By James Kulp

Just over an hour and a half away from Collegiate, Shenandoah National Park has something for everyone to enjoy. Unbeknownst to many, with a little persistence and exploration, the Park offers endless opportunities to become immersed in nature. The Park is split by Skyline Drive, which cuts through the Blue Ridge Mountains and has 75 pull-offs overlooking the Shenandoah Valley. According to the National Park Service, the Park has over 500 miles of hiking trails, including 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail, which spans roughly 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine. The Park also has plentiful overnight camping and lodging options to enjoy the outstanding wildlife and scenery. With nearly 200,000 acres of public land to explore, the Park is a truly special place to me and many thousands of Virginians. 

My first time visiting the Park was in the fall of 2017. My primary interest and hobby at that time was fly fishing and fly-tying. Fly fishing involves lightly weighted lures, a unique casting motion, and it’s the primary method of choice used for catching trout. Fly-tying is the equally interesting art of creating the lures involved in catching the trout. It is an immensely rewarding experience to create something the night before an outing and see it produce a catch the next day.

I first came across this method of fishing while attending Camp River’s Bend, a popular summer camp for boys in the Collegiate community, located in Millboro Springs, Virginia on the banks of the Cowpasture River. Former Collegiate Middle School English teacher and Camp River’s Bend counselor Charlie Williams, seeing how passionate we had become about fishing, offered to take me, Brooks Hall (‘21), and B Pollard (‘21) to Shenandoah on what was the first of many adventures to come. 

Virginia is not generally considered among the most ideal fly fishing destinations in the United States when compared to the streams and rivers of Montana, Colorado, and Utah, but perhaps it should be. Shenandoah National Park alone boasts 90 unique mountain streams, which are home to the only native char species to the East Coast: brook trout. Dubbed the shark of the mountain for their aggressive feeding habits, brook trout are small, only reaching around 12 inches in this environment, but they’re exceptionally entertaining fish to target with a fly rod. It is not uncommon to catch 30 fish on an average day, and 50 is not out of the question.

However, brook trout have become increasingly scarce with every passing year. They require pristine, spring-fed streams that are under threat from human development, from the introduction of invasive species, such as the brown trout pictured above, and from changes in climate, among other things. The Park represents one of the few areas where this habitat is protected while still open to recreational use. Regulations on keeping brook trout for consumption in the Park vary from stream to stream. However, on those areas that do allow catch and keep, there are strict regulations as to how large and how many fish may be kept. 

After planning the for trip the previous week, we left before the sun rose at 6:30 am on Saturday, November 18, 2017.  The stream we chose to visit on this particular outing was the Rapidan River, well known for being the personal favorite of President Herbert Hoover, who established the Rapidan Camp along its banks in 1929. We decided to access the river from the base of the east slope of Double Top Mountain, which required a five-mile drive along an old, degraded service road. 

After close to two hours of travel, we finally laid eyes on the stream, littered with five to ten-foot waterfalls. It is a dense forest home to black bear, deer, and various bird species, and   its banks have remained almost untouched by man. I immediately fell in love with the remote nature of the surroundings and the adventure it took to get there. After several minutes of fishing, I managed to catch my first brook trout. I discovered a deep plunge pool in between two large waterfalls, and after a short fight, I landed what is to this day one of my top ten largest brook trout. I will never forget the experience and the euphoria I felt after accomplishing my goal and connecting with nature. After admiring the trout’s stunning white-tipped orange fins and crimson spots surrounded by blue halos, I was hooked. The day ended in success all around, as each of us caught numerous trout. Since this fall day in 2017, my friends and I have been exploring new parts of the Park at every opportunity.  

Shenandoah National Park is one of many expansive resources we all have at our disposal here in Virginia. For me the allure is fly fishing, but the park has so much more to offer. It is a great place to backpack, mountain bike, or even just take a short nature walk. Hall puts it best when he says “fly fishing in the Shenandoah National Park provides me with an escape to the hassle of everyday life, as well as giving me the opportunity to slow down and appreciate the beauty of nature.” So get outside and explore what your area has to offer.  

Featured image credit: James Kulp.