The View from Tea Berry Road

When a friend said she was "trying to figure out where the Tuscarora Trail passes through the County Park," my immediate response was "It doesn't."

I've been to Shenandoah County Park many times and I never saw a trail that continued eastward toward the Massanutten Mountains. But Nancy knows the area well so I tried a few different search terms and sure enough! The trail follows the north border of the park along Tea Berry Road.

A planning document for the park explains that a new fence "was set back from the road by 15 feet to improve the Tuscarora Trail (The Tuscarora Trail is a 252-mile long bypass route of the Appalachian Trail that passes through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania)."

I have seen the Tuscarora Trail where it runs along the mountaintop border between Virginia and West Virginia, but I have not seen signs of it crossing the Shenandoah Valley. Well, that's still being worked on! The planned route seems to follow existing roads for much of the way, and Tea Berry Road is one of them. The portion that borders the park may be the most-improved section of this route so far.
Yesterday I had an appointment in Woodstock and had lunch in the County Park and then drove up Tea Berry Road to see the "trail." Here is the cleared portion along the park border.

Shenandoah County owns the adjacent County Farm (once a home for indigent and disabled citizens). Here the trail passes the farm's cemetery. Note the blue blaze, a marker for the trail.

See my 2016 post on the County Farm and Alms House.

My picture of the cemetery is rather dull but I'm including it because someone will probably land here on a search for the County Farm Cemetery and I don't want to completely disappoint them. Very few grave markers were in evidence.

After the county property ends, blue blazes continue on trees beside the road. Eventually the trail turns onto Creek Road.

Two blazes on a tree mean that the trail turns. The higher blaze being toward the right indicate that hikers should turn right.

My views of the trail ended near the intersection of Creek Road and Riverview Drive. The trail went downhill onto private land. A map on AllTrails shows it as the Dolly Ridge Trail (Private). Hikers should consult a trail guide or get permission, but it is common here for private landowners to permit serious hikers to cross their property on an established trail. The trail crosses a steep ridge and connects to the Massanutten Trail. Eventually this will connect to the planned Great Eastern Trail, which will extend from Alabama to New York state. 

The picture of the farm nestled against the ridge was taken just beyond the point where the trail left the public road. You can barely see a bend of the North Fork of the Shenandoah in the lower left, but it runs between the rows of trees that cross the pasture.