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| By:
JLP
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Rating:  |
Date of Hike: Saturday, June 1, 2019 |
| Meh. If you're just looking to get out, this is a nice enough loop, but no major payoffs. The stinging nettles are already high enough to be a nusiance, and parts of the route, especially on Jerry's Run, are really overgrown. Like, momentarily doubting I was still on the trail levels of overgrown. I thought it might almost be easier just to creek walk down Jerry's Run. Shenandoah mountain trail was the best part.
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| By:
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Rating:  |
Date of Hike: Saturday, March 9, 2019 |
| Well, we did do a hike this day and it was an adventure. I'll try to make it short. The original plan was to do Brown Mountain/Big Portal, but it was deemed to be too much fording with all the recent rains and the cold weather, so Lewis Peak was scheduled. The afternoon before the hike, we discovered that the Skyline Drive has been closed (since November!!!) because of tree damage from the ice storm. So what did we do? We chose a hike in the GWNF called Jerry's Run, with guess what? Lots of water crossings. After arriving via clear dry roads, we found 2-plus inches of snow on the ground. There must have been 20 stream crossings of varying difficulty to traverse. I started with running shoes to keep my hiking boots dry for later on in the hike. We were in knee-deep water once. Chuck changed in and out of his hiking boots four times. Although there were no blazes in this designated wilderness area, the trail could generally be determined because of the lack of any growth protruding through the virgin snow. Because of the water crossings and snow it was a wild ride!
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| By:
Steve
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Rating:  |
Date of Hike: Sunday, October 28, 2018 |
| Read all the negative reviews about the stinging nettle and was hesitate. However, my son and I took our two dogs and had a blast. Most of the nettle had receded, plus we wore long pants and sleeves. Several fallen logs were quite a challenge, but added to the lure of the hike.Thoroughly enjoyed the stream and crossings. One of my favorites so far.! Planning to do this again as an overnight trip.
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| By:
Jared
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Saturday, September 16, 2017 |
| We did this as a 1 night backpack, staying the night at the site of the old cabin. Overall this was an excellent one nighter - despite the short length, it was full of adventure with all the stream crossings and the fields of nettles! I would not recommend this hike if you are looking for an easy, clean hike - expect a lot of nettle dodging and rock hopping! we had a ton of fun with this though, and we just laughed it off every time we got stung - it only hurts for a couple minutes. The campsites at the old cabin site are very nice and plentiful, so I agree with the 5 star camping rating - I think you would almost always be able to find a secluded spot to camp. Lots of huge old growth trees on this hike. We saw no one else the whole time we were there. Day 2 across the ridge is absolutely beautiful, and we will definitely be back to do the full wilderness loop.
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| By:
Shutter
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Sunday, August 13, 2017 |
| We did this hike clockwise, RoadHollow -> Jerry's Run -> Ramsey's draft. After reading the trail reports we brought long pants to change into once we got to Jerry's Run the trail, I'm glad we did. Without long pants Jerry's run, and portions of Ramsey's Draft would be an extremely discomforting and at times painful experience. Enjoy the hike, bring long pants to change into once you get to Jerry's Run.
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| By:
Hl12345
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Rating:  |
Date of Hike: Monday, June 12, 2017 |
| I wish I had seen the previous review about the stinger nettle before I went on this hike. It was miserable the entire time. We found jerrys run trail without a problem, but we hiked another 3 miles and never found the campsite. Decided to turn around and endure the misery again on the way back.
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| By:
floppy
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Saturday, June 10, 2017 |
| If I could give star ratings on sections of the hike, I would give the creek crossings, the Sexton cabin site, and the remainder of the hike after the cabin site 5 stars. I would give the majority of Jerry's run trail 1 star. This is due to the stinging nettles that line both sides of the trail the majority of the way. They are painful, itchy and unavoidable. If we were wearing thick pairs of pants, we would have been fine. One of us had thin hiking pants on and she was still getting stung some. We had to do a fair amount of bush whacking to keep them off of our legs. We did this hike as an overnight and thank goodness camping at the Sexton cabin site was fantastic. We were all in a foul mood after the previous hours of itchy torture from the stinging nettles. The pleasant campsite was just what we needed. There were several rock circles and a nice grassy area. Room for several groups of campers but we luckily got the whole place to ourselves. There was a good spot at the stream to get water. The second half of the hike along the Shenandoah Mountain trail was lovely. I would recommend this hike in the winter and early spring before the stinging nettles encroach on the trail or wear long pants.
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| By:
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Rating: |
Date of Hike: Friday, June 9, 2017 |
| I'll echo the notes on the stinging nettles. With the wet spring the stream crossing are interesting and the paths a little over grown. Long pants and waterproof shoes are highly recommended. With the growth the hike itself is beautiful though.
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