few reasons: continuing remote work arrangements that allow more people to get out on the trail more often, continuing concerns about gathering indoors due to the delta variant and overall strong interest in hiking.”
The United States boasts about 236,000 miles of trails on federal and state lands, according to the American Hiking Society, yet hikers often gravitate toward many of the same paths. Routes with the heaviest traffic typically share several characteristics, such as accessibility, natural landmarks, name recognition and, for the next four to six weeks, splashy fall foliage.
[From Georgia to Maine: What I learned on a 6-month hike along the Appalachian Trail]
“The Appalachian Trail has the reputation of being a ‘green tunnel,’ with hikers enveloped by thick, verdant forests. Those forests burst into a range of colors in the autumn,” said Morgan Sommerville, director of visitor use management at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. “Hiking and leaf-peeping tend to converge at the peak of autumn foliage.”
Andrea Sachs
The Washington Post
In Shenandoah National Park, a concrete pillar forces hikers to choose between the more heavily treaded Appalachian Trail and the less busy Tuscarora Trail.
Shenandoah National Park counts October as one of its busiest times, with about a quarter of its annual visitation occurring during this month, according to Claire Comer, an interpretive specialist at Shenandoah. Last October, the park welcomed more than 365,000 people, the highest monthly number for the entire year. On fall weekends, cars can sometimes wait up to an hour to enter the park’s northern gateways. To shave off some time, Kathy Moore, a spokeswoman for the Shenandoah Valley Travel Association, recommends purchasing a digital park pass in advance at Recreation.gov. She also provides a strategy for avoiding the herds of hikers.
“Visit the park midweek and plan to use one of the southern entry points, Rockfish Gap or Swift Run Gap, which are typically less congested,” she said.
In addition to creating inconveniences, the unrelenting crowds are damaging the fragile terrain. Park officials and conservationists have noticed a rise in litter, graffiti, “shortcut” or rogue paths, trampled vegetation, and illegal parking and camping. “We can all love the trails,” said Kayla Carter, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s information service manager, “but we should avoid loving them to death.”
The conservancy, along with its partner groups, has identified a number of “hot spots,” or stressed sections, along the roughly 2,190-mile, 14-state trail. For example, campers have outnumbered campsites on the 78-mile stretch in Georgia, especially in the spring, when NoBos (northbound trekkers) set off for their months-long journey. They leave in their wake all kinds of waste. At Franconia Ridge in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, hikers have been improperly parking their cars along Interstate 93, crushing the alpine vegetation and jamming summits. North Carolina’s Max Patch had been suffering from a litany of ills — hikers pilfering fence posts for firewood, blocking emergency vehicle access with their cars and disrupting bird nesting sites, among other violations — before the Pisgah National Forest banned camping on the mountain until June 30, 2023.
“Max Patch needs time to heal,” Carter said. “If people keep camping there, it won’t have a chance to do that.”
Next spring, Shenandoah National Park, which received nearly a quarter-million more visitors last year than in 2019, could start implementing several initiatives that address financial strains and crowd management. It is proposing a price bump at its four campgrounds to $30 a night, and a new backcountry camping permit service that will better track overnighters for a fee of $20 or $30. (The current system is free.) To decongest Old Rag Mountain, the park will test a reservation system similar to the one Yosemite’s Half Dome uses. During the trial period, hikers will need to reserve a spot in advance for $1 or $2; the price could increase if the park adopts the program.
Hikers can give overused trails a breather by heeding Frost’s advice. Shenandoah National Park’s website lists seven trails on its “Hikes to Avoid Crowds” page, and the ATC recommends long-distance alternatives in 17 states, including the 250-mile Tuscarora Trail. Jeff Moore, a hike leader with the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, assembled a presentation called “Finding the Trail Less Traveled,” which he shares on his blog, WanderingVirginia.com. He provides several resources for researching trails, such as HikingUpward.com, which features a “solitude” meter, and the Hiking Project, a Tripadvisor for trekkers, with comments and photos from users.
[On your next hike, spare a thought for the trail builders who made it possible]
You can also tap the locals. Over breakfast at the Friendly City Inn B&B, co-owner Becca Graham rattled off her favorite hikes in the Harrisonburg, Va., area: High Knob Fire Tower, Hightop Mountain, Rose River Falls and the nearby national forests. “It’s not as accessible and there’s more driving,” she said of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, “but it’s as beautiful [as Shenandoah].”
Jack R. Foster, co-owner of Appalachian Trail Outfitters in Virginia, is used to doling out insider information to hikers. A year ago, he and his wife opened a second store in Elkton, which became the 50th Appalachian Trail Community in August. (Their original outpost is in Luray, which also holds the designation.) The couple offer thru-hikers free showers, mail drop services, laundry (plus loaner outfits so they can wash the clothes on their backs), and a lounge with multiple outlets and Internet. For day hikers like myself, they provide supplies and suggestions. When I asked Foster for his pick of nearby trails, he shouted “Tuscarora” over the roar of trucks hauling corn through town,
The four-state Tuscarora was conceived nearly 60 years ago as a substitute for a portion of the Appalachian Trail that ran through private land and was exposed to the whims of the land owners. The National Park Service took control of the trail in 1968, securing the route. The visionaries forged ahead with their plans anyway.
“The Tuscarora is like the Appalachian Trail before the government took over, or if it never had taken it over,” said Tomlin, of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. “It will take 10 years to get it to Appalachian Trail standards, but it has so much potential. We need it more than ever now.”
Andrea Sachs
The Washington Post
Jim Tomlin, vice president of operations for the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, hikes a southern section of the Tuscarora Trail in Virginia’s George Washington National Forest.
Tomlin had agreed to show me one of the Tuscarora’s better-maintained sections. (PATC volunteers have cleared about 85 percent of the trail.) For contrast, we took a short stroll on the Appalachian Trail in Shenandoah.
We parked by Milam Gap and passed three people at the trailhead. “There’s your crowd,” he said. “On a fall weekend, this is completely packed.” A few feet in, he dislodged a round metal object with serrated edges. “Evidence of crowds: a beer cap.” We greeted a man with a dog. I noticed white tissues by a tree trunk. “Evidence of increased usage: toilet paper in trees. I don’t touch that stuff. It will eventually rot away.”
We talked as we walked, with Tomlin occasionally bending down to remove litter. We turned around at a cemetery. “This is what I consider heavy usage: stopping every few feet to pick up something.”
We hopped in his truck and drove about an hour to the Washington National Forest. We hiked up a steep path and stopped at a brown sign with two arrows: one for the Massanutten Trail, the other for the Tuscarora. We followed the symbol that pointed straight ahead.
The rugged Tuscarora required more concentration than the manicured AT. I stepped over bulging roots and around boulders strewn like fallen bowling pins. Several times, I thought I had veered off course, only to be reassured by the blue blaze. “It’s a much more challenging walk. It takes time plus mental and physical energy,” he said. “The AT only takes time.”
We hiked close to two miles. Before heading back to civilization, I tallied up the number of people and pieces of trash we had seen on the Tuscarora: zero and zero.
Please NotePotential travelers should take local and national public health directives regarding the pandemic into consideration before planning any trips. Travel health notice information can be found on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s interactive map showing travel recommendations by destination and the CDC’s travel health notice webpage.
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If you go
Where to stay Friendly City Inn Bed & Breakfast 547 E. Market St., Harrisonburg, Va.
540-433-8233 friendlycityinn.com The 19th-century mansion has eight rooms, two suites and several outdoor seating areas near Harrisonburg’s commercial district. The owners are outdoor enthusiasts who know the local hiking trails and fishing holes. For inspiration, I stayed in the Appalachian Room. Rooms from $149 per night. Where to drink Elkton Brewing Co. 100 N. Fifth St., Elkton, Va. elktonbrewing.com This nano brewery opened right before the pandemic hit and features two bars, loungey spaces and alfresco drinking. The beer menu changes frequently. Among the brews on tap: ShenandOatmeal Cookie, an oatmeal stout, and Rocky Bar Rhubarb, a kettle sour. Live music on weekend evenings. Eight-ounce drinks from $3.25. What to do Shenandoah National Park Four entrances in Virginia: Front Royal, Thornton Gap, Swift Run Gap and Rockfish Gap
540-999-3500 nps.gov/shen/index.htm The park is open year-round, although sections of Skyline Drive may be closed during inclement weather. Most facilities, such as visitor centers, restaurants and lodgings, operate between March and late November. To save time at the entrance station, purchase a pass in advance at recreation.gov. Seven-day pass costs $30 per car or $15 per hiker or bicyclist. Appalachian Trail Outfitters 311 W. Spotswood Trail, Elkton, Va.; 2 W. Main St., Luray, Va.
540-713-9015 (Elkton); 540-743-7400 (Luray) appalachiantrailoutfitters.com The hiking supply store sells trekking and camping gear, plus it offers Appalachian Trail thru-hikers the comforts of home, such as free showers, laundry and WiFi (Elkton location only). Ask the knowledgeable staff for trail recommendations. Tuscarora Trail hikethetuscarora.org The 250-mile trail runs from Sterretts Gap in central Pennsylvania to Mathews Arm in Shenandoah National Park. Hikers can earn a patch for completing the entire four-state route or a section. Fifteen camping shelters are available free. — A.S. The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted travel domestically and around the world. You will find the latest developments at washingtonpost.com/coronavirus
