Shenandoah National Park PATC Pocosin Cabin, Valuable Info

PATC Cabins

The Potomac Appalachian Trail Conference (PATC) maintains 45 cabins that are available to rent. These cabins make a great alternative to tent/hammock camping or backpacking in the Shenandoah National Park. 

The PATC manages 45 cabins. The six cabins that are located in Shenandoah National Park are open to the public to rent. The six PATC cabins that you can rent (from North to South) are: Range View, Corbin, Rock Spring, Jones, Pocosin and Doyles River. There are also an additional 12 cabins that are open to the public that are not located in the park. 

Overall, the cost to rent these “public”  cabins is fairly affordable. During the week the cost is $30 and weekends are $50 a night. This is a great deal when you consider that to stay a night in one of the park’s campgrounds is $30 a night. Also, you can rent these cabins year round, the campgrounds are only open seasonally. You do need to plan ahead to ensure that you get the availability of the cabin you would like to rent. 

Many of the PATC cabins are “primitive” cabins which means that they do not have electricity or running water. All of the cabins have wood stoves and privys (outhouses) that you can use. Each of the cabins that I have stayed in are neat, well maintained and supply the basics. 

Winter Usage

One of my favorite things to do is to stay in one of the many PATC cabins during the winter. There is nothing quite like firing up a wood stove on a cold winter day after you have been hiking. 

One year some friends and I rented the Range View Cabin. There had been a lot of snow and the drive was closed. Since the drive was closed, we had to park at the boundary and hike in. Our tracks were the first to break the trail after the snow except for some critters that had left tracks in the snow. It was amazing. We loved getting to the cabin after a long hike up with our packs and getting the wood stove going. 

PATC Pocosin Cabin

Location

Pocosin Cabin (one of the PATC cabins) is located in the central district of Shenandoah National Park and is approximately 5.5 miles north of Swift Run Gap. There is a parking area for about eight cars that is a short distance to the cabin.  The distance from the parking lot to the cabin is approximately .2 miles. The lot is not exclusively for the cabin so there may be others parked in the lot. If you do park here, please be sure that you do not block the fire road. Other options are to hike up to the cabin from the Appalachian trail (.1 miles) or you can hike in from the boundary (2.1 miles) from VA-642.

Pocosin Cabin History

The Pocosin Cabin has been around for almost 90 years. The cabin was built in 1937 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as housing for workers while Skyline Drive was being built. If the walls could talk, I bet they would have some interesting stories to tell! 

The Cabin was named for a local mission that was in the area, Upper Pocosin Mission. You can still see the remnants of the old episcopal mission and cemetery if you hike on the Pocosin Trail.

The PATC Pocosin Cabin

When you walk up to the cabin (if coming from the parking area) the cabin will be on your right. When you first arrive, you will be greeted with a view of the valley below. The cabin has a covered picnic table and an outdoor fireplace. 

When you enter the cabin there is a woodstove on the right with plenty of pots and pans for cooking hung up. Directly across from the door is a wooden table with two benches. There are 3 double-width bunk beds. One directly across from the woodstove and the other two on the left side of the cabin. We were 5 adults and we had plenty of room. Each of us took one of the bunks and then we used the final bunk to store our packs. 

There are foam mats that you can use along with wool blankets. We used the mats and blankets as our base and then we slept in our liners with our sleeping bags/quilts. When we went out hiking we stored the mats and blankets behind a locked screen to keep mice from getting to them. 

There is a large heavy storage box for food storage. It is important that you do not leave food out when you are not consuming it. There are mice in the area and you will want to protect your food from them. 

Things to Do:

Watch the Sunrise

The number one thing to do when staying in this PATC cabin is to get up and watch the sunrise. We woke up early and cooked our breakfast with our camp stoves and watched the sun come up. The outside fireplace can be used. Since it was winter we decided to conserve our firewood for the inside. PATC does have the expectation that you cut and gather any wood that you may have used.

Hiking

Hike the Pocosin Trail. The Pocosin trail is an old fire road so for most of the trail it is wide and open. One of the interesting things on this trail is that you will encounter the ruins of an old Episcopol Mission from around 1904. There are old concrete steps that led up to the front door of the church. There is also a wooden structure that is falling down and the remains of a stone wall. 

Across the trail from the mission is a cemetery. You can see some of the old headstones that are now worn down from the weather. This cemetery has not been cleared so it is not obvious unless you are looking for it. If you return to the cabin at this point you will have hiked about 4.7 miles.

If you are still wanting to explore some additional ruins there is another cemetery that you can explore. To get there you walk a little over a mile past the old mission ruins. You will come to one of the cement park posts that will point you in the direction of the South River Cemetery. Here you will find remnants of the old gate, wire fence and numerous headstones. This will add another 2 miles to the hike. 

If you are feeling really motivated you can turn this into an 8.3 mile loop that also utilizes the Appalachian trail. You may want to read this article which helps you rate trails according to your ability to find out which trail is right for you.

Things to keep in mind

The PATC cabins are awesome and the expectation is that everyone that uses them will help in the maintenance of the cabin. You are responsible for cleaning up after yourself, be sure to leave the cabin the way that you found it. After you book the cabin, you will get confirmation from PATC. You will also receive a to-do checklist of things to do before leaving the cabin. Be sure to leave time to clean, secure and lock the cabin when you check out. This includes replenishing any firewood that you may have used during your stay. At Pocosin Cabin there were 2 hacksaws available for use. 

Finally, plan on filtering or boiling your water because there is no running water in the cabin. There is a spring close by. Also, if you are out hiking read this guide to be sure you are drinking enough water.