Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah stretches as a long, narrow park along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, strung on the hundred-mile Skyline Drive with its endless overlooks. Within easy reach of Washington, it offers waterfalls, forest trails, black bears and deer, and some of the most celebrated autumn colour in the eastern United States.

Background

Shenandoah became a national park on December 26, 1935, and today covers 200,445.92 acres across parts of eight counties. Skyline Drive follows it for 105 miles, from near Front Royal in the northeast to near Waynesboro in the southwest. Hawksbill Mountain, at 4,051 feet, is the highest summit, and in places the relief between the ridge and the Shenandoah Valley exceeds 3000 feet. Almost 40% of the park, 79,579 acres, is wilderness within the National Wilderness Preservation System. The oldest bedrock is Grenville-age granitic basement, 1.2-1.0 billion years old, overlain by metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic layers, 570-550 million years old, that make up the Swift Run and Catoctin formations.

Source: Wikipedia, "Shenandoah National Park"

What's there

• Skyline Drive - the ridge-top scenic road with dozens of overlooks.
• Old Rag and waterfall trails - the popular rock scramble and the cascades.
• Autumn colour - the Blue Ridge ablaze in October.
• Wildlife - black bears, white-tailed deer and abundant birdlife.

When to go

Late spring for wildflowers and green, October for the famous autumn colour, when it is gloriously busy. Summer is hazy and humid; winter closes parts of the drive in snow.

Good to know

It is a narrow park centred on one scenic road, so it is more about the drive and overlooks than deep wilderness. The autumn foliage weekends bring heavy traffic on Skyline Drive. Old Rag is a strenuous, popular scramble now needing a day-use ticket.

Nearby

Washington DC is about seventy miles east; the Blue Ridge Parkway continues south toward the Smokies.

Key facts