Blue Ridge Parkway: Shenandoah Rockfish Gap to Doughton Park

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Shenandoah Rockfish Gap

   Rockfish Gap is a mountain pass in name only, a low saddle in the Blue Ridge where Interstate 64, the town of Waynesboro, and two of the most famous scenic roads in America all meet. To the north runs Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park, and to the south the Blue Ridge Parkway begins its long, curving journey, about 470 miles in all, toward the Great Smoky Mountains.

   Read the complete Shenandoah Rockfish Gap write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Shenandoah Rockfish Gap is where the day begins. Next is Peaks of Otter.

2. 2. Peaks of Otter

   Three rounded summits stand out of the Virginia Blue Ridge here, and the Parkway slides in beneath them beside a small lake that mirrors the lot. Sharp Top is the pointed one, at around 1,150 metres, with a bare rock crown that you can reach on foot or by a seasonal shuttle bus; Flat Top is slightly higher and, true to its name, flatter; Harkening Hill makes up the trio. The Peaks of Otter area is one of the most loved stops on the whole Blue Ridge Parkway, and it is easy to see why, because the setting is compact, green and calm in a way many bigger overlooks are not.

   Read the complete Peaks of Otter write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Peaks of Otter comes up about 126 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mabry Mill.

3. 3. Mabry Mill

   Mabry Mill is the most photographed spot on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and with good reason. At milepost 176, the old red mill with its great wooden water wheel stands beside a millpond, framed by rhododendron and maple, and in autumn the reflection of the colours in the water is a postcard in itself. Edwin Boone Mabry built the mill in the early 1900s, using a gristmill, a sawmill and a blacksmith shop to serve his neighbours, and it stayed in use until the 1930s. Today the buildings are preserved by the National Park Service, and in the summer costumed demonstrators grind corn and work the forge.

   Read the complete Mabry Mill write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 287 km into the recorded legs you reach Mabry Mill. Next is Doughton Park.

4. 4. Doughton Park

   Doughton Park is a high, open stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway where the forest gives way to long grassy balds and the whole of the North Carolina Piedmont seems to lie below you. It is the biggest recreation area on the northern half of the Parkway, with an altitude of roughly 1,000 to 1,200 metres, and it is named for Robert Doughton, a congressman from the area known as Muley Bob, who helped push the Parkway through Congress in the 1930s. The Parkway itself, built between 1935 and 1987, is the longest linear park in the United States, a ribbon of road that follows the crest of the southern Appalachians for nearly 470 miles.

   Read the complete Doughton Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Doughton Park closes the day.