Key's Gap to Loudoun Heights (Rating: A)

Before you join the hike, please take a moment to read the NVHC Sign-in Sheet Statement/Liability Disclaimer: https://nvhc.com/signin.pdf. Once you’ve read it, please answer the question that appears when you RSVP with “I accept” to be allowed on the hike. Thanks!

This hike is a total of 11.5 miles with approximately 2160 feet elevation gain. The hike starts and finishes at Key's Gap. Starting time is 9:00a.

The hike starts north from the parking lot with 4.1 miles on the Appalachian Trail and proceeding for 1.5 additional miles on the Loudoun Heights Trail to Split Rock which overlooks the Potomac River and Harpers Ferry.

We return on the same route, much of the elevation gain is the hike back up from the Potomac overlook at Split Rock with a 630ft elevation gain in the 1.7mi back to the Loudoun Heights. However, since it's bushwhacking season, we may return on the old trail which follows the ridge. The trail is all but gone, but many of the blazes are still present on the trees. This actually make the hike easier because it eliminates some of the elevation gain from dropping down to meet the AT. You can see a map of the old trail on the pdf map below.

Parking
We will meet at the Key's Gap parking parking lot located on Rt 9. (GPS 39.2615, -77.7623) The parking lot is located on the north side of the road just west of the AT. The lot is not large, if full, an alternate lot is ~100 yds away, NW on Rt 9 and left on Charles Town Rd (39.2621, -77.7649). Please arrive 15 minutes early to check in.

Map for hike:
A pdf map for the hike can be downloaded at: https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/0p8_3dtMFDEOKwURewEWf_bkw
A GAIA-GPS interactive map can be found at:
https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=13.3/-77.7305/39.2911&popupLoc=-77.76225/39.26145&pubLink=IcxyXtmLtcX4Ds601SKRZKEa&trackId=2f59c062-a667-44b3-be4c-c8783e3c7b1f

Event Leader: Harvey Haines

Fees: none

Dogs are able to use this trail but must be kept on a leash (see the NVHC rules on bringing a dog: https://tinyurl.com/nvhcdogpolicy))

Pace: ~2½ mph

Difficulty Rating: A
The equivalent length for this hike is 11.5mi + 1600ft ÷ 400ft/mi = 15.5 equiv. mi., making it a moderate A-hike (13–19 miles). https://www.nvhc.com/

Driving Directions:
It’s a 40-minute drive from the Dulles Town Center Park & Ride. Take Rt 7 west past Leesburg to Rt 9. Then go 5.0 mi. The AT parking lot is on the right, just after the AT crossing over Rt. 9.

History: Edited from the Official PATC Appalachian Trail Guide (2000)

This is one of the oldest sections of the AT and the first section to have a Trail overseer.

The newly formed PATC opened the AT south of Harpers Ferry in 1927, the first part of the AT to be established between the Hudson Valley (NY) and the Great Smokies (NC). Within two years, a handful of members had made the Trail a reality as far as Rockfish Gap (I-66). Their work inspired the formation of other groups, which completed other links in then 2000-mile footpath.

Within two years of its opening, the original section of Trail was nearly lost because of fire, undergrowth, and neglect. So the PATC appointed its first Trail overseer in this region. Walter R. Jax was assigned to maintain the AT from Harpers Ferry to Bluemont (Rt 7), formerly Snickersville, a distance of 18 miles. Other PATC members soon took responsibility for other Trail sections, and the system of Trail overseers was born.

Keys Gap (Rt 9), formerly Vestal's Gap, was served by a ferry on the Shenandoah as early as 1747, where at that time the region had its first iron industry. Washington used this route in 1754 during the campaign to Great Meadows and Fort Necessity , as did part of Braddock's army in 1755. (The Name has variously been spelled Keys and Keyes; in February 1964, however, the Board of Geographic Names of the US Geological Survey decided on Keys.)