[This is a trip report for Tuscarora Trail Section 1 back in Dec ’18: https://www.meetup.com/dc-ul-backpacking/events/256784894/ . This trip report is being archived on wordpress due to meetup getting rid of message board sections (which includes some unsaved trip reports like this one) on Jul 18th, 2024.]
DCUL last undertook a section hike of the Tuscarora Trail (TT) starting in December 2013, finishing in December 2014, split across 8 different trips. This is a trail that has appealed to me for a variety of reasons, primarily due to its path-less-traveled reputation, as well as it being a trail relatively close to DC that would be feasible to section hike in a short period of time. The Tuscarora was originally developed as a backup route for the Appalachian Trail (AT) due to fears that sections of it would be forced to close due to commercial landowners. It detours much further west than the AT does, meandering its way from the top of Overall Fall Run in Shenandoah National Park (SNP), finally rejoining the AT just outside of Harrisburg 252 miles later. Our first section had less lofty goals, namely starting in Shenandoah, crossing the valley, entering the Massanutten mountains, and exiting where the Tuscarora and Massanutten Trails split at the Signal Knob parking lot.
With all this in mind, I set out to plan DCUL’s revisiting of the first section. One of the first major considerations was that the trail starts on the AT, most easily accessible from Skyline Drive. With winter weather being as fickle as it is, I decided to start at a trailhead outside the park rather than risk Skyline being closed and having to change the plan at the last minute—plus, what’s more fun, driving straight to the TT trailhead or climbing Little Devil Stairs, complete with its own series of waterfalls and rock hopping. Logan, LN, and Erik (Boomerang) all decided to join the trip, and Kevin (Crush) Erik’s brother also joined last minute. We all assembled at 8:30 at the Signal Knob lot and squeezed the 5 of us and our gear into my car for the drive to Little Devil Stair trailhead. We managed to get started right at 9:30am and began ascending the stairs. I think we were all glad to warm up, but also were glad to be done after ascending 1500ft in about 2 miles. I managed to soak one of my feet during one of the creek crossings, mistaking an icy rock for one that was merely wet—winter in effect. We cruised to the official start of the TT, snapped the obligatory photos, and descended the several miles down to our lunch spot at Overall Run Falls. It was a pretty stopping point but with the temps hovering around freezing and a strong breeze, we were all happy to get moving. At the bottom of the trail, we tanked up on water for our road walk across the valley eventually reached the very first section of the Tuscarora that doesn’t overlap with any other SNP trails.
I’ve long heard that the Tuscarora is less used, rockier than most trails, and also doesn’t believe in switchbacks. This short stretch exiting from the SNP to 340 had 2 of the 3 qualities—“lightly” used, and absolutely no switchbacks. This brief section had no discernible trail besides the signature blue blazes and also several hills the trail tackles by going straight up and over of. I was anticipating our ~5 mile road walk to all be on paved road, but thankfully once we got off 340, we had easy walking along gravel roads and eventually crossed the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. A bit more road walking got us back on to trail as well as officially in the George Washington National Forest. At this point we knew we’d be quite tight on daylight but knew if we kept a good pace we’d make it to Little Crease Shelter before it got dark. We were all well prepared for the last few miles to be in the dark—19 miles on one of the shortest days of the year—but we reached Little Crease as the last bit of light was fading.
We all found some flat and soft ground about 50 yards behind the shelter, set up camp and then got a fire going. Or at least we tried. Despite all the wood seeming pretty dry, our fire took almost 2 hours before anyone would describe it as “roaring”. We solved weak fire problem—perhaps a bit atypically—by just adding more and more would as our kindling swiftly burned and the larger logs never fully caught. Eventually things got hot and dry enough and we enjoyed dinner around a great fire. After polishing off all the whisky the group had, we all hit the sack planning to start at 7am, just after sunrise.
6am came early for us all, and we packed up in the dark and hit the trail promptly at 7am. It thankfully didn’t get much below freezing overnight—there was not frost and no frozen water—which made for a comfortable night’s sleep for all. The 8.5 miles back to our cars went quickly, although we all noticed the notably lower temperature along the ridge, as well as the constant rocky trail that Massanutten is known for. We were back at our cars by 10:30am, and realized that although we had all been fixated on a hot lunch we may have to settle for a hot breakfast. Fortunately, by the time we got to Front Royal, we only had to wait 10 minutes in Jalisco’s parking lot for them to open before devouring delicious Mexican food and concluding a successful DCUL outing. Boomerang and Crush gave me a ride back to my car at Little Devil Stairs, thus reversing the shuttle, before beginning their drive back to Richmond and its ongoing snowstorm.
Overall, it was a great trip. We had clear, dry weather, that hovered around freezing the entire time. We were all able to manage a pace that allowed us to avoid hiking in the dark. This was my first trip as a leader, and it went as well I could hope for—no injuries and we stuck to our plan. We finished with splits of about 19/8.5 for a total mileage of 27.5. Section one of the Tuscarora officially under all of our belts, I think we’re all eager to do the next section and look forward to having other join us on the journey.
Written By: Kyle (Water Dog)
Posted By: Karan (B.A.)
DC UL Backpacking 
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