Key Takeaways

The Gerhard Shelter Hike offers solitude and views from Great North Mountain and Vance's Cove, with the shelter itself being a common stop for through-hikers.

The 9.9-mile loop involves following blue, white, and yellow blazes, along with unblazed sections and forestry roads, requiring careful attention to trail markers and directions.

The hike features a steep initial climb and a precarious descent with loose stone, making sturdy footwear and caution essential, and includes a potential detour to a spring.

Gerhard Shelter Hike

There are some nice views on both sides of Great North Mountain from the ridge just before arriving at Gerhard Shelter. The views of the valley from Vance's Cove can be wonderful on a clear day as well, but the main attraction is the solitude. We have never seen other hikers on this route.

Begin by turning left uphill on the blue blazed Tuscarora Trail passing a closed gate. At this point the trail is a closed forestry road (FS) that slowly climbs the side of the mountain for 0.8 miles before the blue blazed Tuscarora Trail makes a sharp right, and the FS road continues straight. Turn right on the blue blazed trail. If you start going downward on the FS road you missed the right turn.

The blue blazed trail climbs the side of Great North Mountain steeply and makes several switchbacks before reaching the ridge line in another 3.0 miles. Follow the ridge for 1.0 miles and arrive at Gerhard Shelter. The shelter is generally used by through hikers.

Turn right downhill on the white blazed Gerhard Shelter Trail that very steeply descends Great North Mountain. The footing is precarious with loose stone for the majority of the descent. In 0.5 miles pass a side trail on the left that takes you to a spring, and in another 0.2 miles emerge onto a FS road.

Turn right on the unblazed forestry road. The forestry road is normally closed to motorized traffic, unless your hiking during hunting season (bad idea!). At the end of the FS road in 0.8 miles, just past a burn, the unmarked Vance's Cove connector trail will bear right. Follow the trail for 0.5 miles where it merges with the yellow blazed Vance's Cove Trail.

Stay right on the now yellow blazed trail for another 0.2 miles where the Vance's Cove Trail ends and a sign marking the border of WV and VA. Turn right on the yellow blazed Wilson Cove Trail and FS road as it winds through the valley for 2.0 miles and passes a closed gate and small parking area. Continue down to Waites Run FS Road passing a private driveway on your left at the bottom of the hill. Continue to your right on Waites Run FS Road road for another 0.8 miles back to the parking area.

By: Ed Matthews

9.9 miles / 15.9 km

May 21, 2017

We've hiked all around this particular loop but hadn't hiked this loop as described here, though we've done bits of it on other hikes. I really enjoyed myself. We saw nobody else the entire day. NOTE: The mileage is now about 10.95 miles due to a PATC relocation of the Gerhard Shelter Trail. It no longer shoots straight down the hill, but rather is a marvelous new trail with switchbacks. Thank you PATC! It is still steep and you really don't want to go what is now 6/10 of a mile to the spring and schlep water back up that hill. If you are staying at the shelter, you are best advised to pack your overnight water in from the nearest source. The new mileage to FR 93 is now 0.93 miles from the shelter, according to the placard on the shelter. It didn't feel that long, but our GPS had us finishing the day at 10.95 miles, so it must be. I didn't find the hike to be particularly strenuous, but I am probably not a good judge at this point. My trail legs are back under me. I am sure the views at the top are wonderful, but we were in a cloud. You are advised that at this point there are a couple of hundred yards of traverse at the top through knee-high grass and you have to cross a patch of poison ivy that is about 20-feet across. I'm recommending high gaiters or long pants. I did it in shorts with the inevitable wet feet in the cloud/fog/mist. I saw no sign of deer up top and I only had one tick after crossing the grass. I expected more. DO A TICK CHECK and DO IT FREQUENTLTY. Tips: Parking and the trailhead are on the left. Waite's Run Road crosses the stream a couple of times. When you see the sign for the Wilson Cove wildlife area just before a substantial bridge, you'll know you're in the right place. When the blue-blazed trail takes off from the County Line fire road, it is at a seriously acute angle on the right. It may seem counterintuitive to be going right here, but do it anyway. Down off the mountain after the shelter, you will turn onto the unblazed dirt road which ends about 8/10 further south. Just keep walking straight on the trail after the road ends. This will seamlessly merge into the Vance's Cove trail. Though the directions make it seem a bit more complicated, it's not. Just keep walking straight and south. Beautiful wildflowers everywhere. Cuckoos and tanagers likewise. Very nice hike. The nearly 4 miles of fire road walk on the backside keeps this from being a 5 for me. Trip report and photos: https://mangiabeve.blogspot.com/2017/05/gerhard-shelter-loop-wardensville-wv.html

Legacy Review

By: aldikuma

May 03, 2015

Overall, this was a great hike, but the first three miles till you get up to the ridge was just OK. I'm not sure how else to describe this part other than "dead". A lot of rotted and dying trees and there were a couple of signs about chemicals that had been applied, so who knows. But it's a gradual ascent - in fact, I never thought this hike was ever difficult. Once you reach the open ridge, though, it was really nice. The views are excellent. The shelter was pretty cool, and I would like to return to stay up here for a night. There's a book where you can leave a note for other hikers/backpackers. The spring off the white blazed trail is just a small creek - it's a very short hike down a steep hill. As you come to the end of the grey FS road on the HU map, you'll cross onto a dirt road and will see a clear trail to the right, now marked with white ribbon all the way to the yellow blazed trail. The sign marking VA and WV was cool. I know a lot of hikers dislike being on the FS roads, but I don't mind them at all as long as it's not the whole hike! I enjoyed the yellow blazed trail on the FS road a lot. The wildflowers were in full bloom all along the way and it gave me and my dog some space to move. A note that you will actually pass two gates/small parking areas - the first off the yellow trail, then the second one mentioned in the directions above after you pass the pink blazed trail on your left (you'll see a bench and trailhead, which is the start to the White Rocks hike, another great one posted here on HU). The last part back to the parking area follows Waites Run - beautiful. Didn't see anyone else the whole hike.

By: Greg S

June 09, 2012

I hiked this two days ago on Saturday with my wife, my sister-in-law and her boyfriend. Our trusty mountain dog, Boone, also came along. We had no problem getting to Wardensville but once we got to Great North Mountain we couldn't really tell where to park. We ended up going further down the road then we needed to and then hiked the loop in reverse by accident. We realized it about 2 miles in but decided to keep going. At one point we misread the map and missed the turn on to Vance's Cove trail as well, which ultimately increased our total distance to about 13 miles. It was a beautiful day to go hiking but honestly, this was not one of our favorites. We chose this hike because it offered seclusion though, and we certainly got that. We passed 2 mountain bikers early on in the hike but for the rest of the day we had the trail to ourselves. So yeah, it was a nice day but not much to look at other than service roads for the majority of the hike. The steep trail near Gerhard Shelter was challenging but fun, and the Shelter itself offered a fun respite in the middle of our journey. The views from the ridge, well, they left something to be desired. The ridge walk itself was not nearly as interesting as I thought it would be either, but that may have had something to do with the constant tick removal we were doing at that point. That's also worth mentioning, the ticks are terrible right now (early June). We found dozens on ourselves during this hike. Clearly, it goes with the territory of being outside, but sometimes it just gets old. While we didn't love the hike, it was nice to have the trail to ourselves and be out in the sun and fresh air. Hope you enjoy it more than we did!

By: M. Greene

March 17, 2012

What a great day for a great hike. This was a very pleasant walk in the woods. Some great views some very long walks down a fire road and always fun to see a well maintained shelter. I pretty much had the entire hike to myself besides a few fishermen in the last 20 min of the hike. Very easy to do hike not to many blazes on the trees but the trail is very easy to follow. Did see a very big bears butt as it ran away from me trying to catch a picture. I would recommend wearing a hat during this hike about 50 percent of the hike is in a field also bring sun block I have a little red to me today. I Did this in 5 hrs with 120 pictures taken. Would love to do again in a few weeks when more leaves and flowers are out in full.

By: Rachel H

March 07, 2012

This is a pretty hike that rewards you for the early miles of uphill exertion with wide views to the east and west and a very well-maintained shelter for a rest stop. The switchbacked section was sometimes obscured by a layer of leaves, but otherwise the trail was very easy to follow, even the unmarked connector trail towards the end of the loop. We were definitely glad to have done the loop clockwise, as suggested, as the trail just below the shelter is extremely steep and would have been unpleasant to climb up we were also happy to cool our feet in the pretty stream that follows the road for the final few miles. Besides the elevation change early on, this hike is lacking a bit of challenge and variety, but I found those both to be forgivable.

By: N & L

September 05, 2010

A beautiful day for Labor Day weekend of 2010. Weather was crisp and perfect. We had trouble finding the trail head at first but after backtracking 0.8 miles (per directions) from the last point, we found it. The first 3 miles were uphill via the switchbacks, which were decently marked. Recommend repainting the blue blazes. Hardly any views as trees were blocking but nevertheless, indeed a solace-finding trail. Hike itself was great, with plenty of sweat and breaks. The reward came as we reached the ridge. Again, the views were lovely, not spectacular. The valleys were clear and pleasant. Ridge was not clearly marked to Gerhard Shelter. But we arrived. At this point, we should have been at the 4.0 mile marker but our GPS was 3.87 mi. We enjoyed our small lunch, signed the book and off we went. White blaze downhill after the Shelter was steep, and pressure on the knees. We bypassed the Spring, and off we continued until we hit the WVA/VA crossing, then all the way down the FS road to the parking lot where we first turned around in the morning. We should have been at around 10 mile mark by then but again, GPS indicated 8.0 mi. Hmm? Does anyone else have this sense of shortened trail by 3 miles or so? We're not complaining as our backs and knees felt it but felt like we should have done the full 11.4 mi... ?!

By: Jayne Hiking Addict

May 09, 2010

http://www.meetup.com/CharityHikers/calendar/13157584/http://hiking.meetup.com/162/calendar/13157640/ I'm amazed more haven't been on this wonderful hike. The first 1.5 hours are a delightful challenge to a spectacular ridge with breath taking views. And then onto Paul Gerhard (not Gerhar"t") Memorial Shelter where we stopped for a snack. I sure wouldn't walk down that slippery spring slope .2 miles to get water to bring back up to the shelter though. This was the best part of the hike by the way. The rest was mostly forest service roads although they were not as bad as some. 14 of us had time for nice conversations on that portion and finished the entire hike in 4 hours 15 minutes. Could have easily cut off a half hour or so if we hadn't stopped as often. There are campsites in a number of places and I suspect we'll come back to camp & perhaps find ourselves back on that ridge for a meteor shower or sun rise. Pictures should be posted on one or both of these sights.

By: thomhouse

December 21, 2008

I was dumb. On a cold, drizzly December Saturday before Christmas, after a week of rain and wintry mix, I got a late start and left my rain and head gear at home -- what was I thinking? The trail head was a little tricky to find, but once I found it and parked, I wondered how I could have missed it. The ascent up to ridge was as described, and a very good workout. Lots of rock covered with wet leaves -- hmmmm. The trail is generally very well marked and easy to follow, but the leaf covering made some of the switchbacks hard to discern in a number of places. At the ridge, the trail flattens out somewhat to a much more gradual ascent and is an outstanding walk. But it was getting late, had started to drizzle, and fog was settling in as the ridge walk started to climb more severely. I never made it to the Shelter and decided to turn back -- I was probably within a half mile. But with the temperature dropping, the hour getting later and the fog severely limiting visibility, I chickened out and retraced my steps back down to the forest service road and the warmth of my car's heater. Lesson learned. I will go back and start earlier on a better day - the trail was worth it.

By: mw

August 13, 2005

I did this loop this past weekend as a sleepover hike using the PATC circuit hikes book as a guide. I took my girlfriend (who has never camped out before) and we had a great time. I hadn't gone on a hike in a few years and was looking for something that would be heavy on the solitude and not too challenging. The only other people we saw on our trek were two mountain bikers who came up behind us on FDR371 the second day. The hike itself was great, save for the heat and the masses of bugs (cant say ive ever seen a horsefly the size of a city cockrach before this :D ) Probably better to do it in the cooler months for sure. The peak offerred spectacular views, but the trail surrounding it seemed to be at risk of becoming overgrown. Lots of fallen trees to hop over as well. The spring mentioned in the PATC guidebook was completely stagnant; we had to wait till PaddyRun to refill our water supply (we camped out at the site right there). Lots of butterflies, some brilliantly colored fungi, bear doo, and a big ol' box turtle added to our experience. All in all a good time; I look forward to exploring more of the GWNF in the near future. :-)