{"id":3419,"date":"2016-05-31T12:50:21","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T19:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/gregoryng\/?p=3419"},"modified":"2016-05-31T19:20:38","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T02:20:38","slug":"hiking-the-south-river-falls-trail-at-shenandoah-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/gregoryng\/2016\/05\/31\/hiking-the-south-river-falls-trail-at-shenandoah-national-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiking the South River Falls Trail at Shenandoah National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FollowGreg_Shenandoah_SouthRiverFalls_Trailhead\"
\nThis Memorial Day weekend my family visited Shenandoah National Park. Shenandoah National Park<\/a> is over 200,000 acres of protected land not too far away from Washington, DC. My family and I left shortly after the kids got home from school on friday and drove 2 1\/2 hours to Lynchburg, VA to spend the night.<\/p>\n

On saturday morning, we drove an hour north west to the southernmost entrance of Shenandoah National Park called Rockfish Gap<\/a>. My plan was to spend the day accomplishing two things:
\n1. Drive the 101 mile Skyline Drive route from the southernmost point of Shenandoah National Park to the northernmost point at Front Royal<\/a>.
\n2. Go on a couple of hikes to truly experience the natural beauty of the park.<\/p>\n

In my initial planning, I targeted 3 hikes for the day. You can read about why in my original post, “Prepping for Our Shenandoah National Park Adventure.<\/a>”<\/p>\n

One of the hikes I targeted is called the South River Falls Trail<\/a>. In my last post I wrote: “Of course I am always looking for scenic hikes that not only give me amazing vistas but also opportunities to get up close with nature. I read about this South River Falls hike in a photography website and it was noted for it\u2019s beauty and opportunities to get up close with waterfalls and the creeks coming off of it.”<\/p>\n

\"mini_divider\"<\/p>\n

Learning about the South River Falls Trail at Shenandoah National Park<\/h3>\n

The South River Falls trail is located at mile marker 62.7 of Skyline Drive. It took us about 30 minutes to get there from the South Entrance at Rockfish Gap. There are 3 parking lots surrounding a small structure of bathrooms and a grassy hill. When we pulled up the bottom lot closest to the trailhead was already filled up so we looped around and grabbed a spot in the second parking lot.<\/p>\n

\"Map_SouthRiver\"<\/p>\n

There are really 2 different hikes you can do from this trailhead. <\/p>\n

Hike #1: South River Falls Observation Point
\nDistance: 2.6-mile round trip
\nDifficulty: moderate
\nDuration: 1\u00be hours
\nElevation Gain: 850-feet <\/p>\n

Hike #2: South River Falls Loop
\nDistance: 3.3-mile circuit
\nDifficulty: moderate
\nDuration: 2\u00bc hours
\nElevation Gain: 910-foot elevation gain <\/p>\n

We opted to do Hike #1 for time and effort as we were planning to do 2 additional hikes later in the day. Our family is in fairly decent shape and a 2.6 mile hike seemed right up our alley\u2014especially with the promise of a waterfall view. We have taken similar hikes at Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Yosemite National Park before so we were excited!<\/p>\n