Shenandoah Trip Report

Getting There

Shenandoah National Park is an easy visit, with its Front Royal northern entrance only 70 miles west of Washington DC.  Two interstate highways run nearby (I-66 and I-83) and the main road through the park, Skyline Drive is a 105 mile curvy trek from north to south.  We entered the park at the Front Royal entrance and our first stop was the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center where we got our passports stamped and picked up the requisite maps.  Rainy was especially eager to do some hiking on the historic Appalachian Trail, so we pointed the car south and began our journey down Skyline Drive. 

Peaks, Valleys

and the AT

On our first day in the park, we found our way to the Stony Man hike just before sunset.   At the peak, there’s a rock outcropping that does look like an old man which is visible from the Stony Man Skyline Drive overlook.  Anyway,   It was a good 1.5 mile trail, well-marked, and pretty easy .  There was a good brochure that described many of the notable features along the way to the top.  We reached the summit just before the magnificent sunset and Rainy captured her typically stunning photos.  There were a handful of other hikers, but not too many.  We talked to a couple of nurses who were backpacking through the park along the Appalachian Trail, heading to Harper’s Ferry.  That sounds like fun, maybe 20 years ago.  I didn’t know it at the time, but I liked the Stony Man views best of all in Shenandoah.  One of the downsides of a taking sunset pictures at the end of a hike is the return trip in the dark.  Which is why we carry flashlights.  It was no problem on the short way back to the trailhead, which was adjacent to our room at Skyland resort (described in more detail below).  Our next notable hike was the following day to Hawksbill Mountain, Shenandoah’s tallest peak at 4049′.  Our route to the peak was a moderate hike, about 2 miles in length with 700′ vertical gain.  The hike up was entirely forested, but at the top it opened up to a great 360 degree panorama where the Fall foliage was at its early stages.  Again, it was well marked, but this time a little more crowded.  The sun had burned off many of the clouds and it was a quite breezy.  At the top, they have an old 3-sided stone hut and the actual summit is a walled panoramic overlook.  Definitely worth the effort and a must hike.   We met an older couple at the top from the DC area who had been to lots of National Parks and were super excited that we were aiming for all 59 (at the time).  After returning to our car and eating our pre-packaged sandwiches, we ventured out for a longer hike.  We took the Rose River Falls to Dark Hollow Falls trail, very close to Big Meadows.  It was around 7 miles and pretty easy.  Some up/down and slippery in places, but generally easy. The Rose River Falls were practically dry, but as we hiked down the Rose River, there were some nice rapids and cascades where Laurie was able to do some cool longer exposure shots.  It was pretty slow going and not marked as well.  Fortunately, Rainy had a trail map and we had a good idea that we were on the right track.  We finally got to Dark Hollow Falls which was not dry.  We liked this one better, but were now thinking we needed to get going and finish the hike before dark.  There were a couple groups at the falls who were a bit panicked thinking they’d lost the trail.  We weren’t 100% sure either, but gave them two options to get back to Skyline Drive.  We didn’t hear any news reports of missing hikers, so they must’ve made it.  We found the fire road we were looking for and it was a gradual, but long uphill stretch run back to our car.  Hiking sure makes you hungry, but we were in good spirits.  The next day, we got up before the sun and headed to the Old Rag overlook.  We didn’t to the Old Rag hike since you can’t access it from Skyline Drive, however it’s supposedly one of the best/challenging hikes in the park.   Anyway, the sunrise was beautiful and there were several deer out in a nearby meadow.  We did a short hike along the Appalachian Trail later in the morning.  There is so much history with the Appalachian Trail (AT) and we especially liked how the trail was marked with the AT logo.  Last, on our way back out of the park, we did a final hike along the Limberlost trail.  It’s totally flat, well-groomed and ADA accessible.  It’s so cool that the National Park Service does this so more people can enjoy the beauty of Shenandoah.   

Skyland and

Big Meadows 

Since most everything in the park is along Skyline Drive, we highly recommend staying inside the park.  There are towns and plenty of lodging options just outside Shenandoah in several places, but we find it wastes time (or even worse – costs us hours of sleep) to drive back and forth.   We chose to stay at two of the “resorts” for a night each.  Both Skyland Resort (mile marker 41) and Big Meadows Lodge (mm 51) worked great for us.  Keep in mind that the National Park Service idea of a resort doesn’t match the posh paradise that some expect and they don’t come cheap.  But, it’s all about location.  And in this case, food.   At Skyland, after hiking Stony Man, we ate dinner at the Mountain Taproom.  They had a live performer on guitar who was surprisingly entertaining.  Our food was good and the craft beer was cold.  At Big Meadows, we ate in the main lodge dining room.  The roast turkey and pot roast were both excellent, but we probably would have eaten squirrel we were so hungry  We couldn’t bypass the Blackberry Ice Cream Pie which was 733 calories worth of local goodness.  I’m sure we burned more than that in the 30K+ steps we took on the day.  Maybe it was low expectations, but the food/service at both places was perfect.