Chimney Rock and Calvary Rocks – Shenandoah National Park

This is a really nice hike that can be done as an easy day hike or combined with any number of moderately strenuous loop options. I chose to hike 3.4 miles from the Riprap trail head parking at mile post 90 to the rocks and back, and then another 3.5 miles to BlackRock Hut for the night.
There are a number of turns on this hike, so pay attention! From the parking lot, take the blue blaze trail at the sign just a short way up to to the white blazed Appalachian Trail and turn right. The Riprap trail is on the left about 0.4 miles north on the AT. The Calvary Rocks are about 0.8 miles from the intersection with the AT and Chimney Rock another 0.5 miles. The view from the viewpoint just before Calvary rocks is awesome. On the way to Chimney Rock, don’t be fooled by the Calvary rock formations on the left – keep going. Chimney Rock is right on the trail on the edge of a cliff. The outer chimney is too far to jump to – DON’T! I did want to get to the bottom of the formations and bushwhacked clockwise to get there. I should have gone off to the right, it’s much easier to get down that way. The formation is really cool and I highly recommend going to the bottom and walking around inside the formation. If it were a lot warmer and I were a lot younger I'd climb all over this thing!

Viewpoint - 4:45
Calvary Rocks - 6:20
Chimney Rock - 6:43
#bluffage - 9:30
Suspended rock - 10:35
Shout out to Shawn - 12:55
Camp - 14:18

https://www.nps.gov/thingstodo/hikeriprap.htm
https://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/upload/Riprap_RoadTrail.pdf

I already had a video of the BlackRock Hut here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD3v8KAzRxg

Hiking with Shawn: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkPCRdch1HDCKfayXJ6KiLw