Hiking to the top of Hawksbill, the highest mountain of Shenandoah National Park

I enjoyed my first camping experience at Shenandoah National Park, but I was especially looking forward to visiting this popular Virginia national park to hike there. And since I was in the mountains, I decided that I would hike to the highest of them all: Hawksbill.

At an elevation of 1,234 metres (4,051 feet), Hawksbill is the tallest mountain in Shenandoah National Park. There are different ways to get to the summit, but for our part we decided that we would follow a route that would allow us to complete a loop via a short stretch of the Appalachian Trail.

Parking to access the trail is along Skyline Drive (at mile 45.5), and we stopped there before heading to our campsite at Big Meadows Campground. As this is my first “real” mountain of the season, I was rather excited at the idea of hiking towards a summit at a fairly high elevation!

As I said, we decided to follow a loop that would first take us along a small portion of the Appalachian Trail, before reaching the summit and descending via the Lower Hawksbill Trail (route details can be found here on AllTrails). We also opted to follow this loop counter-clockwise, as the climb was less steep in this direction.

After leaving the parking lot, we took the short connector trail to the Appalachian Trail which we began to follow southward, towards the mountain. I followed a small portion of this famous trail last summer when I hiked to the summit of Mount Lafayette in New Hampshire, but I was still excited to come across it again! Maybe one day, I’ll hike it all. Maybe.

The climb was rather gentle at first, which allowed me to take the time to fully enjoy this beautiful spring day. It was still early in the season so most of the trees were bare, but the trail was dry, and there was no longer a trace of snow or ice on the mountain. And the leafless trees allowed us to better see the surrounding mountainous landscape.

The Appalachian Trail follows the north flank of Hawksbill, ascending slowly but steadily. I didn’t find the climb particularly difficult and in general the trail seemed well marked and easy to follow. After about two kilometres, we came to a junction with the Salamander Trail (identified with blue markers), which we took towards the summit.

The Salamander Trail is named so because Hawksbill is apparently home to a rare species of salamander (the Shenandoah salamander), found only in the forest of the national park’s highest peaks. We didn’t see any salamander, but we came across several gray squirrels, which are more common in the park.

The Salamander Trail winds its way to the summit. The climb there was a little steeper than on the Appalachian Trail, but once again, I didn’t find it too difficult. Then the trail meets a gravel road, which took us to the summit, a few metres further.

On the summit, there is a day-use shelter (Byrd’s Nest Shelter #2), as well as a stone viewing platform. From there, there is a great view of the Shenandoah Valley, as well as the other mountains of the national park (a compass on the platform allows you to learn which mountains can be seen on the horizon).

After a short break at the summit, we began the descent via the Lower Hawskbill Trail. This trail was, as expected, steeper and rockier, so much so that we were glad we had opted for the easier climb via the Appalachian Trail. We were still able to descend at a good pace and it seemed to me that we returned to the parking lot in no time.

In total, this hike totaled approximately 4.5 kilometres (2.8 miles), with an elevation gain of 230 metres (754 feet). And I can now say that I have reached the highest point in Shenandoah National Park!