Blue Ridge Parkway: America’s Favorite Drive, Day 1

First Half of the Ridge Region: Milepost 0 — Milepost 27

Published in

HackmanGuidedAdventures

7 min readOct 9, 2020

This may become my favorite fall trip! I just got back from an epic 4-day motorcycle touring + camping trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway with a loop into West Virginia. It was a new adventure for me and I kind of winged it, not sure where I would wind up each night. But it proved to be extremely easy with many places to camp, eat, refuel, hike, and explore.

Here’s the first installment covering the northern section of the Parkway, how to prepare, and some of the best spots I found along the way including one of the most beautiful mountaintop vineyards I’ve ever seen!

Four Things You’ll Learn From This Post:

Where to enter the Parkway and how to plan for food, fuel, photo ops, and day hikes.
Where to camp (on your own), where to camp (with amenities — ie: toilets, fire pits, snack stores), and where you can stay in lodges and how to prepare for each.
The most beautiful mountaintop vineyard I’ve ever seen! Right on the Parkway!
Epic photo ops including Humpback Rocks (the iconic Blue Ridge Parkway photo) and many other vista points.

This is a “car camping” trip (aka: “camping”). For a detailed previous post on how I differentiate between camping and backpacking, visit: here.

The Route:

First off, I’m always coming from the DC area so entering the Blue Ridge Parkway from DC is easy enough with cell phone service the whole way. Obviously, there are many different access points and routes depending on where you’re coming from. But I would strongly recommend, regardless of where you are, routing to the Northernmost access point off I-64 near Waynesboro / Afton, VA. This is Milepost 0 on the Parkway.

As you’ll see on the map below, if you turn north, you’ll head into Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park (marked in red). Turning south, you’ll begin on the Blue Ridge Parkway with a great sign / selfie photo op marking the beginning of your journey.

NOTE: The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Park Service unit and is managed by NPS (with NPS rules and regulations) but the Parkway is not a national park and does not require entrance fees. As opposed to Skyline Drive which is in Shenandoah National Park and does require entrance fees. The land surrounding the Blue Ridge Parkway is mostly U.S. Forest Service managed lands (George Washington and Jefferson National Forests)— which means some of the hiking, camping, hunting and fishing areas surrounding the Parkway follow USFS rules and regulations, even if the Parkway itself in NPS. This sounds confusing and there are additional descriptions of what all this means here (NPS Blue Ridge Parkway website): https://www.nps.gov/blri/index.htm and here (GW & Jefferson Ntl Forests website): https://www.fs.usda.gov/gwj
Bottom line: and general rule of thumb for traveling the Parkway is to treat it more like a USFS experience. I’ve written previous blogs about “How to effectively car camp in our national forest system” which include a lot of helpful pointers. But just know that there are not going to be as many services as you might find in a national park. This pertains to availability of gas stations, hotels and lodges, food sources, toilets, and etc. National forests are incredible places and some of my favorite spots to hike and camp are in national forests, you just need to prepare adequately.

Getting back to the route: if you rely strictly on your GPS, it will continue to want to take you a shorter route and will try to take you off the Parkway to one of the larger north/south interstates that run parallel to the Parkway down in the valley.

It does take longer to get down the Parkway (as opposed to the interstate) given all the mountainous twists and turns — but that’s what you came for right?!

So, once you turn onto the Parkway, you’ll likely want to just rely on the Parkway signs after that, especially at intersections with other side roads which your GPS might suggest you take (and which would take you off the Parkway).

Stop 1: Humpback Rocks, Milepost 5.8

Only a few miles from the start of the Parkway is the first excellent hike with dramatic photo opportunities — Humpback Rocks. There is a visitor center here as well with toilets and other smaller hikes through restored old cabins and an outdoor farm museum with historic information about the area. The access point to the Humpback Rocks trail is across the street from the visitor center with its own parking area.

The trail is about 2 miles round trip at the shortest (if you take the spur trail to the left) or about 4 miles round trip if you take a more gradually inclining trail. Both options are pretty strenuous and steep but entirely doable for anyone in moderately good physical condition. All details for the trail options with maps can be found: here.

From the top (3,080 feet but with a total elevation gain of only 740 feet from the visitor center), the views are sweeping and extend over the Rockfish and Shenandoah Valleys thousands of feet below.

Stop 2: Anywhere…

Nearly ever mile down the road there’s another pullout, overlook, hiking trail, historical marker, or other fun thing to explore.

This picture gives a good illustration of how the Parkway cuts along the forested mountain ridge lines with spectacular vistas any direction.

My recommendation is to drive slowly and stop every 30 minutes or so to take in another amazing view. Also, these pullouts are designed to make it easier to take photos safely without being distracted on the road.

Hikers, cyclists, and motorcyclists alike all use the road with very little shoulder so DO NOT take photos while driving along the Parkway. There is always an accessible pullout nearby and the best photos will be from these pullouts anyway, trust me.

Stop 3: 12 Ridges Vineyard, Milepost 25

I must confess, I didn’t actually stop here since I was running out of daylight by the time I drove by. But I will certainly be back because what I saw in the few moments while passing convinced me this has to be one of the most stunning vineyard locations in all of Virginia!

Adirondack chairs and people standing silhouetted in the sunset glow on top of the ridge line, vines all around, endless mountains in the distance.

Here is the website of the 12 Ridges Vineyard, located directly off the Parkway. A perfect place to wind down the day before heading to your campsite.

Stop 4: Montebello Camping & Fishing Resort, Milepost 27

27 miles down the Parkway might not seem like much, but with all the hiking and photo pullout options, windy roads, and a vineyard tasting, it could take all day to get that far.

Thankfully, 3 miles off the parkway down Rt 56 / Crabtree Falls Hwy (at Tye River Gap, Milepost 27) there’s a great private campground with tent camping, RV hookups, and full cabins to rent to satisfy any way in which you travel.

This is Montebello Camping & Fishing Resort. Most of the tent and RV sites have spots for your vehicle, flat areas for the tent, picnic tables, fire pits, fresh water and electric outlets. You can purchase firewood, beer, wine, limited food, and other items at the camp store. There’s also a gas station and a little trout fishing pond.

As mentioned, there are also full private cabins for rent with luxurious items like beds. And some of them have decks that overlook a very picturesque pond with a dock and many stars at night.

There are many other options in the area for camping as well as backpacking. In fact, one of my favorite backpacking areas, the Three Ridges Wilderness, is just 15 minutes further down Rt 56 from Montebello. I’ll write a blog on Three Ridges at some point with all details but a quick Google search will take you to maps, trail descriptions, and camping locations. I highly recommend Three Ridges to anyone.

Which brings us to the end of day one for this particular journey. The next installment will continue south into the second half of the Ridge Region so stay tuned!

In the meantime, here are some final great shots from the Parkway of the leaves just starting to turn:

Will Hackman, Hackman Guided Adventures

Blue Ridge Parkway: America’s Favorite Drive, Day 1

First Half of the Ridge Region: Milepost 0 — Milepost 27

Written by Will Hackman