Fall is a spectacular time to drive through Shenandoah National Park, but there are options to see if the fall colors if you can't be there/Kurt Repanshek file
Shenandoah National Park's Webcams Offer Kaleidoscopic Views Of The Blue Ridge
By Patrick Cone
Vibrant hues of fall layering the hills and hollows of Shenandoah National Park lure the park’s greatest crowds of the year, filling lodgings and crowding hiking trails, overlooks, and parking lots.
Just 75 miles from Washington, D.C., the park preserves more than 300 square miles along the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. The dense forest hosts trails, waterfalls, and rocky outcrops like Old Rag and Hawksbill mountains, not to mention the native wildlife, including deer, bear, squirrels, and many species of birds.
Skyline Drive coasts along the crest of the mountains, leading you to lodges, stores, stables, campgrounds and campstores. Meadows and wildflowers ripple the valleys below.
“Fall brings in a huge visitation jump,” says Claire Comer, the park’s interpretive specialist and public affairs ranger. “We usually get a quarter of our annual visitation during October. We’re just now starting to see fall colors; we’ve been in a drought with high heat in August.”
But now the colors are bursting out as the weather cools. Experiencing the kaleidoscope in person is best, but even if you can’t travel to Shenandoah you can still enjoy the scenery from your home thanks to new 4K webcams purchased last year with the help of the Shenandoah National Parks Association.
Webcams are more and more common across the National Park System, allowing you to peak in on a park throughout the year. They let you see crowds, winter snows, Old Faithful erupting, and the deep blue waters of Crater Lake, just to mention some of the options.
The camera atop the association’s headquarters in Luray down below the park has a clear view of the mountain range in the central district.
“You can see the lights at the top of the mountain,” said Greta Miller, the association’s executive director. “The public can watch the weather changing, greening up in the spring, the fall colors, or snowstorms.”
The view Tuesday, October 3, from the Big Meadows webcam. The colors haven't started to pop, yet/NPS, Shenandoah National Park Association
Funding for the cameras — each cost $3,500 — was provided by the Shenandoah National Park Association, which has partnered with the park since 1950. The nonprofit organization operates Shenandoah’s visitor center stores, and all of its profits are used to support the park’s educational programs.
The association, which received financial support from Wild Tribute, a clothing company that donates a percentage of its revenues to park projects across the country, to purchase the cameras, also covers the monthly costs to keep the two cameras active, and they are looking to buy a few more cameras. You can access the webcams by visiting https://www.nps.gov/shen/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm. Both webcams are high definition 4K video.
The Big Meadows camera is mounted on the roof of the park offices, with a view of the ridge from the Shenandoah Valley area, from Big Meadows to Thornton Gap. Viewers can spot features such as Stony Man, Marys Rock, and Hawksbill, the park’s highest peak. The Big Meadows Live webcam replaces an older one atop the visitor center, and has zooms and wide shots across the entire meadow. You can even rewind the camera to earlier in the day.
The Big Meadows static webcam looks south from the same location and is updated every 15 minutes.
These webcams join the Mountain View cam, in the Pinnacle area looking towards the town of Luray, Virginia, in the valley. The other new camera is the View from the Valley webcam, and is on the rooftop of the association’s offices, just south of the town of Luray. This camera offers a live-feed view of the park’s central portion from the valley, scanning Neighbor Mountain near Route 211 all the way south to Big Meadows.
Visiting the park during fall allows for closer inspection of the fall foliage/Kurt Repanshek file
Comer is thrilled with the upgrades, especially the cam in the valley, which they had never had before. “It’s a great way to see what’s going on,” she said. “Visitors seem to really enjoy it. We have a group of people who look at it on a daily basis.
While the cameras are great for visitors, they can also be helpful as park management tools. On September 8 a lightning strike ignited a wildfire in the Central District, near Millers Head. It burned about two acres in steep, rocky terrain and thick brush. While a dozen fire fighters quickly controlled it, the smoke was clearly visible from the new View from the Valley webcam.
So, if you can’t make it down the park, at least keep your eye on the fall colors, and all of the seasons, with these two new webcams.
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