Stony Man Trail

Location: Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
Season Visited: Summer
Trail Length: 1.6 miles
Time to Hike: 1 hour
Difficulty Level: 2

Stony Man trail is a short, moderately easy hike in the Skyland Area of Shenandoah National Park.  Perfect for when you're running short on time but still want to get in a worthwhile hike with fantastic views, the trail offers a great look-out point on a rocky promontory high above the valley.

Begin your hike at the Skyland parking area between mile markers 41 and 42.  The trailhead is well marked, and guidebooks are for sale here for $1.00 (using the honor system).  Along the way are marked signs that correspond to entries in the guidebook.

Wildflower along the trail.

After walking for about 15 minutes you come to a crossroads, as shown on this map.  Simply continue up the hill in front of you, passing by the Appalachian Trail, which continues north to your right.

Begin a gradual uphill climb just past the crossroads.

This hill continues onwards until you come to fork in the trail, which is the beginning of the small loop near the Stony Man summit.  Veer to the right to continue in the direction of the numbers in the guidebook.  This will take you past various interesting rock formations before depositing you at the summit where you'll find spectacular views of the valley below.

Lovely trees and boulders before the summit.

All the views you would expect from a 4,010 ft. summit - with none of the work!

When you've finished taking in the views, head back down the loop to the fork, and then retrace your steps to the parking area.  And that's it!

All in all, Stony Man is such a short, easy hike that I almost felt like I was cheating while taking pictures at the summit.  I chose this hike because it was past 4:00 after I had finished setting up camp at the nearby Big Meadows Campground, and I also wanted to save my strength for Old Rag the next day (look for that post next week!).  I'm very glad I went because the beauty is undeniable, and also because I now know a perfect hike for small children and non-hikers, if I'm ever at Shenandoah with such a group.  If you're at Shenandoah and want to have the experience of hiking to a spectacular view without putting in too much effort, then this is the perfect hike for you.

Enjoy it, and keep wandering.

Sunfish Pond

Location: Worthington State Forest, Delaware Water Gap, New Jersey
Season Visited: Summer
Trail Length: 7.6 miles there-and-back
Time to Hike: 4.5 hours
Difficulty Level: 3

Sunfish Pond is a fascinating stop along the Appalachian Trial in northern New Jersey.  A beautiful pond created by a glacier, this lovely spot was declared a National Natural Landmark in 1970.  The trail there and back is a perfect half-day hike, and there are many options for extending the trip, including at least one loop and, of course, simply continuing on the AT.

Begin your hike at the Dunnfield Creek Natural Area parking lot and head straight to the AT, which is number 1 on this map.  Hike an easy gravel path until you come to the sign shown above, where you will be veering left at the fork to stay on the AT.  You will begin a steady uphill incline of 1000 feet in the next 3.7 miles.  It's perfectly manageable.

The trail looks mostly the same for the majority of the trip, but it never becomes boring.  The woods are gorgeous and peaceful.  On an absolutely perfect Friday in late summer when most people are still at work the trail is almost silent except for the sounds of birds and the wind in the trees.  Every time I got a little tired I sat on a rock and watched the sunlight play on the ferns and felt rejuvenated.

There is one very interesting place before you come to Backpacker Site #2 on the map, which is where the scenery starts to change a bit.  This is a rock garden filled with interesting little cairns.  There are several other cairns along the trail, but this is a particularly large gathering of them.  There are even more at the pond itself.

Cairns.

Once you hit Backpacker Site #2 be sure to stay to the right or you'll end up on the wrong trail.  The site itself is maintained by a national park ranger who keeps an eye on things.

The forest looks different here, right past the backpacker site.

Not long after this you come to the pond itself.  Take the AT past the NNL monument and enjoy exploring around the pond for a while.  Go right to the water's edge as slowly and quietly as possible and you will see more frogs than you can count.  There is also a wonderful little place to rest on some logs.

Pose at the pond.

Cairns across the water (cairns across the sky... nevermind).

Sean and Cleo taking a break.

So many frogs!

When you've rested up and taken in the beauty of the pond you can simply head back the way you came.  There is also the option of taking Dunnfield Hollow Trail.  I did not take this because of time constraints, but I would like to go back and do it this way at some point.  It is supposedly much more difficult and makes an 8.2-mile loop.  It also apparently has some lovely water cascades and a few stream fords.  I'll update this post if I ever take that way.

If you are so inclined, feel free to make a brief stop at the little waterfall where the AT intersects with the Blue Dot and Dunnfield Hollow trails, where you made the left turn in the beginning of your hike.  It's a nice way to end the day.

From here it's the same easy hike back to the parking lot.  Hopefully you have had a great time hiking.

Never stop wandering.

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UPDATE - 11/5/13

Back in September I decided to take the 7.9-mile loop by connecting the Appalachian Trail and Dunnfield Creek Trail - and was so glad I did.  Although it only adds .3 miles to the trip, Dunnfield Creek Trail (or Dunnfield Hollow Trail, depending on the map you're using) adds a whole new dimension to the Sunfish Pond experience with quite different terrain.  It is extremely rocky and a bit more difficult than taking the AT back, but, as I said, is definitely worth it for the change in scenery.  I will strongly advise, however, that you do what I did and take the AT up and Dunnfield Creek back.  I pitied the few people I saw taking Dunnfield to the pond.  That would be quite an arduous trip.

The pond is absolutely beautiful in early fall.  The only thing I missed was the green of the ferns and the seemingly endless amount of frogs hopping around.  In late September, though, the trails have a charm of their own.  Here are a few pics of the AT up to the pond in September.

After taking the AT to the pond and enjoying the view, it's time to walk to the Dunnfield Creek Trail, which is clearly marked right past the pond.

Dunnfield Creek Trail to the right of the Sunfish Fire Road.  Cleo the amazing hiking yorkie-poo in the foreground.

The trail is immediately beautiful, and quite different from what you experienced on the AT.  Right past the bend pictured above is a short section of extremely closely-packed trees and shrubs, leaving only about a foot of breadth on the trail.  It is a very different feel from the open undergrowth of the ferns on the AT.  You then come out to an open section and get a sense of your elevation.

Beyond another ferny section and some relatively steep downhill hiking comes one of the highlights of this trail: Dunnfield Creek.  While really only a little trickle of water, it is enough to form some peaceful cascades that keep you company while you hike.  There are a few nice places to sit amongst the rocks.  Keep in mind that there are also a number of places where you will need to cross back and forth across the creek on these rocks.  It will be obvious where you need to cross.

This eventually leads you right back to where you started at the Appalachian Trail.  Take this back to where you parked and your hike is complete!

Hopefully you have enjoyed this update.  If you're going to Sunfish Pond I highly recommend taking this loop.  It adds a negligible amount of mileage and no extra time.  Keep on wandering!