Roundtrip Tour

Virginia: Riding Skyline Drive

Geoff Tompkinson

10 min read

I shuddered as the dark shadow raced across the asphalt and straight over me. Looking up, I could immediately see the cause—a huge turkey vulture was soaring not so far above me. It seemed to be purposely aiming its rapidly moving shadow at me.

This was just one of many memorable moments on the famous Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. My wife Liz and I had ridden to a great overlook to drink in the vast vista beneath us. Standing at the edge and looking across the treetops below us, we noticed a very large bird in a tree some 200 yards away. I can only think the vulture was trying to scare me away from its nest. At least it wasn’t dive-bombing me.

Skyline Drive runs along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. As the only public road through the Shenandoah National Park, it connects with the Blue Ridge Parkway at Rockfish Gap.

Billed as both a journey and a destination, Skyline Drive is 105 miles of paved road running across the mountain ridges along the entire length of the Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Built between 1931 and 1939, it is the only public road through the Shenandoah National Park and was designed to be the park’s greatest single feature. The road was constructed specifically so the 40 million or so motorized tourists from East Coast cities could drive out of town for a mountain experience and return the same day.

Motorcycles & Gear

2023 Honda Africa Twin CRF1100L
2023 Honda CB500X

Helmet: Shoei Neotec
Jacket: Held Cool System Leather, Helite airbag vest
Pants: ProBiker Textile
Boots: Alpinestars New Land Gore-Tex
Gloves: Vanucci Viscolab
Luggage: SW Motech tankbag, Kriega waterproof bag
Comm System: Sena 50S

Most roads through mountainous areas follow the path of least resistance and run alongside rivers on the bottoms of valleys, but not Skyline Drive. As its name suggests, the route runs along the top of the mountain ridge, providing spectacular views over the surrounding countryside. The road was immediately a great success and became the first national park to attract over one million visitors. With 75 scenic pull-outs, a myriad of wildlife and plants, and overlooks with scenery across the Shenandoah Valley to the west and the Piedmont to the east, it’s easy to see why.

The north entrance to Skyline Drive is in Front Royal, VA, aka the Canoe Capital of Virginia. It is situated on the confluence of the North and South forks of the Shenandoah River.

Laden Beginnings

It was toward the end of May that we started our exploration along Skyline Drive. We had been on tour for around a week by then and our motorcycles were fully loaded. My Africa Twin—with a top box, side panniers, a Kriega roll bag on the rear seat, and a large tank bag—looked rather unwieldy but was actually a joy to ride. It was the first time I had ridden an automatic Honda (or any automatic bike for that matter) and, after the initial skepticism, I had grown to enjoy the transmission for this kind of tour. Liz, on a Honda CB500X, was similarly laden. At this point, we really needed to find a stop where we could wash some clothes. We were hoping that our planned overnight stay at the Big Meadows Lodge would provide that opportunity.