Shenandoah National Park is where it all started. Not for the park service, but for our own family. When Thing 1 was in second grade, she performed in a class play about the national parks. The teacher chose that topic because her own family visited a different national park every summer. Each student researched their assigned park and recited pertinent facts to the audience. Thing 1’s park was Shenandoah.  

In keeping with that teacher’s tradition, we tried to include the national parks on as many of our trips as possible. Although Shenandoah wasn’t the first national park we took our children to visit, we did get to Shenandoah about two years later.

The Park

Founded in 1935 under FDR’s presidency, Shenandoah is laid out a bit differently than most national parks. Instead of a big circular plot of land, it’s a long strip on top of the Blue Ridge Mountains that extends from Front Royal, VA south to Rockfish Gap. The 105-mile Skyline Drive transports visitors through the total length of the park. But because the road is curvy (and scenic), it can take several hours or more to travel. Two additional entrance stations (Thornton Gap near Luray and Swift Run Gap near Elkton) are located at mile markers 31 and 65, respectively so travelers don’t have to take in the entire park at one time. 

Skyland/Big Meadows Area

The most developed areas revolve around the William Byrd Visitor Center and the Big Meadows Lodge at mile marker 51 and the Skyland Lodge at mile marker 41. Here visitors can appreciate the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) who built the lodges, picnic grounds and many of the trails from 1933-1942. 

Trails and Hiking

While Skyline Drive offers over 70 panoramic overlooks, it’s not the only way to experience the wonders of the park. Shenandoah provides over 500 miles of trails, including 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail. 

Our children were little on our first visit and not into hiking. We drove 65 miles of Skyline Drive from Front Royal to Swift Gap Run spending time at overlooks and going to Skyland Lodge.

Our recent visit occurred 8 years later and we wanted to hike a couple of shorter trails. We researched the NPS Shenandoah hiking guide here and chose Hawksbill Summit and Deep Hollow Falls. Due to unforseen events, we only were able to do the Deep Hollow Falls trail. If you can only do one trail, this is the one to do as it’s close to Big Meadows and includes a waterfall.

Deep Hollow Falls Trail

From the parking lot at mile marker 50.8, we began the moderate-rated trail down several steps. Soon it hugged a meandering stream and about 0.75-mile, the falls came into view. Even though we’d come from above, the trail only gave us a view of the 70-foot falls from the base. 

I enjoyed that this was different scenery than from Skyline Drive and it felt more interactive as we passed other hikers smiling and saying hello. The return trail gained over 400 feet in elevation. That coupled with the rocky terrain made the hike live up to its description as “short, but challenging.” Considered one of the more popular hikes, we didn’t find it too crowded on this day in early April.

Tips

• Don’t try to take in Skyline Drive in its entirity. The road is curvy and at 35 mph can take a long time. I found that the vistas started looking the same after a while.
• Try to take at least one hike just to get a different perspective of the park.
• Cell service is almost non-existent even near the William Byrd Visitor Center.
• Make sure you have enough gasoline as only three gas stations reside inside the park.
• Check opening dates. Skyline Drive is open year-round but can close due to snow or ice. The lodges and several picnic grounds don’t open until March or April and close in November.
• Park fees are $30 per car or free with an annual “America the Beautiful” NPS park pass.

For more information about Shenandoah, visit the NPS website here.