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Shenandoah National Park lies amid the Blue Ridge mountains divided by Skyline Drive which travels 105 miles through the park.  The Appalachian Trail runs across the ridge of Shenandoah's mountains 101 miles to the west of the Drive and there are another 400 miles of trails in the park of varying difficulty.

Shenandoah is a beautiful park nestled in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains.  Native Americans named the park Shenandoah for "daughter of the stars" because of the park's sixty peaks covering eighty miles of hardwood, pine, and meadows of wildflowers. 

Shenandoah was once farmland and since the 1700s was logged.  The farmers were moved and resettled outside the park and it has since bounced back so the marks of the logging and farming are no longer seen.

Shenandoah has something for everyone.  Hikers and backpackers find natural habitats everywhere they look, trout fishers have more than twenty-five stream to explore and riders can rent horses for certain trails.  However, everyone enjoys the abundant wildlife:  the park has deer, black bears, and wild turkeys, beautiful mountain vistas enshrouded in fog, and clean, clear lakes.

 In addition to its oak-hickory forest the wildflowers when in season along the Drive and trails are  most beautiful in the fall when the mountains and forest turn red and gold.

Visitor information & Headquarters

Shenandoah is open year-round.  The park headquarters can be reached at 540-999-3500.  The visitors' center in the north is located at Dickey Ridge and mid-way through the park at Big Meadow.  the visitors' centers are open from March through November.
 

http://www.nps.gov/shen/index.htm

How to Get There

Shenandoah  has 4 major entrances:

1. North - Front Royal Entrance

Take I-66 west to US 340 then head south to the entrance

2. South - Rockfish Gap Entrance

I-64 goes directly to the entrance

3. Middle - Thornton Gap Entrance

Take US 211 west through Luray which will go directly to the entrance.  If you are approaching from the west, use US 33 east to the Swift Run Gap entrance.

Airports:

The closest airport is Dulles International in Washington DC.  You can also use the Charlottesville airport.

When to Go

Shenandoah gets over 2 million visitors a year, almost half a million of them go in the fall to see the foliage changes in October.  Most facilities close in the winter.