8. Shenandoah National Park & Skyline Drive

A Place That If Only JMU Students Knew To Care For
As a local student of James Madison University, suffering from post-marathon depression, I needed to escape the inevitable Halloween weekend students would invite me to take part in—girls clad in less than tasteful costumes, smelling beer spill stench, and a likelihood of forgotten conversations, confrontations with toilets, and run ins with the law. Memorabilia means photographs of several different partygoers but all of them double-checking that that same red Solo cup is visible in the picture—just as long as the depressant is given credit for being the transporter away from reality. I needed a distraction from the emptiness I felt. I was having withdrawals from not running for a week, sensitive and stressed. My boyfriend and understanding runner saw me in my state and proposed taking the 30 minute jaunt down 33 to Skyline Drive, a road hugging the crest of the mountains through the woods along beautiful vistas. We paid $8 and began at Swift Run Gap and headed northbound towards Front Royal. Zipping along the narrow windy road we noticed several white-tailed deer with the breathtaking overlooks of the Valley in its last stages of fall, just like my boyfriend described after taking a previous trip there with his Dad. We turned off at Big Meadows and enjoyed Wild Turkey Wraps from the Loft Mountain Wayside. Our first trail was at Hawksbill—the tallest peak in the Shenandoah that welcomes hikers with a rewarding 360 degree view after a strenuous mile long trek. The Shenandoah National Park makes it a priority to fully map out the trail with starting points, descriptions of the difficulty, distance, and approximately how many hours it takes to hike (Hawksbill is about 1 hour). We never found ourselves lost—all we were focused on was the serenity and the opportunity for good conversation. Once reaching the top, I discovered the ultimate photo op experience. This was reality at its finest. After Hawksbill, we drove to the Limberlost trail, a1.3 mile loop and a more family friendly hike for the use of strollers thanks to its relatively flat elevation and with benches along the way for breaks to sit and enjoy the scenery. We visited several overlooks including Spitler Knoll, Fisher’s Gap, and Old Rag. Each overlook has a unique angle of the Shenandoah—some highlighting the deep yellows and oranges of the trees while others experiencing clouds resting on the evergreen trees creating a dark green, misty scene. Skyline Drive left me feeling beat yet refreshed. My mind was cleared after being surrounded by the unforgettable mixture of silence and nature’s sounds. Visiting Skyline Drive can be a new transporter for students—except it’s not causing them to escape reality, but actually using reality to deflate stress. Skyline can help put their issues into perspective and allow them to take time out of their chaotic weekend routine and listen to the sounds of streaming water hitting the rocks or leaves crunching on the ground or a hacking hawk soaring overhead. I highly recommend taking the quick trip to Skyline Drive for a therapeutic, fresh experience.