Old Man in the Mountain

Old Man in the Mountain. Shenandoah National Park. , Stony Man, the old man in the mountain, is a Shenandoah National Park icon. It only takes a little imagination to see the profile of a man’s face in the mountain from here. Stony Man has lent his name to a summit, an overlook, a hike, a camp resort, a community in the Shenandoah Valley, and a country road down there, too., Stony Man is a favorite of Park visitors now, as he was in the pre-Park days of the early 20th century. The views of Stony Man you see looking up towards his face and down from his rocky brow have charmed visitors for more than 100 years., Stony Man’s façade is greenstone, a metamorphosed ancient volcanic rock. Even though we think of rock as never changing, it does change – it weathers, erodes, and breaks down. A rapid event like an earthquake or a landslide could alter the shape of Stony Man’s face or make his nose fall off in an instant! No matter the shape of his face, the view from the top is worth the effort it takes to get there., < Sidebar: > , A Timeless View , George Freeman Pollock, the creator of the pre-Park Stony Man Camp (which later became Skyland Resort), led hikes and horseback rides to Stony Man’s summit – the old man’s forehead – for more than 35 years. You can hike to Stony Man’s forehead, too. From Stony Man parking at mile 41.7 on Skyline Drive, it’s a nice, not-too-difficult climb to the second-highest peak in Shenandoah and one of the prettiest views in the East.