Holiday Washington DC in Nov 2025: Day 7 – Shenandoah National Park

By Nige on November 15, 2025 at 2:41 pm
Type: Post
Story: Holiday Washington DC in Nov 2025 Category: Travel
Tags: Charlottesville | Hertz | Hilton | Holidays | USA

We decided to head back to Shenandoah Park. Back to try a different stretch of Skyline Drive from Swift Run Gap Entrance Station up to Skyland Resort.

In total it was a similar distance to our drive yesterday, except on this occasion we decided to include an actual hike.

We started our visit at Swift Run Gap Entrance Station in the southwest.

We had already paid the $30 entrance fee yesterday, so a quick wave of our ticket and we were in.

We stopped off at all of the overlooks between Swift Run Gap Entrance Station and Skyland Resort, about 23.5 miles further up Skyline Drive.

I’ve included a list of all of the overlooks and included some photos on this 23.5 mile stretch.

Key: MM = Mile Marker; E = Elevation (in feet).

The Mile Markers continue on from yesterday’s post and start from Rock Fish Gap Entrance Station.

1. Swift Run Gap Entrance Station (MM: 39.3) (E: 2365)

2. Hensley Hollow Overlook (MM: 40.4) (E: 2560)

3. South River Overlook (MM: 42.1) (E: 2950)

Since we arrived a little later in the day, we saw quite a few more vehicles on the road, although we didn’t get the opportunity to chat with anyone.

We did however, bump into a Park Ranger, who was parked in a way that it looked like he was scanning for speeding vehicles.

4. Baldface Mountain Overlook (MM: 43.5) (E: 3325)

5. The Oaks Overlook (MM: 45.7) (E: 3125)

6. The Point Overlook (MM: 49.2) (E: 3235)

We saw just the one deer on this visit who was very tame and was entirely focused on something it had found in the dirt.

We were able to take lots of photos without disturbing it.

7. Hazeltop Ridge Overlook  (MM: 50.4) (E: 3265)

8. Naked Creek Overlook (MM: 51.5) E: 3250)

9. Tanners Ridge Overlook (MM: 53.3) (E: 3465)

Big Meadows Visitor Center was open, maybe as a result of the US Government finally signing off on a spending budget to take them through to Jan 2026?

We didn’t have a need to pop in on this occasion; we pressed on to Skyland Resort.

10. Big Meadows Visitor Center (MM: 54.5) (E: 3500)

11. Fishers Gap Overlook (MM: 55.3) (E: 3070)

12. Franklin Cliffs Overlook (MM: 55.6) (E: 3140)

When we reached Skyland Resort, we parked up at the restaurant, used the facilities and then walked around to the Stony Man Trailhead.

The Stony Man trail wanders up to a very exposed and windy view point. It was pretty busy on the way up and naturally we had to wait our turn to take pictures on the exposed rocks.

13. Spitler Knoll Overlook (MM: 56.5) (E: 3285)

14. Old Rag View Overlook (MM: 58.1) (E: 3585)

15. Crescent Rock Overlook (MM: 60.2) (E: 3550)

It was so exposed, that it was a challenge to keep my balance up there!

16. Timber Hollow Overlook (MM: 61.3) (E: 3360)

17. Skyland Resort (MM: 62.8) (E: 3680)

Once we got back to the trailhead, we walked back to the restaurant and grabbed a table for some lunch.

The server was super busy and was one of those guys that had to demonstrate how busy they were.

However, the food was really good. We shared a bowl of chilli. Vick had a salad and I had a pulled pork sandwich with fries.

After settling the bill, it took us just over an hour to get back to the hotel for a snooze.

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Holiday Washington DC in Nov 2025