LINKS
Gay Beach/Swimming Holes
Campbell Creek
Marion, VA
United States
Phone: 800 Phone: Fax:
SUMMARY:
Swimming places in creek, pool at bottom of falls and others nearby. A 6 miles hike, round trip, much on the AT and a good bit of elevation change to get there. (Wear long pants, there is lots of poison ivy on this trail!) From Waynesboro, take the Blue Ridge Pkwy south to where RT 664 crosses it (at about milepost 12; Reed's Gap). Turn east (left) onto RT 664 and immediately there is a parking area on the right. Park here and find the A.T. trail that leaves this parking area to the south, intially just a path across a grassy field next to the woods. Hike the AT trail south and in about 1.6 miles you come to the Maupin Field Shelter, a typical A.T. trail shelter (there is a spring behind this shelter for water, purify it to be sure!.) Here you will depart from the A.T. and follow instead the Mau-Har trail (so named because it connects the Maupin and Harper's Creek shelters using a short cut along Campbell Creek; an alternative to the A.T.). This Mau-Har trail does not receive as much use as the A.T. so it may be a bit overgrown with poison ivy. The Mau-Har trail begins to the left rear of the shelter as you face it and is signed after you go a few yards down the trail. After about 1 mile on the Mau-Har trail, the trail goes down a long log staircase to Campbell Creek, crosses the creek and follows the creek downstream on the other side. In about another .25 miles, there is Campbell Creek Waterfall, where it may be possible to swim. I think the better swimming hole is a short distance downstrream from here. See photos of both spots above.
