Dark Hollow via Appalachian Trail and Story of the Forest Trail

The Three Falls Hike in Shenandoah National Park will take you past three beautiful waterfalls all found within the central district of the park: Lewis Spring Falls, Dark Hollow Falls, and Rose River Falls. You are able to start the loop from any of the waterfalls’ trailheads, but I prefer to start at the Lewis Spring Fall Trailhead because it has the largest parking area and a bathroom.  To re...

Visiting Shenandoah National Park for the first time can be quite overwhelming. The 109 mile long Skyline Drive, combined with over 500 miles of hiking trails, makes camping is a necessity if you truly want to experience Shenandoah.From the Appalachian thru-hiker to the RV'er, Big Meadows is perfectly located for all types of travelers. Located off of MM 51.2, it's a great campsite for those tr...

Catch the trailhead to these falls at mile 50.7 on Skyline Drive, just north of Big Meadows Lodge and Campground and the trailhead is just to the left of the parking lot. This is an easy 1.4 mile roundtrip hike, straight down to get to the falls, and straight up to arrive back at your car. Many people don't know there are actually two places to view different drops of the falls, so keep going...

Parking at the trailhead is a few miles north of Big Meadows at the Fisher's Gap Overlook parking area. You will find much more solitude along this loop trail than if you were to park at the Dark Hollow Falls trailhead as the Dark Hollow Falls is much more popular. That makes being able to find the shot or picture that you want without other hikers getting in your shots, much easier. The ...

The trail can be found on Skyline Drive.  Though it is a little challenging to locate, you should park at  Fisher’s Gap Overlook (mile marker 49.4), and then walk over across the road and find the trail. You'll spot it by looking over the side of the road and then hiking down.  The Rose River Loop begins to the left of the fire road (you'll come up this fire road on the way back).  The trail st...

Rose River Falls is often overshadowed by it's more popular cousin, Dark Hollow Falls, as both hikes begin at the same trail head. But because Dark Hollow Falls is such a short and well known hike, it can get extremely crowded. It is also one of the few trails in Shenandoah where dogs are not allowed. Meanwhile, Rose River Falls offers more solitude and is incredibly dog friendly -- with tons...