Favorite Road

Skyline Drive

This week Mersad asks us, "What is your favorite road or street from your town?" I puzzled over the question for a while and started scrolling through pictures when it jumped out at me: Skyline Drive! It doesn't exactly run through our town, but it starts at the Front Royal's southern town boundary.  The town shares several miles of boundary with Shenandoah National Park. Long distance hikers on the Appalachian Trail walk through town all the time, picking up supplies or enjoying a restaurant meal and perhaps even a hotel room with hot showers.

The first overlook on Skyline Drive (if you enter at the northern entry gate) provides a view of part of town.

The drive runs 105 miles, the length of Shenandoah National Park. It is known for it's scenic beauty and recreational opportunities, particularly hiking. It is primarily a park road, not a commuter route. The speed limit is 35 miles per hour, with slower limits at sharp curves and busy recreational areas. 

The overlooks are popular and just about everyone stops to take a picture. I have hundreds of pictures taken along the drive, maybe thousands. Since I have a senior pass to enter National Parks, I am able to go up on the drive often. Usually I visit the northern section because it is close to home.

We are privileged to be able to live in such a beautiful area.

Sharing with Weekend Green and Scenic Weekends

Orange You Glad It's Friday?

The final photo is from March and I took it from Strasburg. I want to show it to you because the snow reveals the road cuts along Skyline Drive. See the white lines on the mountain?  Those are snow-covered rocks which were cut and blasted when the Drive was constructed in the 1930's.

I have looked out from one of the overlooks, most likely on one of those white lines that you see here, and have seen a line of buildings in Strasburg in the far distance. The line is vague and usually hazy, but pictures I took on a clear day can be enlarged until I make out the shape of a hotel that I recognize. It's not very far from the Denny's parking lot where I took this picture. Anyway, those lines show you where Skyline Drive runs along the Blue Ridge. This is just a small portion of the road; my guess is that it is part of the first seven miles. Around milepost 8 the road crosses to the east side of the mountain for about 6 miles.  After that it twists and turns in various directions and I lose track, but you can't get lost on the road because access is limited.

Did I tell you I love Skyline Drive? I've visited it many times starting when my parents took me there as a child. We lived in Northern Virginia and it was an easy day trip. Now it's so close I go up just to have a snack, take in a few views, and listen to the wind.

Buck at Pinnacles Picnic Area

It's nice to live within a one-hour drive of Shenandoah National Park because it's a great place to visit! Recently we went there on the spur of the moment but soon discovered that Skyline Drive was mostly shrouded in thick clouds. We had to drive slowly and could not see the views.

I've found that picnic areas are good places to view wildlife because critters like to eat food scraps left by picnickers. I drove slowly through the picnic grounds at Pinnacles and there in the mist was this magnificent deer. Frank took some pictures from the car and then I got out and took a few more before the deer trotted away.

We left Pinnacles and continued north towards our exit at Panorama. In just a few minutes we left the clouds and saw some pretty views. Frank said this section has the best views on the Drive.

View from Buck Hollow Overlook

You might also like:

• Young Deer at Dickey Ridge Picnic Area
• Deer Beside the Road
• View from Skyline Drive
• More Photos from Skyline Drive

And on another site: Mile by Mile Guide to Skyline Drive

Various Views of Skyline Drive

The town of Luray is known as a tourist town near Skyline Drive. It's also known for it's caverns and it's murals. This mural next to the scooter store shows a cyclist enjoying Skyline Drive. Since the lower right corner is obscured by a rail, I photographed it separately so you can see the road sign and a faded signature next to a star.

Sharing with Monday Murals

I love Skyline Drive and it's not far from home so I visit there often. I've posted many pictures from there and I have many more — more than I can ever show you. Here's a few I combined on PhotoCollage. Now I can clear them out of my to-do folders and link up to Mosaic Monday.

Skyline Drive is the scenic road that runs the length of Shenandoah National Park, one of my favorite places.

Click to see a larger version. 

November Evening, Skyline Drive

Yesterday started out rainy but became sunny and warm by the afternoon. Temperatures were in the 70's (Fahrenheit), which felt hot for November. We went to Luray and drove up to Skyline Drive from there. The park was closing early, at 5 PM, to reduce illegal hunting. A ranger told us we had time to drive north to the Front Royal exit before they closed the gates. We did stop briefly to capture some irresistible photos.

We saw at least a dozen deer. It's their mating season so we had to drive carefully as they get distracted and forget about the dangers of the road.

We drove through some clouds, which is not unusual in the mountains. One minute you're on a clear road and the next minute you're in deep fog! When the clouds parted, we saw some lovely views.

I have over 60 blog entries tagged deer, many of them with pictures taken from Skyline Drive. If you've never been here, well, you should come! The Drive runs the length of Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. It was designed to be scenic and it certainly succeeded!

Sharing with Orange You Glad It's Friday

and Skywatch Friday and Scenic Weekends

A Quick and Colorful Week

How can it be Saturday already? The days are flying by. Well, I have some more pictures from Skyline Drive to share, but first here is a picture of Charlie, with a colorful filter from Picsart.

The colors of autumn are in their glory in the mountains. I went up to Skyline Drive twice this week. On Tuesday, I invited Deborah and Frank to go with me because they had expressed an interest in doing so. She brought her cute dog along. 

We entered Skyline Drive at Thornton Gap and drove south to route 33, where we exited. The skies were clear and the views were colorful.

On Thursday, I had a dental appointment in Front Royal, the town at the northern end of Shenandoah National Park. I have a National Parks pass, so I couldn’t resist going back up on Skyline Drive again. I covered the northern section of the park this time, exiting at Thornton Gap. 

I ate lunch in the picnic area at Dickey Ridge, and then continued south. The tulip poplars were in their golden glory at Low Gap, and I took way too many pictures. I won’t bore you with all of them, since I have featured them on my blog several times in the past. 

A few miles south of there, I saw deer beside the road in spite of it being busy with autumn tourists. I pulled into the parking lot at Jenkins Gap, and spotted a buck browsing nearby. He did not run off when I quietly got out of the car to take pictures. He moved away and then returned, looking at me curiously

Thank you, Mr. Buck, for trusting me and posing. 

I continued my journey, but I’m going to stop this post here because my eyes are getting tired, and for all I know, maybe yours are too.

Snowy Views from Skyline Drive

 Shenandoah National Park

Yesterday I had a dental appointment in Front Royal. Afterwards, I checked to see if Skyline Drive was open. The National Park website said it was still closed due to snow and ice. I went to several stores and then had lunch. As I was leaving Wendy's, a text came through saying that Skyline Drive had just reopened from Front Royal to Swift Run. All right! Fifteen minutes later I was at the entrance station.

Two other cars arrived at the same time. The park ranger commented that it looked like we all got the message. He checked my pass and handed me the winter newsletter.

It was already 3 o’clock, so not many other people showed up. I didn’t have much time because I needed to get back to Woodstock by five to pick up Charlie from day boarding. I set my phone to remind me to leave at four.

The visitors center at Dickey Ridge is closed for winter. I noticed that the roof replacement has not been finished. No doubt there have been many days that workers could not even get there due to the weather. Skyline Drive is mostly a recreational road, so it does not get plowed as quickly as commuter routes, plus storms tend be severe up there in the mountains. There are usually branches and trees down on the road after a storm. 

Skywatch

View Toward High Knob and Remount Road

I only drove as far as Gooney Manor Overlook, but I felt satisfied. 

I turned around and headed back toward Front  Royal. I passed deer on Dickey Ridge and took quite a few pictures. I’ll share more of them later, probably on Saturday. 

A Skyline Drive Overlook

I've always enjoyed Skyline Drive! It runs along the crest of the Blue Ridge in Shenandoah National Park from Front Royal to Rockfish Gap where it connects to the also-beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway.

There are plenty of overlooks where you can pull off and take in the view.

Sometimes I miss the old CCC-built stone walls. They had a romantic naturalness to them, but for safety reasons they have been replaced with stronger walls made of concrete covered in a stone veneer.

Links:

• Skyline Drive Historic District (PDF)
• The CCC - FDR's Forest Army

On this blog: 

• Posts about Skyline Drive
• Posts about the FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps
• Blue Ridge Parkway

February at Jewell Hollow Overlook

Shenandoah National Park
 at Mile 36.5 on Skyline Drive

Jewell Hollow Overlook offers spectacular views. There are two parking areas, and the Appalachian Trail is nearby.

Notice the rock wall. Now let's see what that sign says.

If These Walls Could Talk

"The hand-cut walls have stories to tell for those willing to listen."
Reed Engle, The Greatest Single Feature… A Sky-line Drive 

May 15, 1933 saw the first Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps established in Shenandoah at Skyland and Big Meadows. Young, strong men were now available to help turn the dream of Skyline Drive into reality. Under the leadership of National Park Service landscape architects, CCC enrollees and engineers helped build Skyline Drive's stone walls and overlooks, including the one where you stand now—Jewell Hollow.

As you drive through Shenandoah National Park, you'll see plenty of the fruits of the CCC's labor—re-placed boulders, graded slopes, and transplanted trees and shrubs. While much of the boys' work blends seamlessly with the natural landscape, the walls stand out as visible testament to the quality and permanence of the CCC's work.

Wall Construction

In the 1930s stone walls in Shenandoah National Park were built in two styles of masonry: dry-laid and ashlar. Dry-laid walls, like those here at Jewell Hollow Overlook, could be built by less-experienced stone workers, like the young men of the CCC, since they require only moving and aligning heavy stones—more muscle than skill. Mortared ashlar masonry walls require more expertise and had to be built by experienced masons.

Sharing with Fences Around the World 

and Little Things Thursday.