Waynesboro is Virginia’s best-located adventure town
Waynesboro is possibly Virginia’s most ideally located adventure town, situated between the Shenandoah National Park and the northern gateway to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The location offers a jumping-off point for a variety of outdoor activities, including everything from peak-to-peak hikes to wine country bike trips and pastoral paddles.
The Xtreme Fest of the Blue Ridge is an annual event of the town’s desire for adventure. Best of all, outdoor activities in Waynesboro can be topped off or brilliantly described at one of the town’s three craft breweries: Basic City Beer Company, Seven Arrows Brewing Company or Stable Craft Brewing. Here are ten things you can do in Waynesboro to make your adventure.
Get a Taste of Appalachian Trail
Waynesboro, located within two miles from the interstate trail, was designated as a Trail Community by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy in 2012, and it has long welcomed hikers. It has several amenities, including a campsite reserved exclusively for thru-hikers, plenty of spots to shower and connect to the internet and shuttle services. In June, the town hosts a Hiker Fest to celebrate thru-hikers. Waynesboro is an excellent starting point for a hike because of its hiker-friendly atmosphere. A mile down the Appalachian Trail from Rockfish Gap is the entry to Shenandoah National Park. The Calf Mountain Shelter is a 7-mile hike within the park, making for an easy overnight stay. Do you prefer to travel south? The Paul Wolfe Shelter is only a 5-mile hike from Waynesboro and the trail passes by the remains of an old cottage and a sylvan cemetery along the way, showcasing relics of the region’s human legacy.
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Climb a Crag
The abundance of open landscapes around Waynesboro provides not only rugged routes and navigable waterways but also lots of scaled surfaces. Climbers can visit the Love Gap Crags, located right off the Blue Ridge Parkway (milepost 16) or the Old Rag, Overall Run and Mary’s Rock regions of Shenandoah National Park, for classic climbs. Beginning in Skyland, Shenandoah Mountain Guides provide climbing and rappelling tours in the park. Climbing tours and training are available for beginners along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Wintergreen Resort, outside Waynesboro, by Blue Ridge Mountain Guides.
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Discover Aqua-blazing
Hydrophilic thru-hikers in Waynesboro have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to “aqua-blaze” a part of the Appalachian Trail. While some hikers believe that the only way to complete the classic 2,190-mile walk is to record every single terrestrial mile, others see the opportunity to paddle a beautiful length of the river, as the ideal excuse to leave dry land for a bit, especially one that runs parallel to the trail. Hikers can take a paddle and float the south fork of the Shenandoah River to Harpers Ferry, about 50 miles, starting from Waynesboro. On a two- or three-day journey. Shenandoah River Adventures can provide aqua-blazing expeditions departing from the Port Republic, just north of Waynesboro.
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