Overall Run Falls

This past weekend, we headed north to Virginia for a weekend of camping and hiking in Shenandoah National Park. The forecast for the weekend suggested a lot of rain and thunderstorms, but we hoped for the best. We met at Walmart in Oxford and caravanned to the park, taking the more scenic route of US-15 north most of the way. It drizzled most of the way up, but never rained heavily. And by the time we arrived at the park, the rain had stopped. We entered the park through the Thornton Gap entrance and after paying for admission, we headed north on Skyline Drive. In about 12 miles, we turned into Matthew Arm Campground, our home for the weekend. After checking in to the campground, we all quickly set up our tents in case the rain started again suddenly. Camping in the rain is a bit unpleasant, but setting up tents in the rain is really no fun, so we tried to get everything set up as quickly as possible. After everything was set up, we headed out on our hike for the day. We were headed to Overall Run Falls, the tallest waterfall in the park. Conveniently, the trailhead for this waterfall is located in the back of the campground, so we didn’t need to drive any more to reach it. We walked to the back of loop B and started off on the Matthews Arm Trail, which initially is an old fire road. Following this trail a short ways, we passed intersections with Weddlewood Trail and Beecher Ridge Trail, then coming to the terminus at Overall Run Trail. To the right, the trail links to the Appalachian Trail. We turned left, however, following the trail as it headed down through a series of switchbacks to a ridgeline above the creek, the only steep part of the trail. There was the 29-foot cascade, though it was barely a drip and then a short ways later, we came to a cliff overlook for Overall Run Falls.

Well, we were supposed to be able to see the waterfall from here, but there wasn’t much to see. Due to the dry conditions of the summer, the waterfall was barely a trickle. But the hike wasn’t completely in vain.

The cliff overlook had phenomenal views of the surrounding mountains and we sat here for a little while to enjoy the views.

When we were ready, we made the hike back up to camp. For dinner, Sandy and I headed to the gift shop at Elkwallow Wayside and picked up some sandwiches to eat at camp. We built a small campfire and socialized for a few hours and then went to bed early.