Our first National Park trip together was to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Shenandoah is in the Blue Ridge Mountains and has the famous Skyline Drive, part of the Blue Ridge Parkway that travels 105 miles from the most northern point of Front Royal to Rockfish Gap. We have traveled on Skyline Drive on two previous occasions together- once after Gabby’s cousins wedding, and another on our way back from a triathlon. Both times were amazing, stopping at many scenic overlooks along the drive, but we had not done much more exploring than just driving through. This time we were going for a long weekend with Gabby’s co-worker and her dog. We decided to stay within the park at the Skyland Lodge. We looked forward to getting to do some hiking and seeing more of the sights that the park has to offer.
Unfortunately, our visit did not have the greatest weather for the scenic overlooks, but the weather was great for hiking. For the beginning of June, it was in the mid-70’s with some rain, and lots of fog.
Our first day included getting to the park, which was about a 3 hour drive, and once there we decided to find a place to have a cookout. We stopped at Dickey Ridge Visitor Center, close to the Front Royal park entrance, and cooked up some hot dogs and potatoes with garlic and herbs. After stretching out legs and filling our bellies, we checked into our room at Skyland, and went for an evening hike from the lodge along the Passamaquoddy Trail, and looped back along the Appalachian Trail to the resort. The trail stopped at the Little Stoney Man Overlook, which unfortunately was extremely foggy and had poor visibility. The trail went alongside some pretty neat rockface and we did get the occasional slightly clear space to see the mountains. The end of the hike saw some significant rain as it was getting dark. Overall 2.8 miles and 600 feet of elevation. We got back to the room and headed out to Walmart to get some supplies for meals for the next few days.
Day 2 started early with an attempt at seeing the sunrise at Thorofare Mountain Overlook. Unfortunately, we were in for another cloudy, foggy day. We took advantage of being awake early to go to Hawksbill Gap, which gets rather busy as the day goes on. We did the Hawksbill Loop, starting on the A.T., then the Salamander Trail to the Hawksbill Observation Platform, to the Lower Hawksbill Trail to complete the loop. It was a 2.9 mile circuit with 860 feet of elevation. Luckily, the clouds were moving quickly and we were able to see some of the mountain ranges from the overlook. After exploring some of the overlooks along Skyline Drive, visiting the Big Meadows Visitors Center, getting our cancellations for our passports (which we both forgot our books) and having some lunch (PB &J for the win!) we decided on our 2nd hike of the day, the Rose River Loop Trail. This trail would bring us along a stream and a few waterfalls, over a bridge, and was a bit more elevation than we were expecting! 3.8 miles and 800 feet of elevation, plus some extra elevation for a few rock scrambles to get some photos. . . The trail was pretty, but we all were feeling the fatigue kick in toward the last bit of the ascent, especially in the 19-20% grade sections. We were extremely happy to meet up with the Rose River Fire Road that was relatively flat in comparison, especially after thinking we had missed the trail and were in the middle of nowhere! We headed over to Pinnacles rest stop to make some much needed dinner- grilled salmon foil packets with lemon zest and roasted green peppers, and we may or may not have enjoyed a Virginia IPA to go along with it. After dinner we stopped at Stony Man Overlook to attempt to see the sunset, but again, too foggy to see much. Overall, a very tiring, but awesome day, we climbed the equivalent of 90+ flights of stairs in total and over 7 miles hiked.
Day 3 we woke up to an extremely foggy morning, and decided to leave the park at a reasonable time, seeing that we couldn’t see 10 feet in front of the car. It was quite an experience to be in such intense fog, and the overlooks appeared to just have a white sheet 5 feet in front of you. As we reached the Front Royal Entrance, the fog seemed to let up a little (most likely due to being in a lower elevation). We stopped at the entrance sign to get the obligatory photos, and then set out on the road back toward WV. We stopped at Blackwater Falls, where the weather was surprisingly nice. We saw the Blackwater Falls Overlook, and went on a short hike (in comparison to the previous day!) along the Elakala Trail.
Overall, it was a great trip to Shenandoah. We got to explore some trails, do some great hiking, and even eat pretty good! We will have to visit another time when we can get some good sunrises and sunsets. This would be an amazing park to see in the fall as well!
~GW
America the Beautiful Pass Total: $30
Bill and Gab’s Excellent Adventure 