Category Archives: Compton Gap

Difficulty: 2 of 5.  Mostly flat, only one place with a mildly steep decline.
Distance: Approximately 5.8 miles (2.9 miles each way)
Time Walking: 1 hr each way
Views/Scenery: 1.5 of 5.  No views to speak of unless you take the spurs to Fort Wyndham Rocks and Indian Run Spring.
Solitude: 3 of 5. Average traffic, passed a few groups at the beginning but no one after we were out of SNP.  Any trail off Skyline Drive you can expect to run into a few people or groups along the way.

After 3 weekends of rain, we were finally able to hit the trails again on the last day of April.  We hiked this one with a small group that call themselves the “Shenandoah Trailblazers.”  Not a lot to see on this hike, but it was a fun one getting to see an AT shelter, and it was pretty well marked as long as you knew to follow the right sign (you want to follow the AT North and toward the Park Boundary and Tom Floyd Wayside).

What I liked about this one was it was my first experience of the famous Appalachian Trail (AT) that stretches from Georgia to Maine — the longest continuously marked foot path in the world (somebody correct me if I’m wrong about that).  I’ve long read about it, dreamed about it, and admired this beast of a path.  My goal is to hike the entire length of it — all 2,181 miles of it — sometime in my life. 

The AT crosses Skyline Drive several times in Shenandoah National Park (SNP).  The Northern most of those crossings is here at mile 10.4 at a place called Compton Gap. From Compton Gap you can go either North or South on the AT.  To the South most people do the “Compton Peak” hike (4.8 miles round trip) –  you go south from the gap for 1 mile at which point you can choose both a left or right spur (both 1 mile) for some gorgeous views from Compton Peak.  The AT continues south from there, but most turn back at this point.

We went North on the AT from Compton Gap. Most people call this the “Indian Run Spring / Fort Wyndham Rocks” trail — these are two landmarks about 1 mile north of the Gap along two spurs of the AT.  Take the spur to the east about .8 miles to Indian Run Spring.  Take the western spur to Fort Wyndham Rocks – some famous “columnar” rocks said to be 600-800 million years old.

But, alas, we didn’t do either of these (but plan to do them soon).  We chose just to keep on the AT about 2.8 miles until we got to the Toms Floyd Wayside Shelter.  This is a hike that isn’t really published in any of the books, mostly because it’s just a hike along the AT from Compton Gap to the next shelter, so it’s not a real tourist draw.

Foundations, History, and Background of this Trail
The AT winds through all 100 miles of the SNP and in fact the trail and the park have a bit of an embroiled past.  The AT existed prior to the foundation of the area as a national park, so as the park was being built, the AT was moved, altered, and changed to create SNP and Skyline Drive.  Some of the die-hard AT people at the time (all around the 1920s and 1930s) were strongly against these modifications.  But they lost and the CCC re-located the trail through the new national park from 1933-1942 in order to make way for Skyline Drive.

This hike takes you down and across a few “maintenance” roads.  I say this with a tinge of sarcasm because the forestry service originally built many of these roads not for maintenance and not because men like doing noisy things in the woods with big equipment.  These roads were built to sell previously inaccessible wood to the timber industry.  It’s a little known fact that by the late 1980s the US Forestry Service was one of the biggest players in the American timber industry and (I cringe in saying this) the only one that was cutting down trees faster than they were replacing them.

The Forestry Service is a government agency mired in scandal and financial inefficiency.  The Government Accountability Office said in 2003, “Historically, the Forest Service has not been able to provide Congress or the public with a clear understanding of what the Forest Service’s 30,000 employees accomplish with the approximately $5 billion the agency receives each year.”

To be fair, the timber-producing side of the Forest Service has dwindled down to its lowest levels in decades, and for good reason — they lost billions of dollars in the process (somehow).  They’ve found a new cash cow — forest fires.  After a rash of fires in the last 10 years, they’ve been given huge increases in funding to help fight them.  So next time you cross one of these roads you can think of the decades of clear-cutting done to scalp the mountains of timber.

Getting to the Trail
The easiest way is from the entrance of SNP from US-340 in Front Royal. From there go south on Skyline Drive to mile 10.4 which is marked by a sign that reads “Compton Gap.”  Go slow and watch out for cyclists along the road.  There is a decent sized area to park your car.  In the parking area is a large sign with a map showing the trail going both north and south from the Gap. 

Walking the Trail
This walking guide is specifically for getting to Tom’s Floyd Wayside Shelter on the AT and not to see the Spring or the Wyndham Rocks.

From the parking area head north (it’s the side with the big sign/map) and cross the barrier onto the AT.  At this location, the AT also serves as a maintenance road so it’s rather wide for trucks. 

Almost 1 mile in you’ll come to your first intersection.  It’s marked with a cement post that tells you what trail leads where.  Go left to see Fort Wyndham Rocks, Go right to see Indian Run Spring.  Otherwise, just keep going down the middle going north along the AT toward the park boundary.

In another 1.6 miles you’ll come to another intersection marked by a cement post.  If you keep going straight you’ll stay on the maintenance road and go all the way to Chester Gap and State Route 610.  But for this you’ll want to go left where the cement post reads “Park Boundary .2 miles, Tom Floyd Wayside .7 miles.”

As the sign said, in .2 miles you’ll be at the boundary of SNP and now you’re treading on private property.  But don’t worry, you’ve got a right to be there as long as you stay close to the trail.  You’ll see a nice sign letting you know you’re at the boundary.  From here it gets sort of rocky and you’ll step down a descent of rock stairs for a few hundred yards.  Nothing too tricky here, but some of the stones are loose, so you just want to be extra careful.

Once you’re down the rock stairs, you’ll go for just a few more tenths of a mile and you’ll cross another service road.  You’ll know it because it has ruts for a truck.  I think this is State Route 601, but it’s really just a service/maintenance road.  Cross this and go about .5 miles and around a turn you’ll see Tom Floyd Wayside Shelter.  Here you’ll find a log book, some tools like a shovel and broom, a bathroom or “privy,” some tent sites, and a bear pole for campers to hang their food high out of reach of bears.  There is a small spring nearby I hear, but sometimes it’s dry and you definitely want to filter or boil it before drinking.  Beware of mice in the shelter as well — you don’t want to get bit by one and I hear they will bite.

At this point, enjoy yourself! You made it to the first AT shelter north of SNP!  Make conversation with any AT thru hikers you come across there, write in the log book that you were there, and take it all in.

Some Notes Along the Way
- Plant Life: Some of the note-able plants are all the purple and yellow violets, and small white daisies especially along the beginning of the hike (at least in the spring).  There were also an abundance of May Apple plants.  These are neat, but don’t try to eat the fruit or face the consequences — they’re quite toxic so I hear.

- Animal Life: We didn’t see any animals except for birds, but it’s known that black bear roam this area, especially as you leave SNP and get closer to the shelter.  Be careful.

- The Shelter and Log Book: This is a nice shelter as AT shelters go.  It even has a small bathroom.  If you want, leave a message in the log book in the shelter.  You can share anything you want here about your experience on the AT and when they are full they become part of the AT historical archives which is pretty cool.

- The Park Boundary — You do leave SNP and enter private property on this hike, so be mindful that while you have a right to be there, you can’t wander too far off the trail.  I believe the rule is 50 yards.