Devil's Bathtub — Attraction in Virginia

You should have a 4wd vehicle as the road is severely rutted and I was very scared trying to go up it in my Honda Civic. There is a small parking lot at the trails beginning but it gets very busy and it's usually packed after 10ish. You can park along the dirt road heading to the trails beginning but we choose to go back out and park on the main road that has a parking lot. This added probably a mile to our hike. There are two trails, we chose the shorter one that is about 1.5 to 2 miles in and the same back. The trail is very well marked with yellow diamonds. You must pay attention to the weather beforehand because if it's been raining alot the Creek crossings will be more difficult. Wear good tennis shoes, not Crocs ( which we saw alot of) or sandals. There's about ten to twelve Creek crossings. As a beginner hiker I thought I would be miserable walking in wet shoes but it's really not bad. Bring lots of water and snacks and a trash bag for your trash. The hike itself is relatively level the whole way besides some embankments at the Creek crossings. I was fine during the hike but definitely felt it the next few days. Go early if you want the bathtub to yourself. As we were walking out around 11 ALOT of people were walking in. We had two dogs with us. They were fine the whole time except until we got to this ledge you have to cross to get to the actual tub. You cross this ledge with a rope and then follow the Creek up until you reach the first swimming hole. After that you'll get to the bathtub. I was too worried about my older dog being able to cross the ledge so one of us stayed at the ledge and we went in groups to the bathtub. You can also choose to hike up and around to the bathtub if you don't want to take the Creek. It's very pretty, we got some great pictures. Water is very cold. We'll probably make this a yearly trip. We stayed in Wise at the inn at wise and it was about a 40 minute drive to the trail. There is a souvenir shop somewhere but I was too worried about losing GPS signal and...

Ok! Get ready for a long, but hopefully thorough review. I very rarely do this, but wanted to provide details for people who are first timers like me and found some of the reviews confusing and contradictory.

Details of our visit for context: -Arrived on a Sunday in June around 9 AM -Hiked with my husband. We are both medium hikers in medium shape. -we went left at the fork to do the 1.5 mile trip to the bathtub as opposed to the long loop.

Parking There is a parking lot about a half mile from the trail head. We parked there because I had read reviews of scary parking. As we walked the .5 miles to the trail head, we realized that our car could have made it. They were several other sedans up there. That being said, the walk is pretty nice and adds a bit to the hike, and the road is a bit treacherous for a car but still passable.

Trail We came on a dry day, so we were able to cross all of the creeks without getting wet but we both had on waterproof hiking boots. The makeshift sign that says “follow this new trail” was legitimate and not a serial killer’s doing. When you get right by the bathtub you can go left up the side of the mountain and come to what we’ll call the Devil’s bidet. We thought it was the actual bathtub and jumped in there and then found our way back to the real bathtub at the end. Both were super cool, so I recommend doing. From the trail head to the bathtub took us about an hour, and then about the same back. Since we parked at the farther lot and stopped a few times for photos, the whole thing took us just under three hours.

Busyness On our walk to the bathtub, we passed three people and were alone at the bathtub for our entire 10 to 15 minute stay. On the way back, we passed many many people, so it seems that if you arrive by 9 AM, it will be pretty empty at first for the part that counts.

Oh and make sure to leave no trace. We saw some trash and discarded swimming clothes, don’t be those...

Tl;dr: challenging hike, beautiful scenery, need to plan ahead.. Tough hike, but worth it. We got there early on a Saturday (830am) in mid-June 2021 and were the third out of only one of 4 cars which could fit in the tiny parking lot at the trailhead. Furthermore, the path to get to the lot is treacherous. Do not attempt without a jeep/truck/similar. There are a dozen more spots along the side of the gravel road near the trailhead, everything else is a half mile down the road, adding a mile in the sun to an already long hike. As for the path itself, there are plenty of river crossings and rock scrambles, so be prepared. Water shoes are necessary. Shoes/socks are going to be very uncomfortable on the walk back. There is a section with a length of paracord to help keep you on the narrow ledge which means you're right about to reach the pool area, which is a large, deep area with a few spots to hop in. The bathtub itself is up above the pool a bit at the end of the path to the right of the pool. Its all very beautiful as shown in the pictures and a dip in the bathtub after a hot hike in is a must. A lot of reviews mentioned a lot of trash, which we saw some of in the parking lot, but not as bad as expected. Its always better to leave the place a bit nicer than you found it, but its by no means a trash dump as described in some reviews. It WAS very crowded tho. We had the pool/tub pretty much all to ourselves since we were the first ones out, but we passed over 75 people headed to the tub on our hike back, so I can imagine it gets crowded around 11am. ...