Fox Hollow is less a hike than a walk through a ghost neighborhood. Starting at Dickey Ridge Visitor Center, the trail loops through second-growth forest that was once cleared farmland, and the evidence is everywhere: stone walls that once marked property lines now hold back nothing but memory, periwinkle groundcover blooming in spring exactly where homestead gardens once stood, and the Fox family cemetery sitting quietly among the trees. The path itself is smooth and wide, shaded through most of the year, with almost no elevation to speak of — it rounds a gentle hollow and returns on itself. There is no grand vista, no summit prize. The payoff is a feeling of layered time, of wilderness reclaiming land that was someone's daily life within living memory. Families with curious kids and anyone who finds old stone walls more interesting than a mountaintop will get the most from this one.
Grab the TRACK Trail self-guided brochure from inside Dickey Ridge Visitor Center before you start — it maps the homestead features and turns the stone walls and cemetery into a genuine discovery experience for kids, not just rocks in the woods.
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Visit in late April or early May to catch the periwinkle in full bloom — the blue-purple carpet covering the forest floor is the most vivid remnant of the old homestead gardens, and it photographs beautifully in morning light filtering through the canopy.
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Pair this trail with the Dickey Ridge Trail, which departs from the same visitor center parking lot and runs north along the ridge with occasional westward views — together they make a satisfying half-day that covers both cultural history and scenery without adding any meaningful difficulty.
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