Rockfish Gap

[klpicktown]

This past summer I took my first steps on the AT at the stonewall overpass and a bit NOBO into the woods (a short detour on trip home from NC) after stopping at the visitors center and looking around.....
I was just curious because I just found an article saying all those buildings were going to be demolished and the visitors center moved on top of Afton Mt...did this actually happen? Has anyone seen the new visitors center?

Just nostalgia getting the better of my curiosity......

[Bidwell]

That visitor center is in a mighty ugly parking lot, but as of Oct 3rd, the visitor center was still at the bottom... it was open and running.

IMO they should demolish those buildings :) They've been hurting my eyes for year!

[Pony]

Are you talking about the buildings on the hill there by the Inn at Afton?

[klpicktown]

I was referring to the buildings at the bottom of the hill where the visitors center was when i went there.....was there at dusk and it kind of reminded me of some b-movie horror film set.

So all those abandoned buildings are still there huh? The article said they were slated to be demolished this past August.

[Pony]

If were talking about the same buildings, a shuttle driver told me that the town has been trying to get the owner to clean that up for years, and he keeps jerking them around about it. Don't know if that's true or not, but the shuttle driver lived in the Waynesboro area and seemed to know everything going on in the area.

[Blissful]

Kind of an eyesore. Too bad.

[Richard Snider]

There is work going on on top of the mountain near the Afton in and they are slowly but surely tearing down the old buildings at the bottom of the hill. The deal is that the current owner bought the property a few years ago and came up a little short on finances to complete the intended work. The local governments have acknowledged that the owner is making progress as he can given the available money to do so. The News Virginian (Waynesboro VA Newspaper) had a story about it either the end of last year of the first of this year and it sounded positive that the owner and goverments were working together well but getting the funding in place for the development has been a little tough.

[Chillfactor]

I was there in September and a trail angel, Marguerite (very nice) took me to the visitor's center to have a look. A modular trailer with a porch will replace the current one. She thought hikers wouldn't want to go up another hill! A better idea, IMO, would be to fix up the old one and the surrounding eyesores. It could be really nice grouping of buildings.

[Rick Hancock]

I remember the old Howard Johnson's that use to be there, good breakfast! One hike I led in that area brought us out at about 10:30 am and 40 degree temp, everyone in the group was eating icecream and shivering their butts off!

Not much there now the corner market has a gas pump and a few snack items, the visitor center has a lifesize figure of the venerable southern leader General Robert E. Lee, the staff is very friendly.
Rick

[sasquatch2014]

I looked at all the old buildings and thought to myself yep I could stealth in there if I needed to and be really comfortable. The guy at the visitor center when I was there I thought may have known Lee personally he seemed about that old, nice but really ancient. The push button phone seemed a bit new to him.

[Powder River]

Not much there now the corner market has a gas pump and a few snack items, the visitor center has a lifesize figure of the venerable southern leader General Robert E. Lee, the staff is very friendly.
Rick

Dang I really missed a photo op!

[DAKS]

rockfish gap is a pretty neat place even with the vacant/condemned buildings and old HOJO's. it was here that i parked my car for my first overnight trip on the AT shortly after moving to VA. with that said, i guess i consider it a special place because of that very first adventure i took on the AT.

on a side note related to that trip, i remember going into that gas station after getting off of the trail and hoping to find a cold drink. all they had at the time was redbull and coffee. bizarre? what was more bizarre was the fact that the gal working behind the counter had a cat on a leash that was a good 20' or 30' long. the cat was just wandering around and greeting customers. i'll have to admit that was the first time i've ever seen that! also, the volunteers at the visitors center were great. i enjoyed talking with them and hearing information/stories passed on from other hikers.

great memories! it will be neat to see what happens to the buildings and visitor center in the future.

[Hikerhead]

I'm surprised a Marriott or another high end hotel hasn't came around and bought up all that property and bulldozed it all and rebuilt. I'm sure that's what the present owner was expecting. What a place for something nice like that.

[Darwin again]

Everything is closed now except for the visitors center.
The one motel up on the side hill is demolished, the second abandoned gas station is demolished, but the visitors center still occupies the lower floor of the nasty abandoned motel complex. The HoJos is just a hulk. Someone even took the weather vane off the top of the orange roof.

The whole process of renewal up there seems to be glacial, but creeping backwards in time. "Contracting" is a good word for it.

[Blue Jay]

I'm sad to see it change, been there many times as the Shanandoah is my favorite section. I always thought it was a kind of a urban "wildreness" experience. Always, always found the best kind of trail angel there.

[Patrickjd9]

Those buildings have been hurting my eyes for almost 30 years. There was one abandoned motel at the left side of the HoJos, that I'm pretty sure was already closed when I first visited in 1982.

Before the days of the Internet, I used to call the front desk of the Holiday Inn (now Inn at Afton) for weather reports before leaving home in Richmond.

[GoldenBear]

I hiked into this area two weeks ago, and (once again) will share my photos and descriptions of the area.
Best summation: very little has changed in the last four years.

Most times when you reach a road while on The Trail, you come down a hill to reach that road. If headed NOBO, you actually walk up to the road.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=60055
Thus, you'll hear a lot of cars very close to you, but you won't see any till you're almost at the top.
Just as you get to the road, you'll see a welcome list: people who will shuttle you from this area into Waynesboro, for free.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=60054
In other words, you don't have to walk all the way to the info center to get this list.
And I can only say that MY shuttle was, indeed, free: no gratuity or donation was sought, and I guess it would not have been accepted if suggested. Just remember that these kind people are doing this out of love for us hikers, so PLEASE don't spoil the love. Be kind and considerate to these drivers, and avoid any stand-off attitudes or sense of entitlement.

If you want to continue right on the A.T. without stopping here, turn right after you hop over the guard rail, cross over the bridge over US Highway 250, then the one over Interstate-64, and continue walking into Shenandoah NP.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=60051
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=60050
You'll soon turn to the right, and get back onto the foot path.

If, however, you want to make a stop here, turn left towards the Blue Ridge Parkway.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=60049
After you cross the road, you'll notice the sign for "Inn at Afton" at the top of the hill. Despite my initial comment in this photo,
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=60048
about getting to the Afton Inn, you most definitely CAN do so by going up Highway 610. As my correction notes, that route is probably the better way.
Whether you would WANT to go to this place, when its reviews are (shall we say) less than stellar,
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g58295-d252505-Reviews-The_Inn_at_Afton-Waynesboro_Virginia.html
is another matter.

To get to the Tourist Center, turn right after crossing the road, walking towards the building with the orange roof.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=60047
In case you're curious -- I was, anyway -- "Highway" 76 is a bike route.
Many of us would recognize the orange roof as a Howard Johnson and, indeed, some map programs still list it there. As noted above, the place has long been abandoned and -- let's be real -- should have been torn down years ago. The place now looks like a set in a post-apocalypse movie.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=60046

Continue past the abandoned HoJo, and you'll come to an abandoned gas station, whose parking lot is now used by a snack vendor.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=60045
Past this vendor is the road up to the Tourist Info Center.
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=60044

The area has several places where you could park your car at no charge -- just note that none of these spaces have any promise of protection for your vehicle. I'm enough of a coward that I parked my car in Waynesboro, but I can't say that I was any safer there. Just be aware of the risks, and make your own judgement.