Sinclair Hollow Work Hike, March 14, 2021

On Sunday, March 14, 2021, members of the Charlottesville Chapter met members of the Southern Shenandoah Valley Chapter to work on the Sinclair Hollow Trail, located in the North River Ranger District of the George Washington National Forest. The group parked within several hundred yards of the West Virginia border.

This is not a trail that is easy to reach. The trail climbs the western ridge of Shenandoah Mountain and accesses parts of the George Washington National Forest on the western edge of Ramsey's Draft Wilderness Area. This point is a long round trip from any trailhead, as shown below:

The highest point of the Sinclair Hollow Trail meets the Shenandoah Mountain Trail at a point that is (each way):

• 4.3 trail miles from FS 95 to the north via the Shenandoah Mountain Trail.
• 4.8 miles from Camp Todd and FS 95 to the east via the Wild Oak Trail, the Hiner Springs Trail, the Ramsey's Draft Trail, and the Shenandoah Mountain Trail.
• 7.0 miles from the Confederate Breastworks on U.S. 250 to the south via the Shenandoah Mountain Trail.

And, this is the easiest part of the Sinclair Hollow Trail to access!  The road access on the western edge was impassible as of the date we worked on this trail, due to muddy conditions and a possible abandoned pickup truck in the road.

It is understandable that this trail had not been maintained in many years, and the group hiked in to begin rehabilitating it.  There was a good sized group of trail workers, and the group leaders hope to make it back out later in the year to continue this rehabilitation project.

The Charlottesville participants included Nancy Handley, Barbara Martin, Margaret Helber, first timer Bill Shobe, and hike/event leader Jeff Monroe.  The SSVC crew was managed by Lynn and Malcolm Cameron.  Thanks to Margaret Helber for many of the photos shown here.