Good morning,

A 3-4 day trip to enjoy the Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah National Park, and even the hot springs in the George Washington National Forest would be a fine May excursion. The following are some ideas for your consideration:

About an hour west of Dulles (more like 1.5 to 2.0 from Reagan National Airport) I-66 crosses the Blue Ridge Mountains just east of Front Royal, VA. Just south of Front Royal is the northern end of Skyline Drive (SD) and Shenandoah National Park (SNP). The SNP occupies the entire width of the Blue Ridge Mountains for about 105 miles, all the way down to Rockfish Gap at I-64 west of Charlottesville. The SD runs along the ridge top for the entire distance and offers great views into the Shenandoah Valley to the west and into the Piedmont to the east. It's a wholly non-commercial highway with low posted speed limits (not over 45 mph), so travel is at a relaxed pace. There are motel-hotel type accomodations along the SD within the SNP.

Along the west side of the SNP and SD are the broad Shenandoah Valley and the Alleghany Mountains on the west side of "The Valley", as it's locally referred to. The Valley is as pleasant of a pastoral setting as you'll find anywhere and the towns of Staunton and Lexington offer quaint accomodations. The Alleghanies are a series of long parallel ridges with pastoral valleys in between. The ridges are generally within the George Washington National Forest (GWNF). The GWNF is rather more suitable to hiking, backpacking, camping, fishing, and hunting than to less "roughing it" pursuits, but it's a great area for a drive.

Within the Alleghanies are the various hot and warm springs of Virginia. The area is generally accessed via US 220 from the north or south or VA 39 and VA 42 from the east/northeast. In the small village of Hot Springs is "The Homestead", a large luxury resort hotel complex operated by Omni Resorts. There are on-site hot spring pools (piped into man-made pools) and other water features. Just 5 miles north up US 220 is the tiny village of Warm Springs, site of the "Jefferson Pools". The Jefferson Pools are partially enclosed in open-roof structures built in the 1700s and early 1800s. They are so named since Thomas Jefferson spent time "taking the waters" in his day. Be aware that one man's "rustic" is another man's "dilapidated"--the buildings are 200 years old and they look somewhat sketchy from both the outside and the inside. They must provide an enjoyable soak, even to those more accustomed to luxurious settings, since The Homestead operates the facilities and busses their guests up to the Jefferson Pools daily.

About 5 miles west of Warm Springs is the Hidden Valley Recreation Area within the GWNF. At Hidden Valley is a bed & breakfast housed in a restored antebellum mansion. We've only seen the mansion from the outside, but it looks like a marvelous place to spend an afternoon, evening, and morning, with a soak in the Jefferson Pools preceding the stay, succeeding it, or both.

Just inside West Virginia, west of US 220, is Seneca Rocks Recreation Area. Seneca Rocks will be festooned with rock climbers on fair weather days, there is a nice museum/visitor center, and some easy to difficult hiking trails. Access is from Franklin, WV on the south and Petersburg, WV on the north. From either direction, access back to the Shenandoah Valley is good and takes between 1 and 2 hours.

Have fun planning your late Spring trip to the mountains of Virginia!

Foy