Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 Mile Run

MMT Course

Revised for 2007 -- Some distances may change slightly.
Course Map

Ed Cacciapaglia approaching Shawl Gap Aid Station
Photo: Aaron Swartzbard

Start to AS #1, #2, and #3 - Start on grass in front of the Club House. Proceed through opening in fence and run 2.4 miles on asphalt road (Rt 619) to the to the Buzzard Rock Trail Trailhead (AS #1). Follow white blaze on Buzzard Rock Trail for 3.9 miles to Shawl Gap, with orange, yellow and blue blazes at the gap. Turn left and run downhill on yellow. Turn right in 0.5 miles and continue 1.9 miles on yellow to AS #2. Turn right on Rt 613 (dirt) and run 3.1 miles to AS #3, Veach Gap Trailhead. Turn right into AS #3. Do not follow blue blazes down the road.

AS #3 to AS #5 - Leave AS #3 on blue blazes for 1.7 miles. Turn left at ridge on orange. Run 3.4 miles to AS #4, Milford Gap. Continue on orange 1.4 miles to junction with purple blazed trail. Turn left on purple and run 2.5 miles to dirt road. Turn right on Rt 717 and run 2.9 miles to Rt 684. Bear right at junction, then 1.0 mile to AS #5, Habron Gap.

AS #5 to AS #7 - Leave AS #5 on blue blaze for 2.1 miles. Turn left at ridge on orange.

Run 2.7 miles to start of yellow blazed Stephens Trail. Turn right on yellow for 4.7 miles to AS #6 at Camp Roosevelt. Cross Rt 675 and run MT (previously known as the Duncan Hollow Trail) on orange for 3.3 miles to junction with blue Gap Creek Trail. Turn right on blue, uphill 0.8 miles and then 1.5 miles downhill to AS #7, Gap Creek Trailhead.

AS#7 to AS#8 – Cross FDR 274 (Crisman Hollow Road) and continue on blue Jawbone Gap Trail for 1.2 miles to saddle at ridge. Turn left on orange MT for 4.8 miles, exiting trail at unmanned aid station onto FDR 274. Cross FDR 274 and continue on trail (orange). This is the old Waterfall mountain trail. The trail starts level but then descends steeply at 0.7 miles. From the top of the descent, you go 0.6 miles to the Massanutten Connector Trail. Turn Right on the Massanutten Connector Trail. This trail turns right onto a road, FDR 415, after 0.7 miles. Follow this road for 1.1 miles until it ends at Rt 211. Cross 211 to AS#8 on the other side.

AS#8 to AS#9 - Go on orange Massanutten South Trail for 1.7 miles to a parking lot/picnic area, cross through it, and pick up a pea gravel trail on the other side. Go 0.2 mile to intersection with orange Massanutten Mountain South trail (MS). Turn left on MS and go for 1.9 miles (mostly uphill) to the intersection with the blue blazed Bird Knob trail. Do not take the Bird Knob Trail. Stay to the left on the orange MS and go 1.3 miles to a locked gate on a dirt road where the AS #9 will be.

AS#9 to AS #10 – Turn around and leave AS#9 the way you came in on the orange blazed MS. Follow it back to 211E, AS #10.

AS #10 to AS #11 - Leave AS#10, cross back over Rt 211 and re-trace your earlier steps up the Massanutten Connector Trail (white). Go 1.1 miles on road(415), then left onto single track trail In another 0.7 miles, you will be back at the intersection of the Massanutten Connector trail (white) and the Massanutten Trail (orange) at the bottom of Waterfall where you were earlier. DO NOT GO LEFT up Waterfall. You want to continue straight on the Massanutten Trail (orange). You will climb 2.0 miles to the intersection with the Scothorn Gap Trail (yellow). At this point the MT (orange) trail goes up to the right and the Scothorn(yellow) trail goes to the left and straight. Continue straight on the Scothorn trail, NOT left as we have in years past. You will be on the Scothorn (yellow) trail for 1.7 miles until it ends at the Gap Creek (blue) trail. This is the same trail you were on earlier when you came into Gap Creek the first time. Go Left and down on the Gap Creek (blue) trail for 1.3 miles to AS#11

AS #11 to AS #12 - Leave aid station on blue Jawbone Gap Trail for 1.2 miles until trail ends on saddle at ridge. Continue straight on orange MT downhill for 0.4 miles. Turn right on orange for 1.2 miles to road (Rt 730), and turn left on road for a few yards to AS# 12, the intersection of Rt 730 and FDR 374.

Edinburg Aid Station, home of Brenda's Famous Potato Soup

AS #12 to AS #13 - Leave AS #12 for 1.0 miles on orange MT. Cross FDR 374 and continue on orange MT (this is the notorious Short Mountain) for 6.7 miles. Cross FDR 374 and continue on unblazed ORV trail for 0.5 miles to Edinburg Gap and AS #13. (The MT has been relocated to FDR 374 at this point. The ORV trail parallels FDR 374 to the east.)

AS #13 to AS #14 - Cross Rt 675 and rejoin MT orange on trail relocation for 0.6 miles. (Trail section was new in 2003 and starts on a bank to the left of the ATV trail. Do not take the ORV road after you cross Rt 675.) Join "old MT" orange. Follow orange for 7.6 miles to Woodstock Tower, AS #14. Stay on orange!

AS #14 to AS #15 - Continue on orange MT after AS #14 for 4.2 miles. Turn right on orange at junction with blue. Continue downhill for 0.5 miles, turning left on orange blazed dirt road for 0.5 miles and veer left from road to AS #15, Powell's Fort.

AS #15 to AS #16 - Continue straight from aid station and turn left on orange blazed dirt road for 1.9 miles. Turn left on orange trail for 0.9 miles to junction with blue trail. Turn right on blue and go uphill for 0.8 miles to ridge, then downhill on blue for 3.9 miles to Rt 678. Stay on blue (it will merge with orange at a right turn near the end of this stretch)! Cross Rt 678, turn right into the parking lot, proceed on road and cross bridge, and immediately turn left on blue-orange trail with AS #16 on your right in a shelter.

AS #16 to Finish - Leave AS #16 on blue-orange blazed trail, parallel to Passage Creek. It is 2.6 miles, from RT 678, on blue-orange past AS #16 to Shawl Gap with orange, yellow and blue blazes at the gap. Cross the saddle and change from blue-orange to yellow and run downhill on yellow.

As you run down the hill, run straight rather than turn right as you did in the morning. Then you will veer left onto an unblazed trail that will be marked with ribbons on race day. Once you come to the gravel road at the bottom, you turn right for a short section, then left on Route 613 and then a quick right on Route 608. Finally, you turn right off 608 for the last 0.4 miles on a bridle path, through a gate (the gate should be open but it could be closed briefly at times to keep horses from leaving their corral) and across the field to the finish line at the Club House.

Revised - December 2006

Finishing the MMT: Jamey Groff is welcomed at the finish line.

NOTE: The Massanutten Trail is the 71 mile, orange-blazed ring whose north end is at Signal Knob and whose south end is at the crossing of FDR 274 (Crisman Hollow Road) near the top of Waterfall Mountain. The old names "Massanutten Mountain East Trail" and "Massanutten Mountain West Trail" are no longer used. There is still a "Massanutten South Trail." Its northern trailhead is at Route 211. This trail is also blazed orange. The Massanutten South Trail is connected to the 1.8 mile Massanutten Trail by the white-blazed Massanutten Connector Trail.

There are several informal names for sections of the Massanutten Trail. For example, while everyone calls it the "Short Mountain Trail," it's technically the "Massanutten Trail on Short Mountain." Other sections of the Massanutten Trail that are frequently referred to by their individual names are Kerns Mountain, Waterfall Mountain, and Duncan Hollow.

The MMT course follows much of the Massanutten Trail, but not all of it.

None of this is critical, but be prepared for hearing different names for the same trail sections.

Abbreviations:

MT

Massanutten Trail (former MME and MMW Trails)

MS

Massanutten South Trail

SRR

Skyline Ranch Resort