Shenandoah: A Western-Style Park in the East

01This week on our National Park's journey, we visit a mountainous landscape on America's East Coast.

02Within the park are rocky peaks, rolling green hills, and spectacular waterfalls.

03It is also home to hundreds of black bears.

04Welcome to Shenandoah National Park in the state of Virginia.

05Shenandoah sits in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

06The mountains are part of the larger Appalachian Mountain Range.

07The park's hiking trails, waterfalls, and wildlife appeal to nature lovers and adventurers.

08Shenandoah National Park is perhaps best known for the road that goes through it, Skyline Drive.

09Skyline Drive runs nearly 170 kilometers north to south.

10It is the only road in the park.

11There are more than 70 overlooks along the way, where people can pull their car off the road.

12These overlooks provide visitors with beautiful views of the Shenandoah Valley.

13The road was built in the 1930s, at a time when the automobile was becoming popular.

14Shenandoah's north entrance lies less than 120 kilometers from Washington, D.C.

15Early planners wanted a major national park like those in the American West, here on the East Coast, close to big cities.

16In fact, Shenandoah was described as an eastern park in the Western tradition.

17And early park planners wanted Skyline Drive to be the single greatest feature of the park.

18Denise Machado is a park ranger at Shenandoah.

19She explains that the park soon became a place for people to escape the noise and heat of big cities.

20It was created just so people could kind of get away, a place to escape the big city and the hustle and bustle.

21The pre-air condition days, you know, this was the place to be.

22The temperatures were about 10 degrees cooler up here on the mountain.

23But Shenandoah's history is not without controversy.

24To create the place that park planners envisioned, many families were forced to leave behind properties in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

25Shenandoah National Park was formed from more than 3,000 individual land purchases.

26They were presented to the federal government by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

27Shenandoah officially became a national park in 1936.

28Today, most of the buildings and structures that once stood in the area are long gone.

29But you can find some signs of the past.

30George Corbin, who built the log structure, was forced to leave the land in the late 1930s, just after the creation of the National Park.

31Today, the cabin is operated by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club.

32The club permits people to rent the cabin.

33Shenandoah National Park has more than 800 kilometers of hiking trails.

34They take visitors to rocky mountain peaks, grassy meadows, and forested canyons.

35The waterfalls are especially drawn to the park's famous waterfalls.

36The waterfalls are definitely the most popular.

37We have nine waterfalls.

38Dark Hollow Falls is our most popular.

39It's a beautiful waterfall.

40It's a 70-foot waterfall.

41It's a 1.4-mile hike, round trip.

42It follows along a stream.

43And you're right at the base of the falls looking up.

44And you can feel the spray.

45And, you know, it's a really great experience.

46Grace Williams hiked to Dark Hollow Falls with her daughter on her birthday.

47My daughter's gift for me to bring me to the National Park.

48And it's on my bucket list.

49So I always love falls.

50I like the sound.

51The water is refreshing.

52So they did tell us it's kind of like a moderate hike.

53I do have knee problems, but I just wanted to challenge it.

54And I'm glad I came.

55Yeah, it's beautiful.

56Another of Shenandoah's famous hikes is called Old Rag.

57It is almost 15 kilometers long.

58To get to the top of Old Rag Mountain, hikers must scramble up large rocks.

59It is a long and difficult hike.

60But the views from the top bring hikers from all across the country and world.

61Because it is close to many big cities, Shenandoah's trails are often crowded with people.

62More than one million people visit the park each year.

63Although Shenandoah was created to be an easy escape from big East Coast cities, today it sees visitors from all over the world.

64It's amazing how many people you meet that come from far-flung countries and corners of the world.

65We've had people from Africa.

66We get a lot of people from Germany, France, Sweden, Netherlands.

67So you just never know where they're going to come from.

68Machado says summer and fall are the most popular times to visit the park.

69While summer is a good time to enjoy the waterfalls, the fall brings beautiful autumn colors.

70In the middle of October, the trees begin to lose their leaves.

71The leaves change from green to different shades of yellow, orange, and red as winter approaches.

72On weekends in October, it can take up to two hours just to get into the park.

73The park is home to between 400 to 600 black bears.

74Visitors to Shenandoah National Park have a good chance of seeing a black bear.

75The park is home to between 400 to 600 black bears.

76It has one of the densest black bear populations of any national park.

77Denise Machado knows a lot about these black bears.

78In fact, her nickname is the Bear Lady.

79Well, I am known in Shenandoah as the Bear Lady.

80I see a lot of bears every season.

81I'm in the park early in the morning, late in the evening.

82I see anywhere from, you know, 400 or so bears every year.

83And it's wonderful to see.

84I never get tired of seeing them.

85They're all different and they're all special.

86Machado gives visitors advice for what to do if they see a black bear.

87So if you see a bear, you want to clap your hands, say, hey, hey, bears.

88They really don't like to be startled.

89You don't want to try and sneak up on them to get a photo or anything.

90You want to make sure that they are totally aware you're there.

91Malachi and his older brother, Brent, visited Shenandoah National Park with their parents.

92The family traveled here from Cincinnati, Ohio.

93The family hiked the Little Stony Man Trail.

94Along the way, they came upon a black bear.

95I really liked how we could see the animals.

96We saw a really big bear.

97And he was really friendly and he didn't do anything.

98He was just eating.

99The park's bears and other wildlife are a big part of what attracts so many visitors to Shenandoah.

100Shenandoah.

101I'm Ashley Thompson.

102And I'm Adam Brock.

103And I'm Adam Brock.

104And I'm Adam Brock.

105And I'm Adam Brock.