Rockfish Gap is a low saddle in the Blue Ridge above Waynesboro, Virginia, and it is one of the great meeting points of American motorcycling. Here, on the crest of the ridge, the Skyline Drive ends its 105-mile run south through Shenandoah National Park, and the Blue Ridge Parkway begins its 469-mile journey south to the Great Smoky Mountains. Interstate 64 crosses the gap too, along with the Appalachian Trail, and on a summer weekend you will see riders from every state stopping for photos at the milepost zero sign.
The views are wide in both directions. To the west lies the Shenandoah Valley, a broad green valley of farms and small towns between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghenies, and to the east the land falls away to the rolling Piedmont, towards Charlottesville and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. On the ridge just south of the gap stands Swannanoa, a white marble mansion built in 1912 by a wealthy businessman in the style of an Italian villa, a strange and striking sight in the forest.
The two roads are made for slow, scenic riding. The Skyline Drive has a speed limit of 35 miles per hour, an entrance fee for the national park, and more than seventy overlooks, with views over the valley and the mountains, and black bears and deer are common along the road. The Blue Ridge Parkway has a limit of 45, no commercial traffic and no billboards, and it winds along the crest with gentle curves and wide views. Both roads are often closed in winter when snow and ice cover them, and fog is frequent on the ridge, sometimes so thick you can barely see the road. A few kilometres south on the Parkway, Humpback Rocks has an old farmstead and a steep trail to a rocky summit with a great view.
Fuel is the practical issue. There are very few fuel stations on the Skyline Drive and none directly on the Parkway, so you need to leave the road to fill up. Waynesboro, just below the gap, has fuel, food and services, and it is wise to fill up here before heading south or north. Afton, on the eastern side, has a few places to eat.
Spring, with wildflowers and dogwood, and autumn, with the hardwood forests ablaze in red and gold, are the best seasons. Fill the tank, grab a coffee, and choose your direction.