Situated along the crest of one of the world’s oldest mountain ranges, Shenandoah National Park offers an east-coast retreat in a land of waterfalls, windy summit ridges and winding trails that lead up and down through the heavily forested hills of western Virginia.
Guide to Shenandoah
Shenandoah National Park
With the hectic halls of the nation’s capitol a mere 75 miles away, this park provides an escape for the masses from the burdensome bureaucratic machine of the DC beltway. As such, it is a land of contrast, as are many of our parks. A land in which the struggle of the natural may seem a welcome relief from the struggle of mankind, who seeks to return to his original habitat, if only for a little while…
Exploring Shenandoah
Shenandoah is a long thin park which runs north to south for 105 miles on a long ridgeline. This ridge is capped by Skyline Drive, which is essentially the main artery through the park.
The park has four main entrances that provide access to Skyline Drive. Front Royal, Thornton Gap, Swift Run Gap and Rockfish Gap. These entrances, and Skyline Drive, may close at any time during winter months due to inclement weather.
There are two visitor centers that provide information and access to backcountry permits and ranger programs. Both the Dickey Ridge (mile 4.6) and Harry F Byrd (mile 51) Visitor Centers are open summers, 9-5 daily but close from November through March. The Loft Mountain Information Center (mile 19.5) is open on weekends mid-May through October.
Skyline Drive
Shenandoah is a ridge-line park, the width of which never exceeds 13 miles from east to west. Anywhere you go in the park, you’ll be using the park’s centerpiece, and perhaps most popular attraction, Skyline Drive, a 105-mile stretch of beautifully designed roadway that runs the length of the park from north to south and essentially bisects the park from east to west. Installed along the western edge of the drive are mile-marker posts that facilitate easy navigation in the park. Mile 0 is at the northern entrance to the park and mile 105 at the south.
While the drive was technically built by private contractors in the 1930s, their success was largely due to the efforts of the Civilian Conservation Corp, or CCC, who were responsible for the construction of many of the stone walls and guardrails that adorn the drive, giving it a that classic, quality appearance that most CCC projects display.
Skyline Drive exists as the northern terminus of the larger Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469-mile scenic drive that connects Shenandoah to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, at the drive’s southern end. Along Skyline Drive are numerous pullouts, picnic areas and interpretive sites, at which motorists are treated to expansive views of the Appalachian Piedmont to the east and the Shenandoah River Valley to the west. Simply driving the road will take motorists at least 3 hours, as the speed limit is 35mph.
Playtime
For a true appreciation of this mountainous landscape however, one may wish to leave the car behind in search of an outing on one of the parks famed hiking trails. More than 513 miles of forested paths practically beg the car-bound visitor to jump out and just start walking… at least for a stroll to one of the park’s numerous waterfalls, none of which can be viewed from the confines of that cozy metal coffin.
More than 100 miles of the park’s trails exist as a section of the renowned Appalachian Trail, which essentially parallels Skyline Drive, running north to south through the park. Trails range from short easy strolls that access stunning overlooks, to those that top out on exposed rocky crags miles from the nearest trailhead.
All trails are marked by old posts with either white or blue blazes. The white blazes mark the AT, while the blue blazes mark trails that lie only within Shenandoah and its surrounding forests. Horseback riding is popular in the park, as more than 200 miles of trails here welcome equestrian activity.
Other activities in the park include fishing, birding, and backpacking, the last of which requires a permit that can be obtained at a visitor center, online or by phone. Rock climbing has also become a popular activity here, as some of the park’s rock provides stellar climbing. Routes in the park range in difficulty from a mere 5.6 to 5.13+ at Old Rag’s “the the”…
See the activities page for a complete description of what is available in Shenandoah.
Park Ecology
The landscape of Shenandoah is that of a heavily vegetated eastern hardwood forest with lush stream-laced valleys descending from hills where the leaves of deciduous oak, hickory, and poplar trees glow golden on autumn days, which is a popular time to visit. About 95% of the park’s 200,000 acres is forested and about 40% of that is designated as wilderness.
More than 1,000 species of ferns, fungi, lichens, mosses and wildflowers grow here and Shenandoah is home to more than 300 black bears, making it one of the densest populations of the creature in the United States. Keep your eyes keen as you drive and hike within the park, as the forests are also home to more than 50 species of mammals with more than 200 species of birds soaring through the skies above.
An unusual history unfolds in this park, as Shenandoah holds remnants of a time when this area was home to Native American peoples who lived on a bounty once prevalent in these hills. More evident here however, is the impact of European settlers who began to arrive in the area in the 18th century, forming farming communities, small villages and homesteads among the Appalachian hills.
This area of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the larger chain of Appalachian Mountains, ushers visitors into an ecosystem that has been largely returned to its natural state following a brief (geologically speaking) period of burgeoning development. Groves of oak and hickory have returned to overtake orchards and fields that once grew crops.
Park Junkie Verdict
Shenandoah is a park that offers a classic eastern woodland experience for those that wish to wander through her forests, relax by her streams, or dream under starlight from her craggy ridge-lines. This is an easy place to stay for a few days, as her heavily leaved canopies make it is easy to escape the obnoxious world of toxic bullshit that exists a mere hour or so away…
There are excellent hiking opportunities here, and the trails are relatively quiet, especially in the winter, when the creeks lie capped in ice the can yield unique photo opportunities.
My favorite area of the park is the Old Rag summit area. This hike is one of my top-rated adventure hikes on the east coast!
See ya there…
Guide to Shenandoah
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National Park Guides
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