Dickie Ridge Loop Hike - Quick, but scenic loop hike in northern Shenandoah National Park
Shenandoah National Park is almost 200,000 acres in size and offers more than 500 miles of hiking trails across the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia. The park is traversed by the 105 mile long Skyline Drive, which follows ridge lines through the Park, and offers even for those who don’t hike, amazing vistas and experiences along the way.
With only a day in the Park, and our day starting in Front Royal at the northernmost end of the Park, we looked to get in a few small hikes in the northern half of the Park. The first we decided to embark on was a 4 mile loop that begins at the Dickie Ridge Visitor Center on Skyline Drive, just a few miles south of the northern entrance of the Park.
The trails begins just across the street (Skyline Drive) from the Dickie Ridge Visitor Center. The Dickie Ridge/Snead Farm Loop hike offers an easy to moderate hike around and over Dickie Hill, with some great views along the way. The entire hike is about 4 miles in length with just over 700 feet of elevation gain. We completed the hike in just over an hour and it made for a great quick trek to stretch our legs and begin to explore just after we entered the Park.
We began by heading southbound on the Dickie Ridge Trail, starting at the Fox Hollow Trailhead just across Skyline Drive from the Dickie Ridge Visitor Center. From there we followed the Dickie Ridge Trail to the Snead Farm Trail, which we then followed past the old Snead Farm Barn and back to its connection with the Dickie Ridge Trail on the far side of Dickie Hill. We turned northward on the Dickie Ridge Trail at that point, and followed it over Dickie Hill. The trail itself just misses the summit, but there is an unmarked trail to the viewless mountain summit where the FAA maintains navigation equipment. Just down from the summit is a wide open view, which the Dickie Ridge Trail traverses. From here we continued on the Dickie Ridge Trail back to the northern intersection with the Snead Farm Trail and instead of following the Dickie Ridge Trail back to the Fox Hollow Trail, we followed the Snead Farm Trail out to Skyline Drive, crossed Skyline Drive and then walked through the Visitor Center's picnic area back to the parking lot and Visitor Center - making a figure eight hike out of the trip!
Not a hard hike at all, but the trail is well maintained, easy to follow, and has good footing the entire way. As we mentioned, we were able to keep a good pace and spent about an hour and a half completing the 4 mile loop. The views just below the summit of Dickie Hill were stunning, and well worth the time and effort of hiking there.
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