Our national park challenge barely had a chance to get off the ground before everything shut down for Covid in 2020. In August, we jumped at the chance to spend a weekend in our third national park, Shenandoah. Shenandoah is about 5 hours north of Charlotte, in northern Virginia. We booked a rental house in Massanutten and packed up our four children for a fun family road trip where we could be entirely outdoors and not need to deal with any pesky mask restrictions.
Our first stop was Natural Bridge State Park in Virginia for a picnic and a quick hike. We had a lovely day to explore an incredible natural rock formation.
The afternoon was spent making our way up toward Shenandoah, strolling through fragrant fields at White Oak Lavender Farm, and then stopping for pizza at Bella Luna in Harrisonburg.
From Harrisonburg, we drove into the park for our first glimpse of the beautiful scenery on Skyline Drive. It was about 7.30pm when we got to the Point, and sunset time wasn’t until a few minutes after 8pm. It was really an incredible experience to be on the edge of a mountain and see the sun gradually slip down behind the horizon. The girls made sketches of our view. Even though there were a few other people at The Point, it was very quiet. It seemed like everyone was whispering.
After the sunset, we drove over to Big Meadows field and had the unexpected chance to meet a few deer. There were several bucks grazing in the field who didn’t mind people getting pretty close to them! We spread our picnic blanket in the dark field and waited a few minutes until the stars came out. This particular section of the park is perfect for stargazing because there are no lights for miles and miles. Stargazing is a popular thing to do at Shenandoah, and they regularly have ranger-led nighttime events, but everything is pretty much on hold right now because of COVID so we had to make our own fun. This was one of my first stargazing experiences and it was amazing to see the sky transform. When we first got there, it just looked dark. Twenty minutes later it was filled with bright stars! We even got to see two planets, Jupiter and Saturn! Greg likes using the Skyview app to identify what we’re seeing. Note for future stargazing: bring extra blankets. It got chilly very quickly. A few of the berries had jackets but we had to pull a towel out of the car to keep the others warm.
The next morning, we tackled a “rock scramble” at Bearfence Mountain. It was only a half mile of climbing over boulders but a real challenge! I was proud of myself for making it up there at seven months pregnant (being extremely careful, of course). At one point we almost gave up, but didn’t. The view was absolutely worth it. We ate blueberry muffins at the top and enjoyed incredible views of the park.
We got our passport stamp at the Harry Byrd visitor center and hiked the Limberlost TRACK trail before lunch. This was an easy flat trail and Eva ran the entire way. I don’t know how she does it. I doubt I could run a mile right now. She has her father’s energy.
After lunch we drove into Luray to pick up coffee & coconut cream pie at Gathering Grounds and visit the famous caverns. I remember going here as a kid! The admission is pricey, but the caves are spectacular.
Our third day, we had breakfast bowls of yogurt & granola at our little cottage and watched deer through the window. Instead of rushing to get on the road, we reevaluated our plan for the day and decided to forego Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s home near Charlottesville), in favor of spending more time in Shenandoah. We hiked the Blackrock Summit trail and drove home through Lynchburg. The Blackrock trail was easily my favorite. I’d recommend it for anyone visiting the park!
In my personal opinion, Shenandoah’s Skyline Drive is much more enjoyable than the Blue Ridge Parkway! Skyline is full of gentle curves, not hairpin turns. I loved it! Shenandoah is a beautiful place and I look forward to spending more time there!
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