Shenandoah National Park
Virginia
Shenandoah National Park
Overall, we mostly enjoyed our time here! This is the kind of park that you can easily do in a day and see a lot of beautiful views and nature. You can also plan to spend a few days here for a more in-depth exploration of all the many trails the park has to offer. We only did a day trip through the park and that felt like a great experience for us. We spent most of the day in the park, but we did leave for a few hours to visit Luray Caverns a few miles outside of the park! I highly recommend a side trip to the Luray Caverns if you are in the area! It was so amazing and full of awe and wonder! (Check out my page for Luray Caverns for pictures and more information.) We spent most of our time just taking the Skyline Drive and then pulling off to stop at the numerous look out points. Each spot had a name for it and usually a sign with information as to what you were looking at or the significance of the area.
We stopped for lunch and souvenirs at the Loft Mountain Wayside. It was a nice little spot to take a break from driving and grab a bite to eat. The food wasn’t anything special, but nice to have the option of a restaurant without leaving the Park. There was a small bathroom with indoor plumbing. It was nice to clean up after lunch with running water. They had all the usual souvenirs, and we got our fill and checked out the information signs outside before getting back in the car.
Honestly speaking though after a while, the views all started to feel the same and by the end of the day we definitely felt like we had seen all we needed to see. That said I’m sure the various hiking trails are full of many beautiful sights! One noteworthy experience was being able to see the moon rise on one side of the mountains while the sun was setting on the other side! If you plan the timing right it is worth seeing! We had to see this at two different lookout points, but it was neat to be able to catch both events! The colors were incredible! We also were fortunate to see some deer up-close as the sun was setting. It was awesome being able to see them up close. They weren’t spooked by our presence in the car, so we got to watch them for quite a while!
Overall, it isn’t the most spectacular of the National Parks, but it was worth the experience!
