My version of an Appalachian Trail

The Southern Appalachian Mountains are some of the oldest and most beautiful mountains in the USA, and some of the most accessible. You can drive down the spine of the range as it winds 105 miles through the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

It takes over three hours to make it from the entrance at Front Royal to the exit at Rockfish Gap, but I strapped a camera onto the front of the car and sped up the footage so you experience the entire Skyline Drive for yourself if you so desire in less than 9 minutes below. I would just make sure you click on the flower/cog thing at the bottom of the video player and change the quality to HD so the video isn't all weird and pixelated.



At the foot of the Skyline Drive is the start of another beautiful drive through the mountains, the Blue Ridge Parkway. It stretches all the way into North Carolina, but I only experienced it in Virginia. First? When my GPS told me that Washington and Lee University was on the Parkway at this address:

Then, after I went to the REAL University in Lexington, VA, I tried to get back on the Blue Ridge Parkway but it looked like this:

After that, I gave up on the Parkway and instead made a beeline for where it ends, in the Great Smoky National Park that straddles North Carolina and Tennessee.

 

 
The Cherokees described these mountains "shaconage", meaning "blue, like smoke" for the haze that hangs in the valleys and creeps up the slopes. During the Depression, FDR commissioned a road through the park, providing much needed jobs and some of the most beautiful views in this area.  The actual Appalchian Trail even crosses right over the road, following the dividing line between North Carolina and Tennessee.

On the Tennessee side of the park, I went for another lovely drive along the river to the Laurel Falls hiking trail. This sojourn was much shorter though, only about half an hour, or 30 seconds in fast-motion (again, click the flower/cog thing to see HD video).



At the end of the 1.2 mile trail leading up from where I stopped was a gorgeous set of waterfalls. Laurel Falls is such a popular hike, the park service has paved the trail. But it was well worth a visit to not only drive, but to walk through part of the lovely South Appalachian Mountains.