Backpacking the Extended Perry Valley Loop

The Perry Valley Loop sits just west of the Virginia/West Virginia border near Wardensville, WV within George Washington National Forest. I have also seen the it referred to as the Trout Run Valley Loop. The route circumnavigates the Trout Run Valley. Perry is a small settlement in the middle of the valley. The entire area is part of Great North Mountain. 

Trout Run Valley from Big Schloss 

The most common loop travels about 27 miles around the valley. Along the way it visits three main vistas on Halfmoon Mountain, Big Schloss, and Tibbett Knob. Looking at the map, I saw two other nearby vistas- White Rocks and Little Schloss nearby. I wanted to incorporate these two views in an extended version of the loop. Combing over the map, I was able to put together a 42-43 mile loop taking in all five vistas. 

While my loop starts and finishes in West Virginia, the route crosses over into to Virginia at times. Great North Mountain stands as the border between the two states. You often hike right along the border with  West Virginia on one side of the trail and Virginia on the other. Halfmoon Mountain is the only summit entirely in West Virginia and Liitle Schloss the only entirely In Virginia. Tibbett Knob sits right on the border with its outcropping on the West Virginia side. While White Rocks and Big Schloss’s stand on the border with their outcroppings just over the Virginia side of the border.  

With a few days of warm, springlike conditions in early March, I quickly planned out my route and made an impromptu trip to hike my loop on the 9th. Temperatures were forecasted in the 70s for a couple days with minimal chance of rain.

Day 1

I started my hike on Monday morning about 930AM from the Bucktail Trailhead. It was a little cool to start but there wasn't a cloud in the sky and supposed to reach 70F by afternoon. My hike began on the Bucktail Cutoff Trail. I found it somewhat funny they used pink blazes to mark the trail. In thru hiker slang, a guy that pink blazes alters their own hike to follow a female. I was literally pink blazing. I never did catchup to her.

I was literally Pink Blazing- IYKYK

The leafless trees allowed for views

Since I started close to the low point of my loop, I began climbing out of the gate. I occasionally lost some elevation passing through drainages, but had to gain about 1,200' enroute to my first vista on Halfmoon Mountain. The climb is stretched out over 4 1/2 miles and never felt too steep. After a rainy weekend, it seemed like every little creek had water. As an added bonus to hiking so early in the season, the trees didn't have leaves yet, allowing for partial views most of the way.

Every possible seep and creek were flowing

Wide trail

Several small cascades along the hike

Upon reaching Halfmoon Run, my pink blazing came to an end and I joined the Halfmoon Trail. Although a little rocky at times, the hiking remained pretty easy. I reached the side trail to the Halfmoon Summit. The trail to Halfmoon travels about 3/4 mile to the vista.

Halfmoon Run

Moss-lined trail

Laurels along the Halfmoon Summit Trail

The trail gets a little rocky toward the outcropping on Halfmoon Mountain. From the main viewpoint, you get a pretty good look over the Trout Run Valley. If doing the standard Perry Valley Loop, you see most of your route ahead with Mill Mountain, Big Schloss, Tibbett Knob, and Long Mountain all visible. Just below the summit, I went down another short spur by a campsite with another outcropping. This one wasn't as expansive as the main summit but took in some of the nearby ridges.

Halfmoon Mountain view

Trout Run Valley

View from a separate outcropping on Halfmoon Mtn.

Headed that direction next

I retraced the Summit Spur back to the main trail. Although gradual, the trail continues to climb. I quickly reached the Tuscarora Trail. The Tuscarora travels 250 miles from the AT in Shenandoah National Park up to Pennsylvania where it rejoins the AT. I followed the Tuscarora Trail for the next seven miles.

Open forest in late winter

Joining the Tuscarora Trail for the next seven miles

The Tuscarora travels over a variety of terrain. At times I hiked through rock gardens. Other sections were old roads. The trail didn't seem to have any big changes in elevation and hiked pretty quickly apart from the few rocky sections. 

The Tuscarora gets rocky quickly

Passing through a rock feature

Old road along the Tuscarora

I saw a couple other backpackers during the morning. The first was an older guy out for a couple days. He seemed happy to talk to me for a few minutes. I also stopped by the Sugar Knob Cabin to check it out. A couple was just leaving from their stay. The cabin is normally locked and requires a fee and reservation from the Potomac Appalachian Trail Conference.

Sugar Knob Cabin-reservation and fee required

Several miles of the Tuscarora followed old mountain roads. It made the miles pass by quickly. The trail had a few wet spots from the recent rain, but was in pretty good shape. There were several vernal ponds on the top of the mountain. I imagine they would have quite the serenade of frogs at night.

Vernal pond

The Tuscarora Trail stretch has nice signage

Partially overgrown

This section of my loop had the least views through the trees. Leaving Halfmoon Mountain, I hiked a little over six miles to my next big view at White Rocks. Other than one small clearing from the ridge, I really didn't see too much on this section.

A small view along the trail

Distant ridges to the north

By early afternoon I reached the 1/3 mile spur trail to White Rocks. A big campsite sits down the spur. I initially missed a turn by the campsite. This led me to a short bushwhack to get back onto the actual trail. I quickly found thorny brush on my brief excursion leading to bloody scratches.

Back on the actual spur, I realized I missed a 90 degree turn before the campsite. I quickly came upon White Rocks. The trail takes you up a short scramble before reaching the unobstructed overlook. 

Short scramble up White Rocks

Looking back on the ridge from White Rocks

Unlike Halfmoon Mountain that overlooks the Trout Run Valley, White Rocks provides a nice perch that looks across the Shenandoah Valley. You overlook Tea Mountain and the Shenandoah Valley. You can see civilization shining in the sunshine towards the town of Woodstock. Massanutten Mountain rises over the valley. The higher mountains of Shenandoah National Park stand over Massanutten in the distance.

View through the rocks

The Shenandoahs in the distance

I think Signal Knob is the middle ridge

After enjoying the view and some snacks at White Rocks, I rejoined the Tuscarora Trail. The trail dropped for the next few miles enroute to the Cedar Creek Trail. I stopped briefly to refill my water. By afternoon it was feeling pretty warm in the bright sunshine with little shade on the leafless trees. I needed to tank up. Soon enough I reached the Cedar Creek Trail left the Tuscarora.

For the next 3.5 miles I followed the Cedar Creek Trail. The Cedar Creek Trail follows a variety of tread along its length. At first it looked like an active jeep road. I didn't see any vehicles, but did see some tracks. The road become grassier as I went along before ending at a small clearing. Crossing the clearing, the trail reverted back to an actual singletrack trail. Where I turned off the Cedar Creek Trail, I reached a gate and it looked like an active forest service road. I left the trail at this point however.

Near the start of the Cedar Creek Trail

Creek across the Cedar Creek Trail

Despite its name, you don't really see Cedar Creek along the trail. Where I joined it, you could hear it below in a ravine but I never reached its banks. The trail soon turns away from the creek. Even without seeing Cedar Creek, there was no shortage of small creeks along the trail. With the recent rains, water was seeping from the ground everywhere. At times the trail became a shallow creek bed. It wasn't very deep, and easy to stay dry, but long stretches of this trail were either flowing or quite soggy.

A lot of small creeks were flowing strongly

Parts of the Cedar Creek Trail were pretty wet

Small game pond along the trail

I left the Cedar Creek Trail and joined the Bread Road. I don't know why its called the Bread Road but its kind of an unusual name. I followed it for about a mile to gain the top of Little Sluice Mountain. The lower part of the Bread Road is probably the least attractive part of the hike. It looks like a pretty actively used Forest Service Road. The lower reaches look like it had recent logging activity. As I climbed higher, it leaves the logged part. The road climbs more than 500' over its .9 miles. It looked like any truck or SUV could make the drive up the road. Even though it's clearly a road, it still was blazed like a trail. The Bread Road ends at a large campsite on the ridge of Little Sluice Mountain.

Don't know why it's called the Bread Road

Along the Bread Road toward Little Sluice Mountain

I was happy to be off of the Bread Road. I turned left on Little Sluice Mountain. The trail is still pretty road-like here. The trail stays pretty flat for the next mile enroute to Little Schloss. Much of it follows an old grassy road through a mix of forest and clearings. It didn't take long before I started getting some views over the Shenandoah Valley to the east. Decent views were pretty frequent along Little Sluice. I wasn't really expecting views until reaching Little Schloss. 

Little Sluice Mtn. had several views along the ridge

This clearing probably gets brushy in summer

After a mile or so I soon reached my next highlight, Little Schloss. Little Schloss is a subpeak along Little Sluice Mountain. You reach the rocky summit of Little Schloss on an side trail that quickly becomes rocky. Reaching the summit requires a pretty steep scramble up a jumble of rock. This was the longest and most exposed scramble of my entire hike. I don't recommend the scramble if you're nervous about heights. 

Scrambling up Little Schloss

The views from Little Schloss were probably the best up to this point. The Shenandoah Valley seems quite close and you can towns and structures below. The western edge of the valley is only about two miles away. In the evening sun, I could see reflections off of vehicles on I81, seven miles away. This is also the closest my route came to Massanutten Mountain and the peaks of Shenandoah National Park beyond the valley.

View across Shenandoah Valley toward Massanutten
Mtn. with Shenandoah NP in the distance

Little Schloss looking over Little Sluice Mtn

A wider view of the Shenandoah Valley

I think this look back toward Sugar Knob
and Mill Mountain

North from Little Schloss

The south end of Mill Mountain, Wolf Gap,
 Tibbett Knob, and Great North Mtn.

I lingered a little longer than I planned on Little Schloss since the scenery was better than I expected. I continued south on the Little Sluice Mountain Trail to its end another 1.5 miles ahead. I passed a few more views over the Shenandoah Valley. I traveled only about three miles on the Little Sluice Mountain, but the three miles packed in a lot of vistas. The trail descended about 1,200' to FSR 92.

The views continued south of Little Schloss

Mossy trail

Partial view to the south

To close the gap between Little Sluice Mountain and Mill Mountain, I hiked along FSR 92 for about three miles. I wasn't sure what to expect on the Forest Service Road, but ended up pleasantly surprised by the road walk. The road was somewhat soft, making it easy on the feet. Like much of my hike, the leafless trees allowed for frequent views of the surrounding mountains. By the time I reached the road it was after 6PM on a Monday, still technically winter. Other than a parked car at a trailhead, I didn't see any traffic on the road. I had surpassed 20 miles on the day by the time I reached the road. I was beginning to feel the miles and the easy road walk was a nice way to wind down the last few miles for the day.

Hiking along FSR 92

I didn't have a set spot to camp and wasn't sure what to expect along the road. I was hoping I could find a spot just off the road along the Stony Creek Trail or near Mill Creek. I reached Stony Creek and was surprised to find several campsites along the road. I decided to take a chance and hike another 1/4 mile to Mill Creek in hopes of finding another roadside campsite. I lucked out and found a nice campsite just before Mill Creek.

Little Stony Creek

I reached Mill Creek around 6PM. I had a nice grassy campsite fairly close to the tumbling waters of the creek. Even though I was along the Forest Service Road, not a single vehicle passed the entire time I was there. I hiked a about 23.4 miles for the day. At one point I could hear barred owls in the distance making their regular calls as well as their caterwauling. Like most long days backpacking, I slept wonderfully. Nothing beats the soothing sounds of a mountain creek after a twenty mile day for a good nights sleep. While I was setting up my tent and eating, I managed to find three ticks on my legs. None of them were imbedded yet. I was a little surprised considering it was still early March and I hadn't really passed through much in the way of high grass or brush. The warm weather must of got them stirring.

Small cascade flowing into Mill Creek

Day 2

I was in my tent for the night not much later than 7PM. It was still late winter and the sun sets pretty early. This was just a couple days after the clocks changed. I was happy to get an extra hour of light in the evening. However, with the time change, it didn't really start getting light until 7AM in the morning. Since I was approaching twelve hours of sleep, I began stirring before sunrise and was moving by the time it started getting a little light. I was on the trail hiking again about 745AM.

I walked along FSR 92 for a little over a 1/2 mile before reaching the Big Schloss Cutoff Trail. I could see the outcropping of Big Schloss above in the morning sun. This trail travels just under two miles while gaining about 1200' to the top of the long ridge of Mill Mountain. The climb never felt too steep, although I passed through some rocky stretches.

Leaving FSR 92 for Big Schloss Cutoff

Morning sun rising over Little Sluice Mountain

Big Schloss Cutoff has rocky sections

On Mill Mountain

Mill Mountain is pretty flat along its long ridge

Generally the trail stays relatively flat along the top of Mill Mountain. The ridge is narrow at times and I soon passed some views to the east. I hiked about 3/4 of a mile before the rocky summit of Big Schloss came into sight. Big Schloss is a subpeak along the long ridge of Mill Mountain.

A minor scramble on Mill Mountain

Clearing looking towards Little Sluice Mountain 

Big Schloss outcropping ahead

Approaching Big Schloss, the trail gets pretty rocky. Soon I reached the short side trail to the top of Big Schloss. I passed a couple of overlooks but kept hiking. I reached a bridge across a deep notch. Good views over the Trout Run Valley are seen from the bridge, but the real reward lies just ahead. 

Bridge over notch on Big Schloss

Crossing the bridge

Looking across Trout Run Valley

Take the time to explore the summit area of Big Schloss. Follow the various little trails to the different vantage points. Most of the summit can be reached with minimal scrambling. There are great views across the cliffs on the west side of the peak taking in the length of the Trout Run Valley and most of the Perry Valley Loop. I could see much of the terrain I covered the previous day. Looking across the various outcroppings enhances the views of the surrounding mountains.

Looking north along the cliffs of Big Schloss

Jumble of rocks near top of Big Schloss

Looking towards the south end of Mill Mountain
and Tibbett Knob

Zoomed in view over lower end of Trout Run Valley

North along Mill Mountain

Ridge and Valley to the west

Looking back in the general area I hiked yesterday

Another view south across the rocky summit

After enjoying the highest part of Big Schloss, I returned back over the bridge. I stopped by another outcropping with views back over the Shenandoah Valley. I enjoyed a little snack while taking in the view. Another vantage point provided look over the Trout Run Valley. While I encountered many nice vistas on the hike, Big Schloss was without a doubt the best destination on the loop.

View toward the Shenandoah Valley

Zoomed in on the Shenandoah Valley

Upper Trout Run Valley

After enjoying the scenery on Big Schloss, I continued south on Mill Mountain. I passed a few more vistas on the two miles to Wolf Gap. I didn't realize that this was part of the Great Eastern Trail. The GET will eventually travel about 2,000 miles through lesser traveled areas west of the AT.

The  currently 1,600 mile GET  overlaps this section of trail

Heading south from Big Schloss

There are several more views along Mill Mountain
south of Big Schloss

An outcropping along the trail

The Mill Mountain Trail ends at Wolf Gap by a Forest Service campground (a fee is required to camp here). There were a few groups camping at Wolf Gap and quite a few cars, but I didn't see anyone on or enroute to Big Schloss. I crossed the road at Wolf Gap and began the 1.5 mile climb to Tibbett Knob.

Passing through Wolf Gap

Tibbett Knob is the final summit with a vista on my loop. I was surprised to reach a couple of nice overlooks probably no more than a 1/2 mile from Wolf Gap that took in the Shenandoah Valley. I saw the only other hikers I would see the entire second day at the first vista.

The views start quickly heading towards Tibbett Knob

The trail to Tibbett Knob stays pretty consistently rocky. As you gain the top of the knob, the trail climbs two separate scrambles. The scrambles are fairly short, but steep. 

View back toward a knob on Mill Mountain

First scramble on Tibbett Knob

Second scramble on Tibbett Knob

After the second scramble, I basically reached the end of the climbing and quickly arrived at the outcroppings on the summit. I took a short break to have a snack while I enjoyed the views. The view mostly takes in the Trout Run Valley and down Great North Mountain from two separate outcropping.

Tibbett Knob view north over Mill Mountain

Long Mountain

Southwest along Great North Mtn. from Tibbett Knob 

Trout Run Valley

The trail drops about 500' from Tibbett Knob enroute to Devils Hole Mountain Road in less than a mile. This entire stretch stays pretty rocky. The entire 2.5 miles of the Tibbett Knob Trail was probably the most consistently rocky stretch of the entire hike.

Baby heads below Tibbett Knob

I reached the road pretty quickly. I would be following the road for the a little over 2.5 miles. I didn't know what to expect on the road, but it was pretty quiet dirt road, similar to a Forest Service Road. There were lots of good views of the surrounding terrain through the leafless trees. Occasionally I could even see the lingering snow on Bryce Resort ski area in the distance. Like much of the hike, the road weaves across the border. Often, Virginia is on one side of the road and West Virginia on the other. 

My only minor issue with the road was the sun exposure. I was hiking the road just after noon. With no leaf cover, I was fully exposed to the sun. As the day approached the mid 70s at this point, it was pretty warm. I'm glad I had on a sun hoodie for protection. The road gained about 500' of elevation as it climbs Devils Hole Mountain, but it never seemed steep. With decent views, my time on the road passed by quickly.

Hiking along the road

Always plenty of views through the trees

Coltsfoot along the road, the only
 flowers this early in the season

I reached the Long Mountain Trail, my final trail for the next 8-9 miles to end my loop. Most of the trail travels downhill, so I was hoping for an easy close to my hike. The Long Mountain Trail was somewhat of an unusual trail.

Start of Long Mountain Trail

The Long Mountain Trail covers an unusual mix of terrain. I started out on a grassy old road. Soon enough I passed through long stretches of mountain laurel on narrower, singletrack. Long stretches cruised along a flat section on more logging roads. I passed through several shorter stretches of wet trail. There were quite a few grassy clearings along the trail. Given the travel on old logging roads, I don't know if these were old log yards, or perhaps old homestead sites. When the trail did head back onto singletrack, the tread was often quite rocky. Although I could occasionally see the valley and ridges to the west, I didn't have nearly as many views through the trees.

Trail through mountain laurel

One of many clearings along the Long Mountain Trail

Passing through a rock garden

I took one last break near the turn off for Trout Run Recreation Area. At that point I had hiked about 13 miles without a solid water source. I tanked up and topped off another bottle. Since I already had my pack off, it seemed like a good spot to eat one last snack for the final 6 or so miles of my hike.

In the final couple miles, I had a good view towards Halfmoon Mountain, my first peak of my trip. I could see the rock faces near its summit. This was the only spot on the loop I could really see Halfmoon Mountain. While most of the trail trended downhill, I had one modest climb about 2/3 of the way through the trail. After the climb, I had about a1.5 miles left, nearly all downhill. 

Halfmoon Mountain through the trees

The final mile had some pretty rocky footing. As I approached Trout Run, I passed under an outcropping with one small patch of snow along the trail. This was just a few feet from the lowest point of the hike at just over 1,400', and the only snow I saw apart from the distant ski slopes. About a minute later, I crossed Trout Run on a bridge. This was the largest stream I came upon on the loop. About 1/4 mile later I reached the road and was back at the Bucktail Trailhead. I reached my van about 340PM wrapping up the day with about 19 miles. My total loop clocked in between 42-43 miles. 

The only snow along the entire hike

Bridge over Trout Run

Trout Run

I heard about the Perry Valley Loop about a year ago. Since I lived relatively close, I wanted to check it out. While I'm sure the standard loop is pretty nice, I'm glad I added White Rocks and Little Schloss to make my own loop. I was a little worried about adding some road to the hike, but the extra road walk turned out nice with no traffic and decent scenery. Chances are I would not have returned to day hike in the area, so I'm really happy that I got to explore beyond the standard loop. Even though I mentioned the five vista on this loop, in reality there are far more places with pretty good views, particularly on Little Sluice and Mill Mountains. I had great weather, especially considering it was still technically winter, and lots of solid views. You can't ask for much more to have a good trip.

While the overall distance isn't too bad at 42-43 miles, it would be pretty easy to stretch it out to more than two days like my trip. Although many are dry, there are no shortage of good campsites to stretch the trip out extra days. I expected to get wet from incoming rain if I stretched the hike out another day and I like to push myself when I hike alone on shorter trips. While my two day trip was doable, the shorter days of early March were not the ideal time to make that mileage. Sections of the loop were pretty rocky as well- another good reason to stretch the trip out another day or two. Even with fairly modest elevations ranging between 1,400' and 3,100', the trail is fairly tough. With several ridges to climb, the loop has over 8,400' feet of climbing and quite a few section of rocky tread adding to the challenge.

My route in orange, (click on map for better detail)

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