Category Archives: George Washington National Forest

Difficulty: 1 (Tower Trail only), 2 (Wagon Rd Nature Trail)
Distance: 800 feet (Tower Trail only), 1 mile (Wagon Rd Nature Trail)
Time Walking: 3 min. (Tower Trail), 20-25 min (Wagon Rd Nature Trail) each way
Views: 5 stars!
Solitude: 2 – usually a flow of people come up to the tower in nice weather.  We saw 5 other people on the tower when we were there.

Our first hike of 2011!  We took advantage of some nice weather and spurned warnings of “30% chance of rain” and took our first trip to the Woodstock Tower, where it claims to hold the best view available of the famous 7 bends of the Shenandoah river, I suppose, unless you charter a helicopter or enjoy hang gliding.

I really enjoyed this hike.  There are two trails to the Tower.  Tower Trail takes about 3 minutes, Wagon Road Nature Trail from Little Fort Rec Area takes about 20-25 minutes to the top and 20 minutes back.  The hike itself is not scenic, but the view from the tower makes it all worth it.  There is also some cool history here going back to the 1930s when the Tower and some of the first roads into and out of this area were built as part of Roosevelt’s pumping money into these projects to raise the morale of people after the Depression.

Foundations & History

On April 17, 1933 eight buses and three moving vans of enrollees in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) left Fort Washington, MD to head deep into the Massanutten Mountain Range in the George Washington National Forest (GWNF).  This all under a grant from President Roosevelt to begin developing the forest in Shenandoah for travel and recreation.  The CCC is responsible for many camps in the GWNF, including Camp Roosevelt (or Camp F-1), the first of several built by the CCC, as well as the building of Fort Valley Road and the Edinburg to Luray road (Edinburg Gap).  The CCC is almost solely to credit for the first developments of most all of the trails and recreation areas in GWNF and the history and work of those crews is an interesting tale.  James Wilkins, a leader of the CCC in GWNF said, “The government got more for their money on the CCC program than on any program they ever had before or since.” For more details about the development of GWNF between Fort Valley and Woodstock by the CCC in the 1930s, see the NPS.gov article here.

The Woodstock Tower was built in a joint effort from the people of Woodstock and the CCC, partly for fire-spotting, but mostly for recreation on top of Powell Mountain in the 1930s.  Part of the mission of the CCC then was to help educate the people who lived in the mountains about fire prevention (and fight fires themselves).  “Movie trucks” were often driven into the forest to show films on the topic to local residents, many of whom had never seen a movie.  It’s likely the tower was used by the CCC until the early 1940s when Camp Roosevelt was closed.

Of course the best part of the tower view is the famous Seven Bends of the Shenandoah River.  The bends are so defined and orderly they almost look man-made.  In fact it’s so winding that the river flows 51 miles between Woodstock and Strasburg even though the two towns are only 12 miles apart.  I searched for any historical significance of the seven bends and couldn’t find anything (if anyone has any insight here, I’d love to know), so it seems the most famous part of the seven bends is that they are beautiful to see, and they are.

Getting to the Trails

I say “trails” because there are really two ways to get to the tower.  We’ll call it the short way (Tower Trail) and the long way (Wagon-Nature Trail to Peters Mill Run Trail to Tower Trail).

From Rte 11 in Woodstock take SR 665 east (it only goes east) at the Woodstock Shopping Center.  There is a new sign for the tower at that intersection, in front of the Health & Human Services Building at the Shopping Center with a map to help you.  665 becomes Mill Rd, then Woodstock Tower Rd (SR 758), but there are few, if any signs telling you that.  Once your cross the Shenandoah River on the Bernshire Bridge (which you’ll be able to see from the Tower), you’ll veer right and start heading up the mountain.

The road up the mountain (758) is closed in the winter with a gate.  After driving up there in good weather, I can see why.  The road can be narrow, sometimes one lane with no rails and steep drop-offs and lots of switchbacks, so go slowly with your lights on.  It can be courteous to give a short honk of the horn around bends to warn any cars coming your way on the other side of a bend.

Once you get to the top of the mountain and notice yourself leveling out a bit, there is a pull-off on the right side with a sign that says “Woodstock Tower” and pink blazings on the trees.  If you’re coming from Woodstock, you can’t see the writing on the sign until you pass it, but you’ll see the small pull off area.  For those interested only in the short, .05 mile walk on Tower Trail, park here and head up.

For those interested in the 1 mile hike, keep driving.  You’ll start descending and after a switchback, you’ll see the “Peter’s Mill Run ATV/OHV Parking.”  This is closed through the winter, but in summer you can park up there, but really I recommend going just another 1/2 mile to the Little Fort Recreation Area which you’ll see on your right.

Little Fort is simply a small camping/rec area with about 10 spots for campers.  You can park just about anywhere that seems safe on the side of the small drive, but don’t block a numbered camping area.  On your right side, you’ll see a big sign with information on Peters Mill Run and the Wagon Rd/Nature Trail with a gate.  This is where your hike will begin.

Walking the Trails

The short, Tower Trail starts at the “Woodstock Tower” sign at the top of the mountain.  You’ll walk in along stone steps placed there by the CCC in the early 1930s about 1,500 feet to the tower.  The Tower trail is blazed with pink on the trees.  There is an intersection with the Wagon Road Nature Trail, but just stay straight to the Tower.

The longer hike (1 mile in, re-traced back out) starts at the Little Fort Recreation Area.  You begin by getting on the Wagon Road Nature Trail which is through the gate (or around, if it’s closed) at the sign.  You’ll notice yellow V-Blazes at first.  That’s because this part of the trail is open to ATVs.  Be careful to stay out of their way!  But this is only the first few hundred feet.  At that point you’ll reach an intersection with Peters Mill Run.  When you get here, just look across the trail to the right and you’ll see the Wagon Road Nature Trail next to a little yellow sign warning ATVs not to go on it (but you are more than welcome).

The Wagon Road Nature Trail is blazed white all the way up and there’s also these short angle-cut brown posts along the way so it’s really easy to follow.  Once you get to the top you’ll reach Tower Trail which is pink blazed.  Turn left onto Tower Trail and the Tower will be straight ahead!

On the Tower

To the east are the seven bends, to the west, you’ll be looking down into Fort Valley.  Fort Valley is a 23-mile narrow north-south area called “the valley within valley” because it is literally between two arms of the Massanutten Mountain range.  Fort Valley was almost completely isolated and near impossible to get to before the 1930s, and that’s one reason why George Washington ordered Daniel Morgan (of Winchester, VA) to build a single northern road into it (now SR 678) next to Passage Creek as a possible “last stand” naturally fortified area to protect his troops from the British in the American Revolution, should they begin to lose the war.  Thankfully for all of us, they won a decisive battle at Yorktown, and that’s why we’re all here today.

In the 1930s, the CCC built SR 758 from Fort Valley to Woodstock to the West and Fort Valley Road (SR 675) to Edinburg and Luray.

Some Other Random Hints

Just 20 feet before you get to the tower, there is a remnant of a trail to the right that descends to another trail.  If you go down the remnant trail (be careful, there’s lot of rocks to slip on and holes for feet to get stuck in) and then turn left on the more defined trail below, you’ll come a very nice clearing that gives you another stunning view of the seven bends of the Shenandoah.

Do not go up to this area in the winter or during or just after heavy rains.  Normally, the gate up from Woodstock will close this road, but if it’s open and there’s inclement weather, I would recommend turning around.  The road is generally safe, but not when there’s ice, snow, or very heavy rains.

A lot of sites show this as an “Easy” or “1 Difficulty Level.”  The problem is that there are two separate trails.  The Tower Trail only is definitely easy — barely even a hike.  But the Wagon Road Nature Trail I would classify as a 2 of 5 difficulty as it ascends almost the entire way with few flat areas, but no dangerous areas or climbing.

All our pictures from the hike: