Along the Skyline Drive there are many highlights and places you will want to stop, get out of the car and explore. We have listed a few highlights along the drive. Some of the places you will want to explore are visitors centers, overlooks and lodging.
Dickey Ridge Visitor Center: This rustically appealing old structure straddles the narrow crest of the Blue Ridge, presenting views east and west. Take in the 12-minute introductory slide show, “Gentle Wilderness,” and learn about the Appalachian Mountain people who once lived here. Stroll the Fox Hollow Trail to the Fox Family homestead.
Hogback Overlook: When a haze doesn’t intrude, you can see the South Fork of the Shenandoah River and its many bends.
Elkwallow: The camp store and service station here are open May through October. The picnic ground is open year-round.
Thornton Gap: Panorama Restaurant, a park facility, is open from May through October. From this park entrance, descend west to the town of Luray and Luray Caverns, one of the East’s largest commercial caves. It is noted for its “stalacpipe” organ, which produces symphonic serenades from a rock formation.
Pinnacles Overlook: Skyline Drive intersects the Appalachian Trail here. Stretch your legs on a short hike north or south. You might run across hikers en route from Georgia to Maine with interesting tales to tell.
Skyland: The 177-room lodge with a restaurant is the oldest and largest of Shenandoah’s two main lodges. Occupying motel-like wings, the rooms are plain but comfortable. Many have outstanding valley views. You will find the horse stables here.
Big Meadows: The park’s other major lodge and restaurant, Big Meadows offers 25 rooms in the main building and 72 more rooms in rustic cabins. Built in 1939 of stone cut from nearby Massanutten Mountain, its interior is paneled with native chestnut, a tree now nearly extinct because of the chestnut blight. Learn more about the history of Shenandoah and Skyline Drive at the Byrd Visitor Center.
Rockytop Overlook: Take in a good view of the Big Run watershed and its wild canyon country.
Calf Mountain Overlook: Before this drive ends, enjoy a stunning 360-degree view.
Rockfish Gap: Skyline Drive ends (or begins) here on the outskirts of Waynesboro. Straight ahead is the beginning of the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway, another scenic national park route tracing the Blue Ridge south through western Virginia and North Carolina to the entrance to Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Waynesboro is about a 30-minute drive from Charlottesville, home of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello — America’s most intriguing presidential residence.
