Shenandoah Magic

Shenandoah is an amazing park chosen to represent the beauty of the country by being one of the first national parks of the east. The park protects the Blue Ridge Mountains along Shenandoah Valley. It's full of amazing mountain views, waterfalls, and all of the wonderful plant and animal life of the Appalachians. This park is great for a relaxing mountain drive or strenuous hiking to the top, a park of plenty.

My first day in the park, I drove a big section of the park's main attraction, Skyline Drive. This is the park road and it is a very scenic ride 105 miles along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There are many overlooks to pull over and get amazing views of the mountains and the valley below. I started my drive about midway through the park at Thorton Gap and drove to Big Meadows campground. Along the way I stopped at a few overlooks to see the inspiring views and I really took in where I was. I got to the campground and explored the area a bit. I got a good tip from the campground hosts to walk over to the lodge to watch the sunset. The lodge was closed for the season but I could still walk up on the back balcony and look around at another great view. Unfortunately, the clouds rolled in right as the sun was setting, so I didn't get a great sunset, but there was a family of deer grazing below the balcony so I got to watch them for a while. And it was just nice sitting in the woods for a moment of solitude. Then I went back to the campsite to start a fire with the help of my really nice neighbors. I sat by the fire and read a book until it was time for bed.

The next morning after coffee and oatmeal, I headed over to the Dark Hollow Falls trail. This was my favorite trail that I did. The trail followed along a beautiful rocky stream. There were lots of chipmunks running across the trail in front of me, which was fun to watch. At one point along the stream, there were brook trout in the water. I thought it was so cool to find trout in a mountain stream, like an ideal setting in a postcard. It was just one of the small but magical things that national parks provide. Getting to the waterfall was really great too. It wasn't a huge waterfall or anything, but it was very peaceful as it fell down the moss covered rocks to the calm water below. I hiked back up to the trailhead, watching the chipmunks again, and identified wildflowers along the way.

Then, I went to the visitors center. There I walked through the museum and watched the park movie to learn all about the park. Shenandoah, along with Great Smoky Mountains, was created as part of a push in 1925 to add national parks to the eastern U.S. It would take a while for the land to be acquired to create the park because several families lived in the mountains. But once finally established in 1935, the CCC built visitor facilities and Skyline Drive. The park is very popular now because of its proximity to large cities like Washington D.C. and Richmond, Va. And, if you're only looking for mountain views, you don't even have to leave your car. Skyline Drive is really great at making the wild of the park accessible to non-hikers.

After the visitors center, I went to the Lewis Falls trail, another hike to a waterfall. I saw less wildlife on this trail, but there were some interesting plants. And I crossed over the Appalachian Trail, which runs through the entire length of the park. The Lewis Falls trail ended at the top of the falls, which provided a different view than most waterfall hikes. It was very nice.

My last day at the park I hiked up Bearfence Mountain. This trail was so great! The majority of the trail was "scrambling," or climbing, vertically up the rocks. The trail markers gave a general direction of where I needed to go, but it was up to me to pick my foot and hand holds and pull myself up to the top. It was so fun! And at the top of the mountain, I had a 360 degree view of the park. It was so beautiful! The clouds were casting really interesting shadows onto the mountains and I could see far to the horizon. It was a great last hike of the park.

On my drive out of the park, I stopped at several of the overlooks, including the overlook of Old Rag Mountain, the tallest peak in the park. And, at one spot, I got a great bear sighting. A mama bear and her two cubs were climbing a tree. Shenandoah was a very nice park. It was a great place to relax and enjoy nature with some great hikes and beautiful views.

See all of my pictures in the Gallery!

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