Frazier Discovery Trail: The Great Views Most People Miss in Shenandoah

I had low expectations for Frazier Discovery Trail and almost skipped it. Thankfully, I didn’t and I was amazed at what I found on the trail. Rocky overlooks wait on this short hike with some of the best views in the park.

Frazier Discover Trail is a surprisingly quiet short trail in Shenandoah National Park that leads through a beautiful forest to wide open mountain views. It may not be one of the most popular trails in the park, but it is well worth taking the time for this quick hike.

Shenandoah National Park has hundreds of mile of trails. Some are long adventures and others are short treks that only take an hour or so. If you’re interested in checking out more short hikes in the area, I have a list of my favorite short hikes in Shenandoah.

I hadn’t done much research on Frazier Discovery Trail before I hiked it, but I knew it was short and between Bearfence Rock Scramble and Black Rock Summit.

I was there in fall ogling the pretty trees and hitting up a few trails with one of my friends.

It wasn’t quite lunch time and I figured we could hike Frazier Discovery Trail before we ate at the Loft Mountain Wayside.

As my hiking buddy and I were walking from the parking lot to the trailhead I was starting to think about what the trail would be like.

“Kid trail”. Probably.

“Boring trail”. Maybe.

“Pass the time trail”. Definitely.

I was already looking forward to being done so we could eat. I was wrong.

Why It’s called Frazier Discovery Trail

Unlike many other trails that share the “Discovery” name, there aren’t any interpretation signs about the forest or bugs or geology. I didn’t see any information about who Frazier is or why this is a ‘discovery’ trail.

It took a bit of internet sleuthing to find the answer once I got back from my trip.

The trail wasn’t always called Frazier Discovery Trail, that name was adopted in 1999.

The Frazier family once lived on Loft Mountain, where the trail now sits. They worked the land until the 1930s, shortly before Shenandoah National Park was established.

Prior to 1999 it was called The Deadening Trail. Very spooky.

But that name referred to the family’s practice of girdling trees to kill them to clear land for fields and orchards. Apparently “deadening” is what the locals called it instead of girdling. Less spooky but still interesting.

Once the evidence of the practice faded, the name was changed to Frazier Discovery Trail to honor the family.

I found mention of an old cabin right off the trail near Skyline Drive. I didn’t see it but I also wasn’t looking for it when I hiked the trail.

Hiking Frazier Discovery Trail

If you parked at the Loft Mountain Wayside. You can find the trail across Skyline Drive.

It begins on a narrow path that shifts from grassy roadside to thick forest.

Those of you that know your trees may notice the unusual density of black cherry, honey locust, and birch throughout the trail.

The trail climbs steadily starting from the Loft Mountain Wayside.

You can also access the trail if you’re staying at Loft Mountain Campground. Follow the Appalachian Trail for a little more than a mile and you’ll intersect with the Frazier Discovery Trail.

From the wayside it’s not long before you reach the point where the loop folds back on itself.

Which direction should you go?

From the Wayside, going right leads to a steep climb but you reach the overlooks sooner. If you stay straight it blunts the intensity of the elevation gain.

This trail is a relatively short and I wasn’t sure there would be much difference between clockwise or counterclockwise. We went clockwise and I thought it was pretty easy despite the 400 plus feet of elevation gain.

If you hike counterclockwise, you will be climbing up the steepest section. If you don’t like your legs screaming at you, take the clockwise route.

Frazier Discovery Trail – Clockwise

Past the intersection you climb steadily for awhile.

About a third of the way through the trail there is a massive fin thrusting up from the ground. If you do any bouldering, this is a nice spot to spend some time. Definitely bring some crash pads, though.

The trail continues to climb after the boulder and soon you reach the first wide overlook on a rocky ledge.

It’s beautiful. You can see over the forest you walked through to the surrounding mountains.

There are plenty of places to take pictures and because so few people hike Frazier Discovery Trail, you should have some solitude.

A bit further you’ll pass through a boneyard of Ash trees before reaching the second overlook.

This overlook is connected by a short spur trail.

After the second overlook, you begin descending and it’s downhill all the way back to the bottom.

The walk down is easy, I think hiking poles would have been nice to have, though. Every once in awhile you can see through the trees to the surrounding mountains.

Most of the park was in peak fall colors, but the trees on this hike had already lost many of their leaves.

I think if we had been there a week earlier we could have caught the leaves before they dropped.

I had fun on this trail and definitely enjoyed being wrong about what to expect.

After the Hike

We walked to the Loft Mountain Wayside after the hike and got that lunch I was hoping for. There is a café in the wayside with a pretty standard lunch counter menu. The food was reasonably priced and tasty.

This hike was easy but if was far from boring. I’ll take my kids on this hike in the future but not because it’s a kid hike. I’ll do it because I want to hike the trail again, I want to try and find that cabin, and I want to see their faces when we pass under the huge boulder or step out on that first overlook.

Don’t skip this one, it’s a gem.

Want to check out more hikes in Shenandoah? These posts might help:

• 5 Short Hikes for the Best Visit to Shenandoah National Park
• Bearfence Rock Scamble: Possibly the Perfect Short Trail