The Appalachian Trail in the South District

The South District is the southern-most administrative and geographic section of Shenandoah National Park. It runs south from the Swift Run Gap Entrance Station at the intersection of Skyline Drive with US Route 33 to the Rockfish Gap Entrance Station by US Route 250 east of Waynesboro, Virginia.

Members of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club maintain the 45 miles of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, along with many miles of blue-blazed side trails and four trail huts (or shelters) in the South District. Our resources include two trail maintenance tool caches, one public cabin (Doyles River), the Ivy Creek maintenance hut for PATC overseers and crews near Loft Mountain Campground, and the J. Frank Schairer Trail Center (on PATC-owned property immediately adjacent to the Park below Eaton Hollow Overlook).

Trails in this District offer a much more remote experience than in the North and Central districts of the Park. This is true, despite the presence of Skyline Drive and facilities such as at Loft Mountain and Dundo Picnic Grounds. For example, there is proportionately more federally designated wilderness here than in the other SNP districts.

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