Stonyman Mountain, Virginia

Stonyman Mountain (W4V/SH-002) is a very heavily visited summit and offers some nice views. I had activated this summit several years ago and it was on this trail that I managed to severely sprain my ankle resulting in several months of recovery.

Summit Information:

Summit Name: Stonyman, (W4V/SH-002)

Location: Shenandoah NP, Va

Latitude/Longitude: 38.5977,-78.3719

Date: January 7th, 2021

Parking: Free

Points: 10 + 3 (Winter Bonus)

County: Warren County

Grid: FM08to

Weather: Sunny, 34 degrees

Permit: Yes, $20 Entrance fee

Full Trip Planning Guide

Difficulty

Views

Solitude

On a Scale of 1 to 5

The parking lot of Stonyman was icy so I wore my microspikes (didn’t need another injured ankle). The trail itself was super smooth from all the people that had visited this summit over time. There was kiosk with map indicating that the Appalachian Trail had been temporarily rerouted. I didn’t find any difference from my personal map so I’m not sure if that was an old map or what. The trail is a short hike to the summit.

At the summit is a nice viewpoint where I set up and quickly worked several stations on 2 meter simplex. I also worked another SOTA operator who was on Hawksbill summit.

Temperatures were warming up making the summit activation pretty enjoyable. However time was not on my side as I have three more activations to go that day.