On this trip we spent 3 days backpacking in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park. We chose one of the loops outlined by the National Park Service that took us by Lewis Falls, Big Meadows Campground, Hawksbill Mountain, Rose River Falls and Dark Hollow Falls among other sights.

Our first day took us from our starting point at Milam Gap to Lewis Falls to Big Meadows Campground before we found a site to set up camp a little ways past the campground. We had originally planned to stay at Big Meadows because the park office over the phone made it sound like there wasn't much camping beyond it along the Appalachian Trail, but when we got there they assured us there would be options so we decided to go with the always-preferable backcountry camping over the frontcountry campground. We had no problems finding a spot off the AT and settled in our hammocks.

Day 2 was the most scenic day and the most mileage, we climbed to the top of Hawksbill before dropping down into the Rose River area. Very beautiful streamside hiking through the Rose River Loop and both Rose River Falls and Dark Hollow Falls were cool to see. Hawksbill and Dark Hollow are popular dayhike areas and we saw hundreds of people on the trails around those attractions. We cut it close to nighttime in setting up camp, but were able to get everything set up before darkness hit. We had a few deer walk by in the evening and it sounded like some more came through in the night.

The last day took us a couple miles back to Milam Gap, the morning was very foggy which made for some fun "spooky" hiking. My car battery was dead when we made it back to the parking lot but the NPS was very nice about coming to jump it for us. All in all we covered about 21 miles on this trip in October 2019.

Shorter highlight video for anyone who wants to see the scenery without all the trip details:
https://youtu.be/-DKzCBZ8BDg


Enjoy the video trip report from our time in Shenandoah!
Layne