Skyline Drive (page 3 of 5)

Points 9-12

9. Crescent Rock Overlook
An easier way to reach Crescent Rock Overlook is to take Skyline Drive to mile 44.4. As the drive continues south, Hawksbill Mountain, the highest point in the park, looms to the west. At mile 46.7 (the Upper Hawksbill parking area), a one-mile trail leads to the 4,051-foot-tall summit. The reward that awaits visitors there is threefold: a panoramic view of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which fade into rolling farmland to the west and green hills to the east; a glimpse of a high-elevation forest dominated by balsam firs and rare red spruces; and the best vantage point in the park for spotting broad-winged hawks and other birds of prey during their annual fall migration.

10. Dark Hollow Falls
Continuing south on Skyline Drive, the road winds through a hardwood forest before reaching the Dark Hollow Falls parking area at mile 50.7. There a short but steep trail leads to the head of the falls -- a series of gurgling cascades that drop 70 feet through a wooded ravine. Among the falls' admirers was Thomas Jefferson, who was so fond of this region that when he built his home, Monticello (located a bit to the east of the park near Charlottesville), he was careful not to let any of its outbuildings block his view of the mountains.

11. Big Meadows
Wide-open spaces are rare in this densely forested region, so this 150-acre clearing offers a surprising change of scenery. Situated high on the ridges of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Big Meadows has been level for several centuries. Indians and, later, settlers are believed to have burned the area regularly to make it a better hunting ground and pastureland. The National Park Service has adopted a similar strategy -- a combination of mowing and controlled burning -- to preserve the historic site and provide wildlife habitat.

While tall trees are conspicuously absent from the landscape, several hundred types of wildflowers thrive in the area's swampy wetlands and surrounding fields -- in fact, Big Meadows has the greatest concentration of wildflowers in Shenandoah National Park. Guided tours of this botanical bounty are usually offered on the second weekend in May, when the park hosts its annual Wildflower Weekend.

Although the big meadow has no designated trails, visitors are free to explore. As you wander about, you may spot white-tailed deer (about 6,000 live in the park), groundhogs, gray foxes, and numerous other critters. On spring evenings male woodcocks perform flamboyant feats of aerobatics during their courtship flights.

12. South River Overlook
On the way to South River Falls, the big blue sky suddenly seems much smaller as it plays hide-and-seek through a canopy of oaks and hickories. Each season, this area -- like the rest of the park -- stages a brand-new extravaganza. In springtime the air is sweetened by the scent of azaleas and other flowers and by the melodies of woodland birds, including warblers, wrens, thrushes, and seven kinds of woodpeckers.

By summer, nature's canvas is no longer speckled with soft pastels but covered by a great green blanket. Come autumn, the canvas is ablaze with dazzling hues of orange, yellow, and red. When winter finally arrives, Shenandoah becomes a virtual still life, its rhythms as slow as the icy waterfalls that whisper from afar.

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