Shenandoah National Park is only 15 miles from Blandy Experimental Farm. The Park begins at Front Royal, VA and follows the Blue Ridge south to Waynesboro, VA. In addition to offering breathtaking views of the Shenandoah Valley from Skyline Drive, it also offers some of the best day hikes in the eastern United States. Perhaps the best of them all is the hike to the rugged summit of Old Rag Mountain. The 7.2 mile loop begins in a hemlock hollow at 910 feet above sea level and ascends through a rich deciduous forest to the granite outcrops that make the hike such an exceptional challenge. The REU and graduate students pictured here have scrambled over, under, and between giant boulders to the top of the 3268 foot mountain where they enjoyed lunch and views of the rolling Virginia Piedmont to the east and the Blue Ridge stretching north and south.