Hike to Corbin's Cabin

Yesterday, I joined the Richmond - Charlottesville Adventurers for an out and back up Nicholson Hollow in Shenandoah National Park.  There were only four of us but we had a great time hiking together on a kind of sultry day.  There were not any grand views, but we saw a wild turkey, a black rat snake, and a garter snake, along with great forest and stream scenery.

Here is the route (about 8 miles total), parking at the incredibly popular Old Rag parking lot.  We started at the pink arrow after walking about a half mile or so from the car:

You can see that there are lots of other trails there.  The purple circle shows the Old Rag area (go here for my hike there) and the red circle shows the Robertson Mountain area (go here for my hike there).

Can you see that this is a popular destination?  Check out the parking lot about 10AM.  Fortunately, most of the hikers were going to Old Rag, one of the most popular hiking destinations in the state.

The prominent feature of this hikes was streams.  This is the Hughes River.

Does this look like an inviting spot to soak hot, tired feet?

There were at least 4 major stream crossings.  This was the only difficult one.  Two of the group are partway across here.

We didn't see many wildflowers, unlike my last two hikes.  I am not sure what these are, but I do know that they are lovely.

This lazy black rat snake was wary but not aggressive or scared.  I was within a foot of his head, I think.

Our destination was Corbin Cabin, built by George Corbin in 1909.  He was forced to vacate in 1938 when Shenandoah National Park was created.  It must have been heartbreaking for him.

Is this a sweet lunch spot or what?

Here is our merry little hiking group for the day: Art, Terry, Giselle, and Suzanne (plus two canine hikers!)

On the Corbin Cabin porch.

We saw this garter snake on the hike out.  Sharp eyed Suzanne spotted it.

This was a really fun hike, and not too hard for anyone in shape (I am not right now).  One gains about 1,200 feet on the hike up and loses the same on the return.  Figure on about 4 hours, plus a lunch break.  There are native brook trout in the river, and we saw a number of fisher folk trying their luck.