A ranger at Shenandoah told me the falls crowds skip the best 6 mile loop, so I tried it

Max Hernandez · 2026-09-30T04:25:03.600502+00:00

I was at the Byrd Visitor Center filling up my water when a ranger overheard me asking about the Dark Hollow Falls trail. He said everyone hikes the 1.4 miles down and back, but almost nobody keeps going on the Rose River loop from there. I did it on a Saturday in October and saw maybe five people after the falls, compared to the shoulder to shoulder scene at the base. The whole 6 miles took me about 4 hours with a lunch stop, and the second half follows a creek the entire way. Curious if anyone else has a spot where the rangers hand out better routes than the guidebooks do?

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A ranger at Shenandoah told me the falls crowds skip the best 6 mile loop, so I tried it | Backpacking Routes - Free To Speak