You're going uphill the entire time just like Crabtree but you're pretty much on a gravel road the entire time without much to look at. This is probably my favorite place to hike. Every path you need up ahead is to the left!...Stay left, you are good to go. Your trust is our top concern, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews. At Spy Rock, we dropped our packs and scrambled up to the top of the outcrop to find a spectacular view of the mountains and of The Priest - our destination for that night. You can easily be satisfied with a short hike to either Crabtree Falls or Spy Rock but I love combining trails for a long day. Copyright © 2004–2020 Yelp Inc. Yelp, , and related marks are registered trademarks of Yelp. Optional stop for dinner on the way back if there is interest. Have a question or comment? They asked if I wanted some snacks. You might have to do a little trial and error because there are some worn paths that lead no where. One of the main reasons we started our foray into backpacking was our desire to go up and camp at the beautiful Tye River above Crabtree Falls. You can see the Religious Range from here: The Priest, The Friar, and The Cardinal. I think the hikes connect via the AT but the parking lots are only a couple miles apart anyway so you can always hike one and then the other, and both took me under two hours each to complete. TLDR: Short hike to the top with some amazing 360 views. The views from Spy Rock are simply breathtaking. Cool! I remembered hearing a loud thud in the middle of the night. So there wasn’t much we could do about it then. Yelp users haven’t asked any questions yet about. I arrived. Not knowing what the weather would be like in the morning, and remembering I missed the sunset and sunrise at McAfee Knob, I figured I should get up and go see the view from The Priest while I had the chance. After finally reaching the truck, we had the fun drive back down to the parking lot and out to the main road still ahead of us. The hike is part of the George Washington National Forest, and can easily be combined with nearby Crabtree Falls (300ft cascading waterfall with a hike to the top). Thanks for the suggestions, Steve. Learn more. Keeping going for about a mile until you reach the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) intersection.At the A.T. intersection take a left towards Spy Rock which you will reach in 0.6 miles -- pay attention, this turn can be easy to miss if you aren't watching for it! The trail offers a number of activity options and is best used from March until December. If a lot of time goes on between hikes, then maybe I will write something about hiking in general, or describe an older hike from days gone by. Before we knew it, we got some coverage under trees, which provided us shade pretty much for the remainder of the day. There were a few section and day hikers though. Like 20 – 30 years maybe:) I thanked them. It was a cold day and I started with a couple of layers. Monk was there. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash. Took my son (11) and his best friend. Great group of people. I just realized I am listed as the organizer. As always, I finished my 2 litters of water during dinner and through the night. Took my son (11) and his best friend. We were starting out at Hog Pen Gap. We were already setup though, and it was getting dark. I checked the weather on ATWeather.org. Couple of hand and footwork climbing and all of a sudden, the world is yours. I hope the Vienna lager was delicious! Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser. Dave was completely enamoured of the little creek that started at the spring, and took a bunch of photos of it. Man. I felt like I was intruding. It felt like a sauna. I then passed a trail maintainer trimming back the grass off the trail.