Story of the Forest and Rose River Intermediate Day Hike!

OVERVIEW

The temperature is finally dropping to a level my New England self loves so what better activity to do than go hiking? I’ve been missing dear ole Shenandoah NP and want to get back to her so let’s go explore some trails!

We’ll be going on Rose River and Story of the Forest (both have names I absolutely adore). I’m told there are multiple waterfalls, a river we will follow, and even some good lookout points along this loop so I am very excited to check it out! The loop is 6.5 miles with 1,512 ft of elevation gain. It looks as though the first 1-2 miles are mostly downhill with the next 4.5 miles a semi-slow ascent with some steeper sections. It sounds like it is a true trail and for this reason I’m marking the trip as intermediate so please only sign up if you have experience hiking and think you can manage the distance and elevation while maintaining a good pace, I’d like to shoot for about 25 minutes/mile. There is a small chance of rain saturday morning so it may be a tiny bit wet too. I also would like to stop for a lil to eat lunch on the hike.

Schedule:
8:30 AM Meet at echols and depart
9:45 AM Arrive at trailhead and begin hike
12-12:30 PM (Or whenever we find a good spot) stop for lunch
1:15 PM Back at the car and depart for home
2:30 PM Back to echols

To bring:
Backpack (ideally not a school backpack but if that’s all you have, that’s okay. you shouldn’t need to borrow one for this trip)
At least 2L of water (There is water at a campground we pass through but thats about 5 miles in)
Layers (High is around mid 50’s so dress accordingly, avoid cotton, bring a warmer jacket- think fleece/puffy and a base layer maybe?)
Rain Jacket (Chance of rain so be prepared for that)
Pack Cover (If you have one, or a garbage bag to put your stuff in inside your bag)
Lunch/snacks (I’d like to stop to eat so bring food if you want to eat too)
Hiking Shoes/boots that can get wet/potentially muddy (Maybe bring a change of shoes for the ride back?)
Poles if you so desire
Stories to share on the Story of the Forest trail?

I will bring a first aid kit.

No drivers needed nor SNP passes.