SNP shuttle needed for weekend hike

[johnnyblisters]

Hiking south from chester gap (Rt.522) on the 25th of march. i need a shuttle back to chester gap from rt. 211 at Thornton Gap in Shenandoah. Anyone have any ideas? Taxi? Hitch? im clueless.

[Peaks]

I found the best parts of Shenandoah National Park to be off the ridge and consequnetly, off the AT. There are any number of great loop hike possibilities. Why not look into making a loop hike out of it instead? That's how we hiked the AT in SNP the first time.

[Blissful]

According to the thru hikers companion, there's a guy who operates a hostel (Terrapin Station Hostel) from May to Jul in Compton Gap, but he might be able to help and it says he offers slackpacking. The phone is 540-539-0509. E-mail is [email protected]
When we hiked through there in October, there was a sign for the hostel, though it was closed.

[Rendezvous01]

Hitched that exact place in SNP last spring with no problems, except for there aren't that many cars going north from Thornton Gap to Front Royal this time of year. We waited for about an hour on a cold, foggy, windy weekday, but probably it was the 7th or 8th car that picked us up. Have patience, you'll be fine if you are unable to arrange a shuttle. If your time allows and you're not tired of walking, you could get dropped back at Compton Gap, then hike down and out of the park to your car in less than two hours. That was our plan, but we got to chatting with our friendly driver and missed the parking area, so he took us all the way back to our car.

Shuttle advice: drop your car at the end of your hike, get your shuttle ride back to the starting point. That way you aren't waiting for hours for your ride to show up, nor rushing to get to the pick-up point in time. If you choose to do it that way, you can probably leave your vehicle at Thornton Gap in the parking lot of the old Panorama wayside, but you might want to check with the SNP rangers ahead of time.

[Skyline]

For SNP shuttles, try Bobby Jenkins: 540-743-3214 or 742-4714. Mike Evans: 540-631-0777 or 539-0509. LC Cab: 540-636-1070.

There is also a Waynesboro trail angels network that does shuttles in the Rockfish Gap area. Don't know if they do longer shuttles. Info at the Rockfish Gap VC.

The ATC website has a downloadable PDF file with shuttlers from GA>ME. Might be someone on there who can help.

[the goat]

you could also hitch it:
hitchhike down the mountain headed east on 211, in a/b 10 or 12 miles you'll hit route 522.
take a left on 522 and it's a 10 mile hitch back to chester gap.

[johnnyblisters]

thanks everyone!