Skyline Drive: South District
Swift Run Gap to Rockfish Gap: the quietest 39 miles of the Drive.
Greene, Rockingham, Albemarle and Augusta counties
The South District runs from Swift Run Gap (mile 65.5), where US 33 crosses between Elkton and Stanardsville, to the Rockfish Gap entrance (mile 104.6) at I-64 and the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It has Loft Mountain campground and wayside, Blackrock Summit, and the waterfalls on Doyles River and Jones Run.
Big Run, the largest watershed in the park, lies below the Drive here. Elkton, Waynesboro and Crozet are the closest towns.
Hikes
Places to stay
Drive time to the trailhead. Open a stay for drive times to every trailhead.
Unclaimed
Doyles River Cabin (PATC)
4min to the trailhead
Unclaimed
Loft Mountain Campground
7min to the trailhead
Unclaimed
Massanutten Resort
59min to the trailhead
Places
- Blackrock Summit
A talus slope of loose boulders with views across the Shenandoah Valley, a short walk from the Drive.
- Jones Run Falls
A 42-foot waterfall on Jones Run in the South District.
- Hightop Mountain
A rocky viewpoint at 3,296 feet, reached on the Appalachian Trail just south of Swift Run Gap.
- Turk Mountain
A 2,981-foot summit in the Shenandoah Wilderness with a view to the west.
- Chimney Rock
A rock viewpoint on the Riprap Trail in the Shenandoah Wilderness.