Sweet Run State Park (10/14/2025)

Todays visit was to Sweet Run State Park, 11661 Harpers Ferry Road, Hillsboro, VA 20132; Phone: 540-668-6230; Email: sweetrun@dcr.virginia.gov This park officially opened in October 2023 and is still being developed. We stopped by the Park Office, which is the white house on the property, and talked to Ranger Sara Huber, she was very delightful and helpful.
 

The trail we decided to take was the Farmstead Loop. This started off in the woods and the majority of the trail was as you see pictured, flat and level. 

I was fascinated by this boulder laying out in the middle of the woods. I had Amy stand next to it to give it some perspective.

Here we are enjoying the beautiful sunshine and walking the trail together, as we have for 38 years.

 

 Here we are having a little fun on one of the side trails that took us to a foot bridge across a creek. 

We just stood in silence for a few minutes listening to the running water and feeling the cool autumn breeze blowing on our faces.

This was a hollowed out spot under a tree that we spotted next to the creek. I can imagine that one of the animals that call this wood home, living here.

When I first turned the curve in the trail and observed this, I thought it was a giant pig. Do you see it?

This is the back side of a structure on the hillside. Looks pretty good from here, but once we were around on the other side, it was in pretty bad shape.

Here we are again, just enjoying the view and each others company.

We spotted this huge oak tree, which looks like 4 trees in one. Each of these trunks are as large as one of the oaks in our yard, but this is four together as one. 

Here is a closer look at the base of the tree. We were both amazed at how large it is.

Here is the back side of the structure we showed earlier and you can see how it has collapsed.

About 3/4 of the way through our hike, we took Ranger Sara's advice and split off to the Mountain View Trail. This led us out of the woods and into a meadow for the rest of the way. The views were astounding and you can see the mountains and the trees. 

 

Here is a screenshot of our trek from the Avenza App on my phone. This app allows you to download a digital map of each Virginia State park and it has kept us from getting lost on the trail many times. You can also download and print a hard copy of the trails, here. We walked 1.85 miles on the trail today and we did much better than the day before.

Notes

1. This is a new park and still being developed.
2. There are two entrances and we went into the first one. The first stop is where the park office is and its only a white house and you will probably see ranger vehicles outside. There are NO markings on the house, at this time, to distinguish it as an office.
3. The trail head is past the office and there is a parking lot.
4. There is a structure within walking distance of the trailhead that has bathrooms and there were some porta-pottys just of the Mountain View Trail at a Nature Center that is being built.
5. There are currently no overnight facilities at this park.

Sky Meadows State Park (10.13.2025)

 Sky Meadows State Park

Today we visited Sky Meadows State Park. 11012 Edmonds Ln., Delaplane, VA 20144; Phone: 540-592-3556; Email: SkyMeadows@dcr.virginia.gov  We arrived at the park at noon and went straight to the Visitor Center and talked with Ranger Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn was very helpful in helping us pick out a trail to hike and with general information about the park.

Right next to the Visitor Center is the Mount Bleak House and we came in on the end of a tour being given by Ranger Mike. The house we were able to tour is the original home of the owners and is built from stone. There is an addition that was added in later years built with lumber and siding, this is used as office space. 

Ranger Mike was very knowledgeable about the house, it history and was kind enough to take us on a short tour. A lot of the furniture was similar to some that my grandparents used to have.

We were fascinated with the hidden drawers under each window. They built these to hide valuables from invading soldiers during the Civil War. 

 

 

 

 

Here are some more pictures of the inside of the house.

Our Hike

After a lunch, we started on our hike. We took the Boston Mill Road to the North Ridge Trail. This was an uphill hike to the top of the overlook. We had to stop a few times, but we made it up the incline. 

I don't know if you can tell how steep this is from the picture, but for two hikers that are out of practice, it was tough. At the top we took the Piedmont Overlook Trail to the Upper Overlook and below are some pictures, but they cannot do the view justice.

A Panoramic View

Looks like the sky and meadows just go on forever. We back tracked to the North Ridge Trail and kept on it until we came to Gap Run Trail. We followed it down the hill and through the woods. 

 

 

We kept seeing these shrubs with the red berries on them and wondered what they were. They are Japanese Barberry and is an invasive shrub.

 

These green pods on the ground was something else we wondered about. They are Osage Orange Tree Seeds. The mushrooms were all over this side of the tree pictured above.

We enjoyed our hike and it was 2.47 miles and for our first hike of the week, a good one.

Notes about the Park 

Time

This is a day park with no RV sites for camping. Please visit website for updated times.

Camping

Only primitive camping is allowed and it is a 1 hour hike to the campsite from the parking lot. You must hike in your equipment, you cannot drive in.

Trails

There are 22 miles of trails and we just saw 10% of that. The Appalachian Trail is accessible from the park. 10.5 miles of bridle trails and 9 miles of bike trails.

Places of Interest

If you are going to Sky Meadows, chances are you will pass the Apple House. I would be remiss if I did not encourage you to stop and shop but be sure to pick up some of their Apple Butter Cinnamon Donuts. These are delicious beyond words.