View Full Version : Blackrocks Hut
Kerosene
10-20-2002, 19:40
This is the southernmost hut (aka lean-to) on the AT in Shenendoah National Park (Calf Mountain Shelter is just south of the official boundary) and about 20 miles north of Rockfish Gap.
This is an old shelter with a rock foundation, located in a small little valley 0.3 miles off the Trail. We stopped in for dinner and found out that the spring was dry and there was no more water until Rockfish Gap. We had started out with perhaps 2.5 liters each, so we determined that we could just make it if the weather stayed cool and we reach Rockfish Gap in 2 days instead of 2.5. It was already 3:30 and sunset came at 6:45, so we grabbed a cold dinner and punched out another 7 miles to just past Wildcat Ridge, turning an easy first 3 days into a much tougher re-introduction to the Trail (consecutive 14-, 13-, and 21-mile days). It's amazing at how thirsty you get when you know that you have to ration your water. :(
When water is scarce, I recommend that you cache water at Turks Gap to the south, about halfway between Rockfish Gap and Loft Mountain Campground. Alternatively, given enough light, the 27 miles of trail are easy enough for a fit hiker to cover in one long day.
ez-does-it
10-21-2002, 16:24
Stayed here in 01 & 02 and the spring was flowing very good,the shelter itself is old but in good shape and there are limted spots around the shelter for tenting out.All and all a decent place to stop for the night. :p
Marketman
11-17-2002, 10:13
This Hut has a resident RAT....Yes, RAT! Mice pitter patter but rats thud around...The noise wasn't the problem it was when we woke up to find missing stuff...2 sox, 2 straps, 1 mit, and 1/2 a shoe lace...So beware...Hang everything...No other problems at any other huts in SNP...Oh! and lots of water this time of year everywhere...
Jumpstart
11-19-2002, 17:26
Nice tenting here, we had a good flowing spring this year, but there were a bunch of day hikers actually dumping their excess dinner scraps into it...
had a really fine time at blackrocks (in 2000). a young thru-hiker and his dad were there with me that night. dad and i got into a bottle of jim beam and told sea stories all night. son wasn't too pleased with our antics! plenty of water that time. didn't see a rat. he could'a had a drink too. coming off blackrocks i came face to face with a bear in the trail. i don't think either of us knew what to do, so for a few seconds we just stood and stared. he/she finally mosied off into the woods, while i was busy shaking in my boots.
some notes I posted in the SNP Shelters thread:
On 23 August 2003 I checked the Blackrock Hut:
Blackrock Hut - 8 official tent sites, three above the hut, two on the right headed toward privy and three down a short trail leaving trail to privy on the right just before reaching the privy - one of the last three looked to be good for a hammock also; per a register entry by Beesknees and Relentless the large rat that would steal socks and bandanas was killed in early August but I don't know who killed it; the copperhead at the hut I think is still around but again I am not sure; the rat was estimated to be a foot long; spring is doing very well - estimated 2-3 gallons per minute.
Wife and I stayed there May 30th, '04. The hut is about .2 miles down a moderate descent. Physical description is as described above. Tent sites are pretty decent. The spring was flowing well, it's been a fairly cool and wet spring here in VA. No rats/mice or snakes seen by any of us staying there that night.
Stayed here on August 7, 2005. The hut was very clean - but the smell is a little stronger than most for some reason. (maybe it was me after a 95 degree day!)
Good news/Bad news with the spring: Good - it's right at the hut. Bad - it's barley a trickle. We would just leave our 32oz. Nalgene sitting under the drip from the pipe and come back in a bout 5-8 minutes and check it. It's that slow.
The other thing is the raccoon story. I read with great interest in the hut's journal about this nightly intruder that had learned to climb the bear pole. Then I read that just 2 weeks prior to this night that he had been trapped and relocated. We put our food up on the pole and went to bed with a "no worries" attitude. Guess what - HE'S BACK. We were under under siege all night from raccoon(s) - numerous attacks on the bear pole - the sound of the chain clanking in the middle of the night. No sleep. This hut seems to have an ongoing raccoon issue - guard your food here. NO mice though! I mean none. Why? - The copperhead still lives under the hut. The snake is alive and well and doing his or her job. Another thing - the bees here were absolutely insane! I got stung once just sitting at the picnic table minding my own business.
BigE
trailfinder
10-26-2005, 12:03
Stayed there October 23th. Water source is still a problem and requires patience if you are thirsty. The piped spring was barely a trickle; we used a pan to collect the water and then transferred it to a water purifier. No racoon problems. Bear sack was untouched. Great location!
justinwp
07-01-2006, 00:10
water is fine at the spring. we cleared some roots about 20 feet up the pipe and hope to replace it in the future with a pvc pipe.
Creek Dancer
08-08-2006, 09:34
Anybody stay here recently? Water? Rat? Racoon?
Anybody stay here recently? Water? Rat? Racoon?
Haven't been by there lately but if you want some beta I could swing by there and check it out for you. When do you need the info?
There used to be a big wood rat at that shelter but iirc it was killed about three years ago - have there been reports of another moving in?
I stopped by Blackrock hut today - water was running good est. 2 L/min or more - no sign of raccoon damage at any of the bear poles (no wrappers, bits of paper at bottom of pole) - register did not note anything other than a small copperhead that based on following non-sighting entries has probably moved on - I packed out some trash including two wine bottles - not cool folks - no glass in the backcountry is the reg. for Shen.
Creek Dancer
09-05-2006, 11:35
I stopped by Blackrock hut today - water was running good est. 2 L/min or more - no sign of raccoon damage at any of the bear poles (no wrappers, bits of paper at bottom of pole) - register did not note anything other than a small copperhead that based on following non-sighting entries has probably moved on - I packed out some trash including two wine bottles - not cool folks - no glass in the backcountry is the reg. for Shen.
Hey HOI. Sorry, I missed your post. Thanks for checking on the shelter! I saw your entry in the register. Two wine bottles! Sheesh. What slobs.
My friend Janet and I stayed her Saturday night, 9-2. The spring was running nicely, probably due to Ernesto. There were probably 8-10 campsites. The shelter was in good condition. Nice night for sleeping too!
Furlough
08-07-2007, 17:15
I stayed overnight here on 7/26/07. The fire pit had just that day been re-done and was still covered by a tarp allowing the mortar to set. There is a rather large Rat who has taken up residence in the shelter and has no fear of two legged temporary dwellers. I took some photos of El Monstro the Shelter Rat and tried unsuccessfully to post them in the shelter photo gallery. The spring was at a trickle as is normal for this spring this time of year, but with patience had no problem filling my 2 one liter bottles. The privy is clean and in good shape.
Furlough
Rain Man
08-07-2007, 22:26
I stayed overnight here on 7/26/07.
Small world. I stopped at that hut on 7/21/07 for a morning break, and while there my daughter Grass and her '04 thru-hike friend, Patrick, the Sole Brother, caught up with me. It was a nice setting in a private little cove.
Did not see your El Monstro the Shelter Rat, but there was a fearless doe munching away on grass and leaves right at the rear corner of the hut the whole time. :)
Rain:sunMan
.
Notes from this weekend - the spring seems to be the only water around for the animals as well as for the hikers - as a result there is a small bear that comes to the spring a couple times a day and at night there seems to be a group of deer that noisily clump there way up the dry stream bed to get water at the spring - they make enough noise to wake up anyone not using ear plugs (or at least it seamed that way). Spring water flow is not great but the chopped off gallon jug I put under the pipe to catch the drips seems to have worked out well for people - its a lot easier filling a bottle from the chopped off jug that trying to stick a bottle under the drips - works for filter users too as something to filter from.
chriscook02
10-05-2008, 13:43
Notes from this weekend - the spring seems to be the only water around for the animals as well as for the hikers - as a result there is a small bear that comes to the spring a couple times a day and at night there seems to be a group of deer that noisily clump there way up the dry stream bed to get water at the spring - they make enough noise to wake up anyone not using ear plugs (or at least it seamed that way). Spring water flow is not great but the chopped off gallon jug I put under the pipe to catch the drips seems to have worked out well for people - its a lot easier filling a bottle from the chopped off jug that trying to stick a bottle under the drips - works for filter users too as something to filter from.
that jug is still there, or a clone of it. good idea. there was a good flow this weekend though, so not necessary.
only thing i saw living in the shelter was a praying mantis. looked nice and clean. no bear or deer came into the camp that i know of.
tent sites were pretty level, just very rocky.
you can still hear the damn drag races, but they are not nearly as bad as at calf mt
flemdawg1
12-29-2009, 14:53
Stayed there 8-15-09. Water was a trickle in the spring, something had bit into the Cool Whip bowl set under to catch the water. Register told of resident rat and bear pole climbing coon earlier in the year. Stayed at one of the tent sites nearby and hung my food bag from a tree w/ no problems overnight.
Stayed at Blackrock 5/16/10 and the shelter/fire pit look to be in decent shape. I stayed at one of the three campsites to the right of the shelter on the way to the privy. Water was a very slow trickle luckily someone had left a small white bucket to leave under the trickle in order to catch water. I dug 12"x12" hole and damed it up with rocks to make a small catch pond for water that overflowed the bucket for people who brought pumps but it can only help so much. Did not see any of the infamous coon all bear bags were safe. Didn't stay in shelter so can't comment on mice/rats/snakes.
the goat
05-21-2010, 08:55
this is one of the most over-used shelters i've seen on the trail. people there almost every night in the summer; the fall is just absurd with dozens of weekenders packed in like sardines. it's no wonder that the park has to set up make-shift fences so things don't get trampled to death in the fall.
Blissful
05-21-2010, 12:44
The crap there is unreal too. I took out a bunch of junk last year.
FritztheCat
05-21-2010, 14:42
Was just there for a brief stop last weekend. The water was a trickle and there was a ton of trash in the firepit. Still thought it was a nice stop though. Lots of space around it and the privy was decent.
Sailing_Faith
11-12-2011, 11:33
Had the shelter all to myslef, other then the rat... he is either there or one of his offspring. Swept lots of rat turds out of the shelter... might have been less crowded then others had experienced because of the snow.
Slow n' Steady
01-21-2012, 11:48
Thanks to whomever left the container to catch the water which made it easier to pump. The water was adequate. The tentsites were magnificent. We spent an hour up on Black Rocks before going down into the shelter area, enjoying the sunshine and the view. It's a great place to be. I did not stay in the shelter because it was packed, but the tentsites make the location worth the stay. We were there in the summer of 2010.
Stayed there on a cold day in April 2011. I think the high temp for the day was 32 deg. My buddy was freezing and found a sleeping bag in the shelter. He climbed in and said that it had become one of the happiest days in his life since he was finally so very warm after being freezing cold. I wonder if the bag is still there?
Stayed at the Blackrock Hut Shelter on May 12th. Besides my group of 4 section hikers, there were 2 long distance section hikers, and an overnight hike couple with a big husky on a Saturday night.
Per the shelter log, the pest rat was caught and killed a few months ago. Nobody heard or saw any indication a new one had moved in.
Spring was flowing great. 1 privy & 2 bear poles. There are only a couple tent sites near the shelter. The shelter map listed some more a short distance behind the shelter, but I didn't go far enough to see them.
Lots of deer in the valley where this shelter is. From the shelter at dusk we saw several up the valley. When I got up in the middle of the night to relieve myself, I spooked one grazing not 50 ft from the shelter. Someone else spotted one taking a nap later in the night next to the fire pit.
Just made trip to Blackrock hut 10/26/12 and spring was running fair - 1 liter/ 30 seconds. Also Calf Mt. Hut had spring running at rate of 1 liter/45 sec.