A turkey vulture suddenly rose from the middle of Skyline Drive, about 20 feet from my front bumper. The creature was cutting it pretty close, obviously reluctant to leave the road. Maybe it had found a meal, or a nice spot of warm asphalt to relieve the morning chill.
I was startled — but mesmerized at the same time. The creature’s wings swam easily through the air, spreading wide enough to cover almost half the lane. In flight, I realized, a vulture sheds its ugly aspect and soars like an eagle, a big eagle.
Occasional wildlife sightings are a bonus on the 105-mile highway that lopes along the scenic ridge designated as Shenandoah National Park. Pleasant landscape is the primary attraction, but deer fearlessly roam near the parking lots, and vultures reap the benefits of road kill.
It’s a slice of the Blue Ridge Mountains with the Shenandoah River valley on the west and the rolling hills of the Piedmont out to the east, as far as the eye can see. Most people visit the park the way I did on the Day of the Vulture, using Skyline as a lovely scenic route from Front Royal on the north to Rockfish Gap, near Waynesboro, on the south. Or vice versa.
To geologists, the mountains tell the story of granite uplift, volcanic activity, sediment buildup, glacial carving and erosion during the last billion years or so. Naturalists like the way conditions of weather, geography and plant ecology have combined to create a mountain forest of the sort that might have covered most of the East before lumberjacks and farmers came along. Visitors love the beauty of it all, now that the National Park Service has allowed the oaks, hickories and more than 1,500 other plant species to return. And wildlife has found another home, protecting snails, woodpeckers, owls, black bears, bobcats and vultures alike.
Experts disagree on the origin of the name. Most likely, it came from the Iroquois Skahentowane, meaning “great meadow.” Several tribes over hundreds of years did settle in the area to hunt, fish and harvest wild berries. European immigrants began taking an interest by the middle of the 17th Century, and the early white settlers tried everything they could think of to eke out a living in the Blue Ridge Mountains. They took any lumber that the rocky terrain made accessible. They farmed the valleys, turned the meadows into feedlots for cattle, mined for copper and quarried granite.
A chestnut blight in the 1920s wiped out the most profitable trees. Thin soil at the higher elevations made farming difficult. The hard times coincided with a general desire to create a national park in the South. Three sites eventually were chosen: Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, Great Smokies in Tennessee and North Carolina, Shenandoah in northwestern Virginia.
President Herbert Hoover had a cabin in the area. He and many others believed the ridge would make a wonderful site for a scenic highway. George Pollock, owner of the Skyland resort and 5,000 acres on and around the ridge, led a campaign for national-park status. Some 24,000 Virginians contributed more than $1 million for land acquisition, and the state government put up another million.
Parks out West had been easier to create. Most were on federal lands of fantastic natural beauty and they could simply be designated off-limits to homesteaders. The East was already heavily settled and privately owned, so the creation of a park meant purchasing land outright, exercising powers of eminent domain, perhaps allowing scattered families to live out their lives on the new parkland before leveling their buildings.
The process began in 1924. In 1935, national park status became official, although Skyline Drive was well under way before then. In 1939, the highway was complete and would link up with the Blue Ridge Parkway to the south, providing hundreds of miles of scenic driving.
The turkey vulture and I were beneficiaries of that effort. We met abruptly, and then in a few seconds we went our separate ways. The bird no doubt felt annoyed. I considered myself privileged to have seen it.
In my car or on the upper hiking trails, I could sense a primal freedom, as if I were soaring above the valleys and the mountain passes and that blue haze far below. At 3,680 feet — the highest point — I could explore the country around Skyland, where lodges and a large dining room command a view of towns and farms in exquisite miniature, and footpaths lead to raw nature.
It was spring, and the leaves formed light green and yellow tufts, although in many places the annual growth cycle had been delayed (perhaps forever) by a devastating February ice storm. In Shenandoah, the ice damaged hundreds of thousands of trees.
Assistant superintendent Connie Rudd said she had no idea how many of the victims would survive. “It depends on each individual tree, how badly they were damaged,” she told me. “That’s one thing our forest ecologists are really going to be monitoring. It might help them understand what that kind of damage will do in the future. We don’t know.”
Ranger Lyn Rothgeb said she understood there may be a bit of good news in all the devastation, even though at the time we spoke, fallen limbs still blocked the southern half of Skyline Drive. (Everything in the park opened by May 29.) “A lot of our forest has grown up all the same size,” Rothgeb noted. “Our forest ecology people say that when some of those trees are weeded out, it gives the other trees an opportunity to grow bigger and it also gives new growth an opportunity to start.” Such a mixed-growth forest would be healthier, the experts believe.
Still, despite the ice wreckage, I saw flowers everywhere. The redbud and dogwood trees were in bloom, as were mountain laurel, hepatica and serviceberry. Leaves on the healthy trees showed a verdant strength.
A first-time visitor to the park this summer probably would wonder how all those hardwood trees would look in the fall.
“A lot of people come to see the trees in September and October,” a park ranger told a browser in the Skyland gift shop. “The trees look real good that time of year, and if you’ve never seen the colors in New England, they look great.”
I left the car and walked down a trail leading toward Dark Hollow Falls, a trek of less than a mile shared with lots of people. Bare, fallen branches rendered the scene more dramatic, as if that portion of the Rose River plunged downhill and caused it all — so much damage from such a small stream!
Of course, the busy little stream had nothing to do with it. The ice came from heavy rain passing through a layer of warm air and landing in the freezing temperatures that had settled along the ridge, forcing thousands of trees to bear an impossible burden of ice.
During my days in Shenandoah National Park, I came to appreciate its return to nature after so many years as cropland and pasture. The highway and the visitor facilities take up only 4 percent of its 300 square miles. The regeneration process has been so complete that, in 1976, Congress designated two-fifths of the park as wilderness, putting an end to any further human encroachments on those areas.
Yet there are human comforts regularly spaced all along Skyline Drive: dining rooms, picnic and camping grounds, lodges, stores, interpretive centers.
At Big Meadows, where a large complex of services caters to visitors, about 130 acres are kept clear. Lightning fires originally may have wiped out that part of the forest. The first people to arrive may have kept the land open by torching it, thereby trapping animals for food, luring grazing deer within range of hunters and providing a home for berry shrubs. Mountaineers later used Big Meadows as a pasture for cattle.
Of course, Big Meadows is not the only evidence that a scattered community once occupied the ridge. Foundations and a few chimneys remain standing in parts of the back country. Several cemeteries remind us of past settlements.
At the Pocosin Fire Road, precisely 59.5 miles from the park’s northern entrance, I parked the car and walked part way toward the ruins of an old Episcopal church and mission. This time I had the trail to myself, and near the beginning of its two miles, it crossed the fabled Appalachian Trail. The 2,155-mile “A.T.,” as hikers call it, runs nearly parallel to Skyline Drive for most of the drive’s length and crosses it 32 times.
On foot, I crossed the Appalachian Trail once, and near the crossing was a cabin maintained by the Potomac Appalachian Club. This was not a historical structure like the ruins farther on, but it felt old and isolated there in the absolute stillness. And the Appalachian Trail itself provided a vicarious thrill. I could stand where that intrepid handful of annual “thru-hikers” pass on their way from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mt. Katahdin, Maine, or vice versa. I waited awhile, but no one appeared, so I enjoyed a brief sensation of total solitude, of having Shenandoah National Park all to myself.
This is one national park that amply rewards those who simply drive its length and pause at a few of the overlooks. But the drive-throughs may not get a full sense of its wildness. Gazing out upon the blue haze of the Piedmont or into the Shenandoah Valley, one might forget that rugged country lies just beyond the pavement.
Mara Meisel, an interpretive officer at the park, tries to give the public an understanding of the forces at work here. She runs a program in cooperation with the Wildlife Center of Virginia, a non-profit veterinary hospital in Waynesboro.
The center tries to mend injured animals and birds, then release them back to the wild. But some are too hurt ever to return, so, for the last three years, a few of those are kept in the park, where Meisel can show visitors a bit of wildlife up close. Currently she cares for a red-tailed hawk, a barred owl and a screech owl, all with permanently injured wings. The owls were hit by cars. Wildlife Center veterinarians think the hawk may have been shot by someone hunting illegally. So now the birds serve as teachers.
“It’s become one of the most popular programs in the park,”Meisel said. “We reach about 6,000 people a year with our message about the importance of a balanced ecosystem and the world of birds of prey.
“People love seeing a wild animal up close. But we always have to make the point that, even though this is a bird that’s perched on my hand, it’s still wild. And if you look in this animal’s eyes, you can see it’s still wild. We don’t pet them. We don’t have names for the birds and animals that the Wildlife Center sends here.”
Meisel said someone once asked why she didn’t use stuffed birds to make her points. “It took some explaining,” she recalled. “You really have to see the light in the eyes of those birds. People can sort of bond with the wildness in their eyes, and that’s something they can’t do if the animals are stuffed.”
I thought back to my encounter with the turkey vulture, how it flew up in my face and rose high above me, probably hovering until I was gone and it could resume its business. The bird has the ability to do that because a long chain of events has protected this small part of the country from the usual patterns of development. It gets more natural every year, sending out a call to any wild creatures that may find it useful.
Despite the slick pavement on Skyline Drive and the neat stone walls along its scenic overlooks, never before in my experience had a major highway felt so temporary.
A GUIDE TO SHENANDOAH
GETTING THERE
Most major airlines schedule regular flights to Washington and Richmond. Round-trip fares under $300 — and perhaps considerably less — should be available, depending on various booking deadlines and time constraints.
The best way to complete the trip is by car. The park borders and includes a 105-mile scenic highway, Skyline Drive, running atop a portion of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
GETTING AROUND
Most visitors pass through in automobiles, admiring the Shenandoah Valley and the Piedmont Range from several scenic turnouts. But there are 500 miles of hiking trails. An equestrian center provides mounts to ride on 150 miles of horse trails. Bicycles must stay on the paved roads.
WHEN TO VISIT
A late-winter ice storm devastated hundreds of thousands of trees and closed the southern half of Skyline Drive until late spring while work crews cut back overhanging branches. Even so, spring is a wonderful time to go. Flowers proliferate, and the surviving trees begin to bear leaves. Weather tends to be mild from May to November, the period when most park facilities are open. Fall colors make the scenery particularly dramatic. The mountain air imposes a morning and evening chill, so dress in layers.
LODGING AND DINING
Eating and sleeping facilities, stores and gas pumps are scattered unobtrusively along Skyline Drive. Four campgrounds (first come, first served) take care of the bedroll crowd. Three areas provide lodges or cabins. Rates range from $15 for a tent cabin at Lewis Mountain to $160 for a suite at Skyland Lodge during October fall-colors season. Rates vary according to days of the week (weekends cost more), time of year and location. Meal and lodging packages also are available. For reservations and more information, call 800-999-4714.
Camp stores at Elkwallow, Big Meadows, Lewis Mountain and Loft Mountain sell camping supplies, souvenirs and take-away food for the numerous picnic areas.
Indoor restaurant seating can be found at Skyland Lodge (wonderful picture-window views), Panorama Restaurant and Big Meadows. The food available in the park sticks to the ribs but not the memory. Still, that kind of thing can’t help but be delicious when you walk in with a great-outdoors appetite.
Surrounding towns offer plenty of rooms and equally hearty meals. Bed-and-breakfasts, country inns and farm-style restaurants dot the pretty Shenandoah Valley landscape, even though most of the usual chain motels and drive-ins proliferate.
ACCESSIBILITY
Most buildings and comfort stations in the park are wheelchair accessible or accessible with help. Campground and picnic areas have accessible sites, and lodging units are available at Lewis Mountain, Skyland and Big Meadows Lodge, shower and laundry rooms at Lewis Mountain and Big Meadows campgrounds. Limberlost, a gently sloping trail of 1.3 miles, is 5 feet wide and hard-surfaced, with benches placed at frequent intervals.
INFORMATION
Address inquiries to Shenandoah National Park, 3655 U.S. Hwy 211E, Luray, Va. 22835-9036 (540-999-3500). Internet: www.nps.gov/shen/
SHENANDOAH FACTS
Established as a national park: Dec. 26, 1935.
Area: 196,466 acres.
Visitors: 1,598,752 in 1997.
Location: Northern Virginia, approximately 75 miles west of Washington, D.C., at the northern end and about the same distance from Richmond, Va., at the southern end.
Flora and fauna: Whitetail deer, black bears, bobcats, timber rattlesnakes and copperheads, chipmunks and groundhogs, wild turkeys and 200 other species of birds — including barred owls, ruffled grouse, flycatchers, thrushes and warblers. More than 100 species of deciduous trees and pines form the forests, and wild blooms abound, including trillium, mountain laurel, redbud and dogwood.
Entrance fee: $10 per private vehicle; $5 for bicyclist, walker or passenger in a non-commercial bus. Fee good for seven consecutive days.
MAIN SIGHTS
1. Shenandoah Valley Overlook.
This gives visitors arriving from the north a preview of what’s in store — several sweeping views of the Shenandoah River Valley and the Piedmont expanse.
2. Range View Overlook.
It provides a long look at the Piedmont side and the blue layers of mountains stretching toward the east.
3. Elkwallow.
A pleasant clearing includes a picnic area and provisions for hikers and motorists alike.
4. Marys Rock Tunnel.
The tunnel bores through 600 feet of rock. That light at the end is a fine vista that will delight southbound travelers.
5. Stony Man Peak.
The peak can be seen from this overlook, as well as a wonderful aerial view of valley towns.
6. Skyland.
This comforts the hungry and weary with lodges and dining facilities, as well as one of the best westward-looking landscapes in the park.
7. Whiteoak Canyon.
One trail rewards hikers with six waterfalls and a large hemlock forest.
8. Dark Hollow Falls
These falls splash much closer to the roadway than the falls at Whiteoak, easing the hike, but its effect dazzles nonetheless.
9. Big Meadows.
A wide-open space first cleared by Native Americans has been maintained that way as a matter of historical interest. Facilities here provide information and visitor services galore.
10. Bearfence Mountain.
The summit allows a 360-degree view for those willing to scramble less than a mile up a steep and rocky trail.
11. Rockytop Overlook.
An excellent peek at canyons and the Big Run watershed. More fine views and trails remain during the next 20 miles.
12. Rockfish Gap.
This marks the end of the park for southbound travelers, or the beginning for those going the other way. Next comes the beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway.
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Robert Cross’ e-mail address is bobccross@aol.com.
Earlier parks stories available
This story on Shenandoah is the first of our occasional additional reports on Our National Parks, a two-year series that ran in 1996 and 1997. Those earlier stories, also by writer Robert Cross, covered 25 of the 54 parks:
– April 21, 1996: Yosemite
– May 19, 1996: Badlands/Wind Cave
– June 23, 1996: Acadia
– July 28, 1996: Isle Royale
– Aug. 25, 1996: A Utah quintet (Bryce Canyon/Zion/Arches/Canyonlands/Capitol Reef)
– Sept. 22, 1996: Great Smoky Mountains
– Oct. 27, 1996: Grand Canyon
– April 6, 1997: Denali/Glacier Bay
– April 13, 1997: Kenai Fjords/Katmai
– May 18, 1997: Mammoth Cave
– June 15, 1997: Sequoia/Kings Canyon
– July 20, 1997: Yellowstone/Grand Teton
– Aug. 17, 1997: Olympic
– Sept. 14, 1997: Glacier
– Oct. 19, 1997: Hawaii Volcanoes/Haleakala
For copies of these stories and printable park guides with maps and main attractions, turn to the Tribune’s Travel Web site (chicago.tribune.com/travel).
For those without access to the Internet, back issues of the Tribune are available at most public libraries in the area.
