Devil's Bathtub

Trail Name Devil's Bathtub Nearest City Ft. Blackmore State Virginia Trail Marking Yellow Trail Use/Features Difficulty Rating Medium Hiking Time 55 Hours <br />0.313 Days <br />300 Min <br /> Distance, round-trip 7.387.38 mi <br />11.877 km <br /> Climb/Descent Elevation 2,3632,363 Feet <br />720.242 Meters <br /> / {{{Elevation Loss}}}"{{{Elevation Loss}}}" is not a number. High Point 2,8812,881 Feet <br />960.333 Yards <br />878.129 Meters <br /> Nearest Medical Kingsport, TN Trip Reports Click Here Loading map... {"type":"ROADMAP","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"270px","height":"180px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":8,"layers":[],"controls":["zoom"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":36.81939299999999803958417032845318317413330078125,"lon":-82.6285309999999952879079501144587993621826171875,"icon":""}]} Show Large Map

Trail Overview

Located in the Jefferson National Forest, a loop hike along Devils Fork Creek with several fords, interesting Devils Bathtub pool, and sandstone cliffs with coal seams.

How to get there

From Gate City, VA

1. Take VA 71 east out of town.
2. Turn on VA 72 and proceed north for 11 miles to and through Ft. Blackmore.
3. Turn left/north onto VA 619 (Big Stoney Creek Road).
4. Cross Stoney Creek and swing right with VA 619.
5. After 4.3 miles on VA 619, enter the National Forest.
6. Turn left past Devil Fork Fishing/Hunting Club (sign) onto a gravel road (FS Road 213/Alley Valley Rd).
7. After 0.25 mile on the gravel road, turn left on a narrow right-of-way between a garage and small white house (FS Road 619).
8. Parking area is in about 0.25 miles at trailhead.

Other visitors have noted that if your vehicle doesn't have good ground clearance (ie, is a sedan), you may want to park at the bottom of the hill near the creek.

Route Description

Hike up Devil Fork from parking area and loop up on mountain and back. There are several fords (at least ten). There is an interesting pool just downstream from the Devil’s Bathtub. On trail above the pool, a sign points downstream to the actual Devils Bathtub pool. To make a longer hike, continue upstream, then follow trail up right side of mountain. This eventually levels out and circles back to the old road leading back to the parking area.

Typical Conditions

Per another trail review site, "Although the trail follows yellow blazes for its entire 7 miles, poor maintenance means it is often difficult to find the blazes-and the path, which, in several places, scrambles over large rocks or up very steep cliff faces."

In April 2014, a rescue crew had to help two groups of hikers lost from this trail. One was over a mile off. news article

Fees, Permits, etc.

No fees or permits required for day hiking or camping. Managed by Clinch Ranger District (Wise, VA) Tel: 276-679-8370 (M-F 8AM-4:30PM)

Misc. Information

See also the excellent write-up in [Explore Scott County] website.

No facilities at the parking lot. Bring your own water.

Maps

A trail map is provided on the Explore Scott County website.

<googlemap version="0.9" lat="36.817" lon="-82.649" type="terrain" zoom="13" width="725" scale="yes" icons="http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/marker{label}.png"> http://tehcc.org/clubwiki/kml/Devils_Bathtub_Trail.kml (C) 36.81337,-82.64956 Devil's Bathtub (A) 36.8185,-82.6266 Parking (G) 36.81945,-82.62895 Trailhead - first yellow blaze 36.828065,-82.635321 Unknown turn off 36.829777,-82.639405 Unknown turn off (J) 36.829916,-82.646249 Stream Crossing 36.828798,-82.646228 Unknown turn off 36.828864,-82.646562 Unknown turn off 36.827998,-82.647262 Large rock outcropping (J) 36.830936,-82.650125 Dry stream crossing (J) 36.830195,-82.652936 Dry stream crossing (J) 36.830292,-82.655044 Dry stream crossing 36.828593,-82.655817 Cross 4-wheeler trail (J) 36.82778,-82.658 Dry stream crossing (J) 36.82434,-82.661539 Small stream crossing (J) 36.823801,-82.66218 Dry stream crossing (J) 36.823656,-82.666207 Stream Crossing 36.81648,-82.66277 Tricky turn 36.815412,-82.66141 View of rock outcropping (J) 36.814426,-82.660185 Stream crossing 36.813264,-82.658594 Stay left 36.812369,-82.658383 Major blowdown (J) 36.812426,-82.658125 Wide stream crossing 36.813137,-82.657478 Stream meeting in pool 36.813188,-82.657309 Turn off down 36.813611,-82.65677 Rock cliff - no blazes (J) 36.813237,-82.651106 Stream crossing 36.81335,-82.649643 Swimming hole (J) 36.813155,-82.64584 Stream crossing (J) 36.813563,-82.644906 Stream crossing (J) 36.813319,-82.644219 Stream crossing 36.814601,-82.642261 Major blowdown (J) 36.814993,-82.641946 Stream crossing (J) 36.815712,-82.64056 Stream crossing (J) 36.818058,-82.635232 Stream crossing (J) 36.819229,-82.631254 Multiple stream crossing </googlemap>

Note: Google Maps does show the path as "Devils Fork Loop Trail".