Turk Mountain

Great climb great views.

Hidden amongst the many apon many of mountains in southern Shenandoah, lies a small mountain that doesn't draw the large crowds of some of the more popular hikes like Riprap or Blackrock. This mountain is known as Turk Mt. And, this my small adventure on this wonderful mountain.

After a great morning of juggling on the streets of Chancellorsville for the Ride, Bike and Play Festival, I decided to that an afternoon hike in Shenandoah would cap out a great day. I was planning on doing the full 9 mile circuit Riprap hike. But, imediatly changed my plans once I saw the number of cars parked in the parking lot. So quickly thinking I decided to hike Turk Mt.

At the Turk Gap parking lot, I decided to take an old abandoned trail first, instead of the Turk Mt. trail. This proved to be a great decsion! While walking along the trail I kept hearing a certain noise wrestling amongst the dead leaves. Keeping cool, I decided to stop walking and start looking. And, at about 30 yards away, I saw big beautiful black bear. The bear was to far away for me to take a clear picture, but I did take a snapshot of a snake along the trail. The bear eventually heard me fumbling in the woods and then took off. So I headed back to my car and finally began my ascent up to Turk Mt.

While heading up Turk Mt. I saw two people were ahead of me. While catching up to them we heard what sounded like a bunch of rocks falling. I continued passed the people till I got to a switchback, and that's when I saw him. Another  big beautiful black bear staring directly at me. I froze stiff just looking at this bear who was looking directly at me. I called to the people behind me to hurry up so they don't miss the bear. The bear eventually got bored or scared and wondered off down a little rock scramble. Once again, I missed a great opportunity for a photo, but I was real happy for the guy behind me, for this was the first bear he had seen in the wild. Climbing up to the summit, there was plenty of pink Erwin Quartzite rocks to hop and lots of hidden views.

I decided to explore the summit for a little bit, and was the only person left on the mountain. After finding another hidden rock scramble I decided to head back down, alone. At least I thought I was alone, it was then I heard a little rumble in the bushes. And once again I saw another black bear, this one was little cub and took off as soon as I got near it. And once again I had no chance of grabbing a picture of this bear. Oh well, Turk Mt. is great little hike that offers some great views, plenty of solitude, and some great wildlife.


Bonus: I felt bad about talking about all these bears, yet not showing you any pictures of bears. So here's a picture of a bear from my first trip to Shenandoah. Enjoy!