Skyline Drive

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Front Royal

   Front Royal is the northern gateway to Skyline Drive, a small Virginia town of about fifteen thousand people in the Shenandoah Valley, where the north and south forks of the Shenandoah River meet. The Blue Ridge rises to the east, a long wall of forest that goes violet at dusk, and the main street has a mix of old brick buildings, antique shops, diners and a town green with a gazebo. It is a convenient and friendly place to prepare for the mountains.

   Read the complete Front Royal write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Front Royal is where the day begins. Next is Dickey Ridge.

2. 2. Dickey Ridge

   The north entrance to Skyline Drive is at Front Royal, and Dickey Ridge is the first stretch where the road starts to behave like a mountain road. It climbs from the Shenandoah Valley floor up the ridge, in a mix of easy curves and wooded hairpins, to the visitor centre at about mile 4.6, with the valley opening below like a green tablecloth. This is the beginning of a hundred and five miles of road along the crest of the Blue Ridge, with a speed limit of 35 mph that is kept low for the sake of the deer.

   Read the complete Dickey Ridge write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Dickey Ridge comes up about 10 km into the recorded legs. Next is Stony Man.

3. 3. Stony Man

   Stony Man is the mountain that looks like a face. Seen from the right angle, the cliffs on the summit make the profile of a bearded old man staring at the sky, and the name has stuck since long before the park. At about 1,220 metres it is the second highest peak in Shenandoah National Park, and the walk to the top is one of the easiest and most rewarding in the Blue Ridge: a short, gentle climb from the Skyland parking area, through oak and mountain laurel, to bare rock with a view over the valley.

   Read the complete Stony Man write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 73 km into the recorded legs you reach Stony Man. Next is Big Meadows.

4. 4. Big Meadows

   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.

   Read the complete Big Meadows write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Big Meadows, about halfway. Next is Swift Run Gap.

5. 5. Swift Run Gap

   Swift Run Gap is a low notch in the Blue Ridge at 720 metres, and it matters because it is where a proper road crosses the range. US 33 climbs from the Shenandoah Valley at Elkton up to the gap, meets Skyline Drive at the top and continues down the eastern side toward Stanardsville and the Virginia Piedmont. For travellers, it is a break in the long ridge drive, an entrance and an exit, and the place where you decide whether to carry on south or drop into the lowlands for the night.

   Read the complete Swift Run Gap write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Swift Run Gap sits at 211 km, late in the day. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Rockfish Gap, mostly downhill.

6. 6. Rockfish Gap

   Rockfish Gap is a low saddle in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and it has a history that outweighs its modest size. It was a natural crossing from the Piedmont to the Shenandoah Valley long before roads were built, and in the nineteenth century a turnpike and then a railway tunnel used it. Today, Interstate 64 passes through it, and it is where Skyline Drive ends and the Blue Ridge Parkway begins, so the gap is a kind of hinge between two of the great scenic roads of the eastern United States.

   Read the complete Rockfish Gap write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 179 km.