Holiday Washington DC in Nov 2025: Day 6 – Shenandoah National Park

By Nige on November 14, 2025 at 1:55 pm
Type: Post
Story: Holiday Washington DC in Nov 2025 Category: Travel
Tags: Charlottesville | Hertz | Hilton | Holidays | USA

Shenandoah Park stretches for 105 miles (169 km) along Skyline Drive from near the town of Front Royal in the northeast to near the city of  Waynesboro in the southwest.

We started our visit at Rock Fish Gap Entrance Station in the southwest.

We paid the $30 entrance fee, which was good for 7 days access and drove into, what appeared to be, an empty National Park. Naturally, it got busier later in the morning.

We stopped off at all of the overlooks up until Loft Mountain Wayside, about 25 miles further up Skyline Drive.

I’ve included a list of all of the overlooks and included some photos on this 25 mile stretch.

Key: MM = MM:; E = Elevation (in feet)

It turned into a bit of a race: stop, get out of the car, take a few photos, jump back into the car and get back on to the road.

1. Rock Fish Gap Entrance Station (MM: 0) (E: 2070)

2. McCormick Gap Overlook (MM: 2.6) (E: 2455)

3. Beagle Gap Overlook (MM: 5.1) (E: 2490)

We saw absolutely no one for miles until we found a vehicle parked up at one of the overlooks.

4. Calf Mountain Overlook (MM: 6.0) (E: 2485)

5. Sawmill Ridge Overlook (MM: 9.5) (E: 2210)

6. Turk Mountain Overlook (MM: 11.3) (E: 2715)

A couple of stops later, we bumped into some real people and we had a good chat with a retired couple that had entered from the northeast, driven down to the southwest and were driving back up, and then heading home.

That’s a long trip driving at 35mph all the way!

7. Crimora Lake Overlook (MM: 12.3) (E: 2975)

8. Moormans River Overlook (MM: 13.0) E: 2975)

9. Riprap Overlook (MM: 13.5) (E: 2920)

We saw numerous stags crossing over the road, being very elusive, whereas a little further on we saw a number of bucks that were very tame and happy to hang around at the side of the road whilst we took photos.

At one stage, we had seen more deer on the road than vehicles!

10. Horsehead Mountain Overlook (MM: 16.3) (E: 2575)

11. Trayfoot Mountain Overlook (MM: 18.2) (E: 2575)

12. Dundo Overlook (MM: 21.2) (E: 2765)

We noticed that same couple were following us up Skyline Drive, stopping off at each of the overlooks.

They arrived at a stop, just as we were leaving.

We managed to have a further chat with them later on. It was nice to chat to fellow tourists.

13. Doyles Rover Overlook (MM: 23.1) (E: 2870)

14. Big Run Overlook (MM: 23.7) (E: 2860)

15. Loft Mountain Wayside (MM: 25.4) (E: 2455)

By the time we reached Loft Mountain Wayside, where we found an information center, gift shop and cafe (all closed for the season), we decided the call of caffeine was stronger than the urge to carry on.

We headed back down Skyline Drive and on to the nearest Starbucks.

We may just come back tomorrow to see a bit more of Shenandoah National Park.

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Holiday Washington DC in Nov 2025