When this guide was first written there were not so many guides to hiking in Shenandoah National Park. There was Henry Heatwole's very thorough Guide to Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive but it was out of print. Fortunately Heatwole's son has published the whole guide on the internet, complete with Mr. Heatwole's wonderful hand-drawn trail maps and overlook view sketches. If you really love Shenandoah, you MUST read Heatwole's guide. Here is a Sample of Henry Heatwole's straightforward advice for enjoying your visit to Shenandoah National Park. You simply won't get advice like that many other places. PATC has always had the good basic maps and guidebooks but there seemed to be a need for a sort of introductory "here's what hiking in Shenandoah is like" sort of guide. I wrote a couple of hike descriptions for "Charlottesville for Seniors" (Featherstone, 1997), which is also out of print, and those became the beginnings of this guide.

There are now some pretty sophisticated Sources for downloadable trail descriptions and maps. In fact, sometimes it seems like there is almost TOO much information. There are whole photo galleries devoted to hikes and it could, if one does not curb his or her curiosity, take away the thrill of heading out with just a map. It is fun to look at these galleries AFTER the hike, especially since different people notice different things. Still, when I set out on a hike, the adventure of the unknown is part of the experience.

This guide originally was located at http://members.aol.com/bkirchman/index6.html and when AOL shut down its website hosting in October of 2008, my first inclimation was to let it cease to be. It had served its purpose and had been far surpassed by newer sites like Hiking Upward and Mid-Atlantic Hikes. As the dreaded "shutoff" date approached though, I realized that it still had meaning as a simple celebration of hiking in Shenandoah. Once in a while, someone would still email asking about good places to hike. Sharing good hikes is one of those civilities that make life rich. For this purpose, 'favorite hikes' lives on.

This guide hopefully functions as an enticement to hike in a place that has enchanted the writer for decades. It is not at all exhaustive. It's a sampler by design. Some artwork and impressions are thrown in for good measure. Please enjoy it!