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This 4.5 mile moderate loop hike took place on Tuesday, February 24, 2026. It was led by Lisa Peterson and was sponsored by the
I was supposed to leave Manassas, VA by 7:30 AM in order to get to this hike within Guest/Shenandoah River State Park near Bentonville, VA. However, I didn’t get out of the house until 7:45 AM. I thought that if I didn’t make it on time, that I would hike some of the trails there by myself. However, thanks to some backroads driving on my part and the McDonalds in Front Royal, VA being very fast getting me my Egg McMuffin from their drive-thru, I made it to the meeting place at Cullers Overlook by 9:20 AM.
Lisa, the hike leader, got us all gathered, we did our intros and she took a group picture. There were 13 of us senior hikers that made it today. We then started the hike around 9:40 AM. It was 29 degrees and windy as we started along the burgundy blazed Overlook Trail for about .8 miles. This trail was along the ridge and mostly level. We passed behind the Visitor’s Center.
When we got to a Y intersection, we veered left and started hiking on the green blazed Hemlock Hollow Trail for about 4.4 miles. We went up, crossed an intersecting trail and came down to the Shenandoah River and then turned left onto the sky blue blazed Bluebell Trail.
I believe that I have done three hikes at this park with this group and we have always hiked on the Bluebell Trail. We were a bit early for the Bluebells this year. But we hiked next to the Shenandoah River and got some great views. I conversed with a number of people on this hike and they were all very nice. The temperature climbed to above freezing during this time.
After about a mile the Bluebell Trail became the dark green blazed River Trail. Now the River Trail was 2 miles. However, after about a half mile, we turned left and walked along a gravel road that would start us on the return trip to our vehicles. We passed a rental cabin, then a ranger in a truck that was going to clean up a blowdown, then a wet stream crossing, then, after about a half mile, we turned left and walked along Overnight RD for about 80 feet.
We then turned left onto Campground RD, walked along it for about 50 feet, then turned right onto the purple blazed Campground Trail. It was mostly up for about 380 feet for about .8 miles. We were all pretty tired by this time. We took a lot of breaks on this stretch. We made it back to our vehicles right around 12 noon. 4.5 miles in 2.5 miles only comes out to 1.8 miles per hour. Not great. But we weren’t in a hurry. It was a nice hike and I enjoyed being back hiking in Guest/Shenandoah River State park today.
Mike C
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