The most walked waterfall trail in Shenandoah National Park: a steep, rocky drop to a mountain cascade close to Skyline Drive.
March through May
Big water window
in a typical year
Rain fed
What drives it
Hogcamp Branch
Climatology
Data on this page
Hogcamp Branch is ungauged
NPS Shenandoah
Managed by
their rules govern
Trail status, closures and safety rules belong to each falls' managing agency, named and linked on every page.
The season
What fills Dark Hollow Falls, and when
This is a small mountain stream, so it runs hardest after rain and through the spring. Late summer in a dry year leaves a modest trickle over the rock.
Typical best flow: March through May
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What the agency itself says
The steep descent following a stream to this beautiful waterfall is one of the Park\u2019s most traveled trails.
Shenandoah National Park (National Park Service)Multnomah Falls in autumn: a Columbia Gorge falls that keeps respectable flow year round, and the standard against which most falls seasons get measured. “Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Multnomah Falls, fall color - 3” — Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region — Public domain
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Current flow at Dark Hollow Falls
Rain-fed falls carry the color of their watershed: Blackwater Falls runs amber with tannin from spruce and hemlock bogs upstream, and its volume tracks the last month of Appalachian weather. “Blackwater Falls (15437499241)” by Benjamin Smith from United States, CC BY 2.0
Getting there
Access, in the agency's words and ours
The trail is short but steep and rocky, and the return is all climbing.
The reliable big-water window is March through May. This is a small mountain stream, so it runs hardest after rain and through the spring. Late summer in a dry year leaves a modest trickle over the rock.
Hogcamp Branch has no USGS gauge near the falls, so the seasonal pattern above is the flow guide for Dark Hollow Falls, and Shenandoah National Park (National Park Service) is the source for current conditions on the ground.
It thins in dry spells. There is no gauge on this stream, so treat recent rain as your indicator.
Shenandoah National Park (National Park Service). The trail is short but steep and rocky, and the return is all climbing. Trail status, closures and safety rules are theirs, and their page is linked on this one; nothing here overrides what they publish.
In their own words: "This trail is short, but very steep and rocky. The return climb is challenging! Take your time, especially when the trail is wet and slippery." That sentence is Shenandoah National Park (National Park Service)'s, quoted verbatim, and their page is the place to check before you go.
Yosemite Falls in May, running on snowmelt that will be gone by late summer. The National Park Service tells visitors the falls can be dry by August, which is why every falls page here starts from its watershed. “Tourists below Yosemite Falls (39832011431)” by Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0
The Potomac drops over jagged ledges into Mather Gorge within sight of Washington, and the roar scales with everything that fell upstream in the last few days.
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