After miles of dense forest, Big Meadows is a surprise: a wide, open grassland on the ridge, at about 1,100 metres, where deer graze in the evening and the sky opens up. It is one of the few places on the Blue Ridge where the trees give way, and the reason is not entirely natural. The meadow is thought to have been kept open for centuries by fire, set by Native peoples and later by settlers who grazed cattle, and the park now maintains it with controlled burns and mowing to keep the forest from creeping back. In late summer the blueberries and wildflowers are a draw, and the deer are astonishingly relaxed.
Big Meadows is the busiest hub on Skyline Drive, with a lodge, a campground, a visitor centre named for Harry Byrd, a wayside with food and a shop. It also has a human history worth a short detour: Rapidan Camp, the fishing retreat President Herbert Hoover built in the Blue Ridge in the late 1920s, lies a few miles off, and the camp is open to visitors in season. Hoover paid for it himself and gave it to the park afterwards.
For riders, the drive here is smooth and civilised, with gentle bends and a limit of 35 mph, enough for a pleasant, steady pace. The weather can change fast: fog sits on the ridge for days at a time, and thunderstorms in summer arrive with little warning. In autumn the colour is intense, and the road is crowded, with a procession of cars crawling between overlooks. Midweek and early morning are the best times. Winter closes the road in storms and sometimes for weeks.
Stanley, about seven kilometres off the ridge, and Luray, further, have year-round fuel and food, and Harrisonburg to the south-west is the nearest big town. The park entry fee is paid at the gate, and cell signal is thin. If you have time, walk out into the meadow at dusk, when the deer come out and the light is long, and listen to the insects. It is one of the quiet pleasures of the drive.