Sky Line Drive

Skyline Drive runs 105 miles north and south along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park and is the only public road through the park. It takes about three hours to travel the entire length of the park on a clear day by car and by bike it takes one to two days. You can enter Shenandoah at only four places:

Front Royal near Rt. 66 and 340 is the northern start of the drive. This is where we entered after spending the night in the Hampton Inn which I would recommend. The other entry points are: Thornton Gap at Rt. 211, Swift Run Gap at Rt. 33 or Rockfish Gap at Rt. 64 and Rt. 250 (also the northern entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway). While in Front Royal, we ate dinner at the “Blue winged Frog” and it was great and we drank to much below

The next day we began our bike ride at the entrance to the “SkyLine Drive” at Front Royal

Along the way there are 75 memorable overlooks that offer stunning views of the Shenandoah Valley to the west or the rolling Piedmont to the east. Here are a few of our photos on the way to Big Meadows our home for the night, an incredible place stay and dine on the SkyLine drive. Photos below on our way to Big Meadows

Below is the lodge of Big Meadows and it is the largest developed area and is near the center of the park, at milepost 51. This is where we spent the night and I can only say it was here I struggled to finish the ride and thought I would have to call UBER but I made it. We all had a memorable evening with great accommodations and fine dinning below.

Rooms above and fine dinning below

We had incredible views below. There was also a host of other woodland animals that call Shenandoah home and regularly cross Skyline Drive in their daily travels like bear, deer, wild turkey and the like below and we saw them all.

The SkyLine drive ends at Rockfish Gap below

The end of the Skyline Drive is the start of Blue Ridge Parkway below. We traveled to Luray Virginia from the Rockfish Gap.

arriving to Luray, Virginia we stayed in the Mimslyn Inn a famous hotel of great magnitude. Wow is all I can say. It is located on Main Street in the town of Luray and will surpass your expectations.

The The beautiful entrance to the Mimslyn Inn below.

Mimslyn Inn opened for business in May of 1931. The Mims family graciously welcomed their guests into their new “home” and this spirit of hospitality and comfort has been a distinguishing feature of the Mimslyn Inn for the last 80 years. Today, the historic inn is under ownership and they continue the Mims’ legacy of warmth, family, good service, and quality. Dinning is superb

We dined from the porch and what a view

We stayed in their beautiful elegant cottages below (now that is what I am talking about) and sat around the fire pit at night

Smoking cool elegant cottages above and smoking cool fire pit below drinking wine and telling war stories below. Wow a great spot to relax and recover!!

From the Mimslyn Inn we rode back to Front Royal along the fort Valley Road by way of Kennedy peak. A few shots along the way . The start of Kennedy peak below