North River Gorge Trail

North River Gorge Trail (Forest Trail #538) is a hike in George Washington and Jefferson National Forests that runs through North River Gorge and connects the area around Lookout Mountain with the vicinity of Trimble Mountain. It follows a route with gentle grades, but the gorge hiking is built around repeated river fords.

The trail is signed with purple blazes and is about 4.64 miles long for the main one-way hike. Expect elevation gain in the broad band of roughly 1,650 to 1,850 feet on the Forest Service trail description, and plan time around the river crossings.

A core part of the route is fording the North River nine times, which is why conditions matter more here than sustained uphill. In the gorge, the last crossings are described as rocky, and there’s also a nearby swinging bridge over the North River early in the hike.

Route character includes sections along the gorge with multiple crossings close together (including a stretch that crosses the river five times fairly near each other), plus longer segments through shady pine-and-hemlock forest after the cluster of fords.

For logistics, the trail connects with FT #716 (Wild Oak National Recreation Trail). The main recommended start is the Wild Oak parking area on FDR 95, where you walk the Wild Oak Spur Trail about 0.2 mile to the Wild Oak Trail, then reach the North River and the start of the purple-blazed gorge tread.

Water availability is described as no drinking water on the trail; if you take water from the river, it should be purified before drinking. Trail use is open year-round, and the route is shared with horses and bicycles, with standard trail etiquette calling for hikers to yield to horses and for other users to yield appropriately.

More information: Visitor information, North River Gorge Trail - Virginia Wilderness Committee, North River Gorge Trail - Friends of Shenandoah Mountain