Shenandoah National Park is open the year round. However, you may occasionally find Skyline Drive closed for short periods because of ice, snow, or heavy fog. Big Meadows Campground is open the year around, and lodge and cottage accommodations are available from April through October; exact dates depend on the weather. Entrance fees are suspended during the winter.

Spring.

When the buds turn red on the maple trees, you know that spring is on the way to the Blue Ridge. Soon, the pale-green veil of new leaves begins to creep slowly—about a hundred feet a day—up the slopes from the valley floor until the mountainsides are painted with the color of spring. In the woods, the violets and marsh marigolds are blooming together in clumps beside the springs, and tiny blossoms appear everywhere in sunny patches on the forest floor. The air is crisp and fresh. Except for a few mild days, it is cold in the park until June. Along the drive, the dogwood and redbud bloom early, followed by azalea and black locust, and in early June by the delicate pink and white of laurel.

Summer.

These are the hazy, lazy days that often bring afternoon thunderstorms and spectacular waves of fog that sweep across the mountaintops and hide the valleys. Temperatures are a comfortable 15° lower than those in the valley—mid-80’s in the daytime, mid-40’s at night. At midday, the air is heavy with the damp, earthy smell of the woods, and the sweet scent of wildflowers in the fields. It is a good time of year to go for a leisurely walk in the woods, where shade is everywhere, or to pluck blackberries and blueberries in the Big Meadows. And if a shower catches up with you, you’ll be dry again before you get back. We suggest that you take a short walk out to Stony Man or Crescent Rock and gaze at the incredible patchwork of farm and field in the valley below. Field glasses will add to your enjoyment of this view.

Autumn.

This time of year brings the “down-flowing” of autumn color from mountaintops to the coves and hollows. By mid-September the foliage has begun to change, starting with the Virginia creeper. Exquisite patches of color—the blood-red of the gum, the red and yellow of the maple—appear in large areas of green, and soon whole mountainsides have “caught fire.” There is a series of “color-peaks” as varied as the different latitudes and altitudes within the park, but the most lavish displays usually occur between October 10 and 20. This is hiking weather, and campfire-picnic weather.

Winter.

Do not discount the beauty of the Blue Ridge in winter when the trees shed their leaves and open up new vistas. Now, you can see long distances in every direction. The cold crisp days are brilliant, and the evergreens stand out like bright-green exclamations against the snowy white of the hillsides. After a storm, with the roads freshly cleared, you can come up and inspect Stony Man, who will be wearing a frosty beard. Gleaming icicles cascade over a cliff like a frozen Niagara. On crisp winter mornings observe the ghostly fog “fingers” that protrude from branches like ruffled white plumes.