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Shenandoah National Park

Streams, stars and the shelter of forests

By Scott Richardson

June 24^th, 2020

My cat always wants to be the tallest one in the room. He jumps on top of my office chair and interrupts my video calls. He used to balance himself on the wooden ceiling beams above my in-law’s living room. He insists on shrugging his low height for a better view.

Shenandoah feels a lot like that. Driving along Skyline Drive, which hugs the backbone of the Blue Ridge Mountains, gives you a high angle view of all of the life below. Forests blanket the hillsides, and rock outcrops dot the landscape.

I first visited Shenandoah in September 2019 on a quick visit to scout out good locations for when the peak colors of fall foliage hit a month later. Unfortunately, life got busy and I never made it to see the leaves.

After failed attempts to quell my cabin fever after the coronavirus quaratine, I made a split decision to spend a weekend in Shenandoah. With rain in the forecast, I anticipated the crowds would stay away making it easy to social distance.

Shenandoah National Park

Experience Shenandoah

Experience Shenandoah National Park just like I did. Explore the forests, waterfalls, cliffs and fog-filled valleys. Use your mouse or phone to rotate the frame, or use a VR headset to feel like you’re there.

Shenandoah is an easily accessible park, just 75 miles away from Washington DC. From my home in suburban Philadelphia, it’s a short 3.5-hour drive to the north entrance. Skyline Drive, the park’s main feature, weaves through the forested mountains for more than 105 miles. 75 overlooks provide a glimpse of the vast scenery: mountains rising up in all directions, small towns dotting the valleys below, craggy rock edges, and wildflowers in the spaces in between.

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

On my first day in the park, the fog rolled in and obscured the expansive views that can normally be seen from the roadside overlooks. Rain alternated between a sprinkle and a downpour, but I came prepared with waterproof gear and headed out for a hike.

The forest floor has an incredible array of small details: moss, ferns, and mushrooms grow on and around branches that fell victim to winter storms. Mountain laurel bloomed bright and pink at eye-level giving a nice contrast to the otherwise monochromatic palette of green.

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Since this was a spur of the moment trip, I had no plans or expectations. I had no way to be disappointed as I had no to-do list to check off. So, when I felt like hiking and the parking at a trailhead appeared mostly empty, I parked the car and hit the trail.

The rain continued to fall as I arrived at Dark Hollow Falls, a typically busy trail that had only a few visitors on the day I visited. The short trail follows a branch of the Rose River as it cascades down a 70-foot drop in several sections. Mossy rocks along the river made me feel like I was on the Olympic Peninsula and not Virginia.

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

I climbed down to a rocky overlook and watched the sunset with a few strangers. Each of us had stumbled on the way down, so we felt empathy for a hiker who arrived bloodied. Between the three of us, he managed to find bandages, alcohol wipes, and water to clean his cuts.

As the sun dipped lower toward the horizon, the mountains took on their namesake blue tone and the sky dazzled in oranges, pinks, and purples above.

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Prior to making the trip, I had been watching the weather in hopes of clear skies. My initial plan for the weekend was to head up to Cherry Springs in Pennsylvania, or down to Assateague Island in Maryland to enjoy the dark skies and a view of the milky way. No matter how many times I refreshed Dark Sky, it always reported a cloudy sky throughout the weekend. Still feeling the urge to get out of the house, I decided on Shenandoah as I could swap my nighttime stargazing for daytime romps through the forest instead.

I lucked out on getting a campsite near the Big Meadows in the middle of the park, a central location that I looked forward to exploring from in the morning. When dusk faded into twilight, I looked up from my camp chair to see what I thought was a cloudy sky with just a glimpse of a few dim stars. It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the darkness and realize that the clouds had started to clear and that much of what obstructed my view was smoke from nearby campfires.

I hopped in the car and drove a few minutes to the meadows, then walked along the dark road in search of something that could help illustrate the place where I was under the starry night sky. I found a tree dimly lit from a building across the street and snapped off a few photos. When my eyes had fully adjusted, I marveled as the milky way came into view.

When I wrapped up my photos, I collapsed my tripod and flipped on my headlamp for the walk back to the car. The light didn’t carry very far, but it caught the reflection of two eyes staring back at me from underneath the tree I had just photographed. Traveling alone at night, I’ve adopted the mantra that every pair of eyes in the dark belongs to a bear, but in reality, it was probably just a deer.

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

The next morning, I lazily rolled out of my sleeping bag, made some camp coffee, and hit the road. My plan for the day was the same as the one before: no real plans, no expectations. I also had no cell signal, so I had to guess the difficulty and reward of each trail I stopped at.

I scrambled up some rocks, gave my camera a nice new scar in the process, and enjoyed a 360-degree view of the mountains below at the top of one of the trails. Soon after, the fog rolled in and covered the valleys once again and told me it was time to climb down. As I descended, the fog swept into the forest creating an ethereal scene as it traveled through the trees.

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park

After exploring Shenandoah a little more than I had previously, I kicked myself for not making the drive down sooner. Having lived only a few hours away for 11 years, I truly can’t believe it never made it higher on my to-do list. The road winds through a series of magical views, but the wilderness of the forest and meadows transport you to an entirely different landscape, full of tiny details to analyze and enjoy. While I may have pledged a return visit last year, I’ve already booked a campsite for my next visit in a few months.

Shenandoah National Park

© 2026 Scott Richardson

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