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Off the Blue Ridge Parkway and into Shenandoah National Park

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From the campground into the cabins. Our intrepid travelers do rough it at times. Photos by David and Kay Scott.

Editor's note: As our lodging experts, David and Kay Scott, continue on their 2010 odyssey across the National Park System, they get to sample some of the best lodging, food, and camping there is to be had. This dispatch came from their first night in Shenandoah National Park.

Following a Thursday stay at Peaks of Otter Lodge, we drove north under blue skies to the terminus of the parkway at Waynesboro, Virginia. We decided to drive down the mountain into town for a few groceries, gasoline ($2.42 compared to $2.78 that we would find in Shenandoah NP), and a stop at the public library to email Kurt the Peaks of Otter story.

After entering Shenandoah National Park and driving 25 miles north on Skyline Drive, we stopped in mid-afternoon at Loft Mountain for our second night of camping. It has been nearly two decades since we last camped at Loft Mountain and we had forgotten how great a location it is to spend the night. We have camped in most of the national parks and can’t remember a more attractive Park Service campground. The 202 sites are widely spaced and surrounded with bushes and trees that offer privacy to campers. Kay nearly needed medication after discovering the bathroom had hot water. Hot water in a Park Service campground bathroom! What a great idea!

We had worried the campground would be full on a Friday night, but that was not the case, with only about half the campsites occupied. The ranger said that so far this year the campground had only filled on Memorial Day weekend. The campground has a designated generator-free area, a real plus for tenters. We appreciated this but always thought it more sensible to designate a small area where generators could be used rather than a small area where generators could not be operated.

Most camping experiences include getting to know other travelers. The couple across the way was from De Moines, Iowa, and had recently retired. They were touring the Eastern U.S. in a vintage red Mustang. While walking by the neighboring site we passed within ten feet of a deer standing in the road watching a golden retriever at the feet of his master, who was fast asleep in his chair. The deer was trying to figure out how to grab some food off the picnic table without upsetting the dog.

Friday was a star-studded two-blanket night that was perfect for camping. Saturday morning was warmer than expected and we had time to linger in the campground since we had only to drive 30 miles north to Lewis Mountain Cabins, the southern-most lodging facility in Shenandoah. One of the great pleasures of camping is relaxing in the morning with a cup of coffee and a good book.

Those of you who have stayed at The Ahwahnee, Old Faithful Inn, Many Glacier Hotel, or most other national park lodges would find Lewis Mountain Cabins quite unusual. The entire complex consists of a registration/store plus nine rustic cabins, two of which are constructed as duplex units. There is also one hikers’ cabin. All but the hikers’ cabin have a private bathroom. The 80-year-old cabins sit in a heavily forested area and are well-maintained. The cabin area is flanked on one side by a small Park Service campground and on the other side by a large picnic area. Although the cabins do not have kitchens, a covered picnic area with a grill is in back or beside each unit. Be certain to bring all your food and utensils, as the store has minimal groceries.

The facility offers both one- and two-bedroom units that rent for the same price of $106 per night. The two-bedroom cabins can hold up to four adults.

A stay at the cabins offers a true park experience. During a prior stay we were sitting on the porch drinking coffee one morning when a bear came out of the woods, climbed a tree, looked around, and descended to wander across the complex and back into the woods. On a subsequent stay a large owl sat on a branch and observed us during our entire dinner at the picnic table.

Tomorrow we will report from Skyland, a much bigger lodging complex about 16 miles north on Skyline Drive.

David and Kay Scott are regular contributors to the Traveler. Their book, The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges was first published by the Globe Pequot Press in 1997 and is now in its sixth edition.

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Comments

Skyland and Big Meadows restaurants used to serve the bestest Buckwheat pancakes up until i think last year. I asked about it and was told it filtered off the menu for lack of demand. If you could put in a good word for bringing them back, the park would be a better place :)

Loft Mountain is a beautiful place to camp....I love the mostly flat sites on top of the mountain.


Peter Bizon, ARAMARK's Executive Chef at Shenandoah National Park, is in charge of the menus at Skyland and Big Meadows. You can contact Chef Bizon at [email protected]


Thanks! I emailed him.


You will be pleased to know that buckwheat pancakes are back on the menu at both Skyland and Big Meadows. We talked with general manager Nick Smith at Big Meadows Lodge and told him there appeared to be a groundswell of public demand for buckwheat pancakes. He informed us that, while the pancakes had been deleted from the menu several years ago, they were again available for consumption by lodge guests who crave the finer things in life.


Omg I was searching for buckwheat shenandoah and found this thread..when I was in junior high my parents and I visited my Dad's family in the DC area. His brother was building a second home near the Blue Ridge mountains. Two places we drove to on that trip were the Blue Ridge Mountsins to see the property, and Skyline Dtive. This would have been approx 1979.

The two things that stick in my mind from that trip are the fresh apple cider we bought at a roadside stand off the beaten path in the Blue Ridge area, and BUCKWHEAT PANCAKES WITH LOCALLY PRODUCED BERRY JAM. MADE WITH WILD SHENANDOAH BERRIES!!!  I was a 12 year old kid from the suburbs of Chicago and those had to be the best tasting things I had ever eaten!

I am going to go look it up right now but anyone know what kind of berries those might have been?


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