Blue Ridge Parkway & Shenandoah Pky Question

[JudyJB]

Has anyone taken this drive? I am planning on staying near Savannah and Charleston on my way back to Ohio from Florida, but I thought this would be a good route for a change. I am thinking of getting on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Mt Pisgah on April 9 and spending maybe 3-4 days driving the Blue Ridge Parkway. Then taking the Shenandoah Drive from April 14, arriving at Front Royal about April 15, and making it to Ohio the next day.

I know these are mountains and I am heading north in April, but do you think it is too early??? I need to be in Michigan on April for a mammogram, but I don't want to get into snow. One of the campgrounds I looked at does not open until May 1, which bothers me a little.

Any suggestions on places to stay along the way, preferably with cell service and maybe electric??

[Bethers]

I've done the entire route of both. It's been several years so I can't say whether cell service has improved. I stayed in the cgs along the route... no hookups, and I doubt they had any service back then.

The ride is beautiful. Knowing you've driven in the Rockies, I don't think you'll have any problems here. Mountainous, yes, but not like out west.

I highly recommend the drive.

If you need hookups and service, there are lots of cgs off the route. Maybe others can help you there.

[Acadianmom]

I drove the Skyline Drive from Front Royal going South in 2010. It runs into the Blue Ridge Parkway. The speed limit on the Skyline is 35 and the Blue Ridge is 40 I think. My plan was to stay on the Blue Ridge all the way to Asheville and tour the Biltmore. By the time I got to Roanoke I had enough of the hazy valleys and all the up and down. I stayed at one of the campgrounds with no hookups. Before I got to Roanoke I started looking for a way to get off and over to I-81. All the side roads to the West had a warning to not take them pulling a trailer or in a motorhome. There may be campgrounds off the drive with hookups but I don't think any on it have hookups. I don't think there was even a dump site. The only way I could get a cell signal was to climb a hill by the campground. It is beautiful but tiring and your motorhome is a lot larger than mine.

Martha

[havingfunnow]

My most recent trip was last spring, late April -- fetching a car from Florida, so no camping. I drove between Cherokee and Blowing Rock, and had cell service the whole way. Lots of fog on some days, but otherwise find.

[eviebooboo]

Judy,

I live in Charlottesville, VA, about 30 min. east of the southernmost part of the Skyline Drive/northernmost part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and can tell you it's a fabulous drive, but you might have snow in April. The last few years our worst snowfalls here have been in March!

This past July I drove from Linville Falls NC all the way up the Parkway and because it runs near so many towns, there seemed to be plenty of places to get off and find private RV campgrounds with hookups. But then, I only made 2 overnight stops, both of them in the campgrounds on the Parkway, since I didn't need hookups.

Good luck, and let me know if I can help. If I knew where I was going to be in April, I'd offer you a plug-in and water at my place, but that's really in flux right now!

Eve

[Liz]

The Blue Ridge and Skyline drive is my favorite route to travel when I am heading to or from the NE. However, I have never tried it in April. Check weather forecasts, as was mentioned, snow and ice are possible. Later in Spring when the rhododendrons and mountain laurels are blooming...stunning! And fall is equally stunning.