This year's field trip will consist of a traverse of the central Piedmont, Blue Ridge, and Ridge-and-Valley regions of Virginia.  We will see a wide range of physiographic, climatic, cultural, and economic features along the way.  Students are advised to wear long pants, sturdy walking/hiking shoes, and should have a sweatshirt or light jacket for higher elevations and caves.  You might also want to bring a camera, especially if the weather cooperates and we get some spectacular vistas.  You may pack a lunch (the Dining Hall will provide you with one if you're on a meal plan) and then buy a fast-food dinner in Staunton or plan on buying fast food at Luray and Staunton.  I'll bring an ice chest along, so you can keep some drinks cool.  We won't be away from civilization for too long anywhere we go (except Massanutten Mountain and the Ridge-and-Valley leg), so there will be opportunities for democratic votes on stops for breaks.  At this sitting, there should be no entrance fees that you'll be responsible for.  Any other spending is up to you.  We will be leaving from Stevens parking lot at 7:00am and should return no later than 10:00pm (yes, that's up to 15 hours!), but that will depend on delays, weather, and possible changes in course.  On the dry-run I conducted last Sunday (in the rain and mist), I managed to roughly do this entire trip and returned by 9:00pm.  But then again, I wasn't in a van and I was alone, and forced drives are nothing out of the ordinary for me!  As this is the first field trip of its kind in a while, we should try to be as flexible as possible and be willing to change plans as we see fit at the time.

1st Leg -- Farmville to Swift Run Gap (approximately 2.5 hours): This is primarily a transit leg that gets up onto the Skyline Drive, but we will see some features of note along the way.

Longwood campus, to US 15-VA 20- US 29 north, to US 33 west

Willis Mountain - US 15 north; we'll stop in the parking lot of the mine office for a look at a big hunk of kyanite ore and possibly a clear-cut for a view of the mining activities on Willis Mountain.

US 15 at VA 20 in Dillwyn; if the weather is good (read: clear), we'll get a great view of the Blue Ridge and the Inner Piedmont from the car wash parking lot; note the rolling landscape as we move into the Inner Piedmont.

US 20 to Charlottesville, then US 29 to Ruckersville, then US 33 to Swift Run Gap; this gets us to an entrance to Shenandoah National Park and the Skyline Drive.

2nd Leg -- Shenandoah NP/Skyline Drive (approximately 1.5 hours) - This section of the Skyline Drive, between US 33 and US 211, takes us to the highest point on the Drive; there are many turnouts and scenic views that we will stop for, depending on the weather.  The most notable are:

Hensley Hollow Overlook - great view of the south end of Massanutten Mountain and Page Valley.

Big Meadows, Big Meadows Visitors Center, and Blackrock Overlook - this is an anthropogenic meadow that is showing signs of successional regrowth despite the efforts of the Park Service; we'll stop at the Visitors Center for a 20 minute break; there is a good display on the displacement of cove residents when the park was created.

Franklin Cliffs Overlook - This excellent view of Massanutten Mountain is situated near a crossing point for one of Stonewall Jackson's forced marches from the Valley to battlefields in the east.

Thoroughfare Mountain Overlook - one of the few good views toward the Piedmont on this section of the Skyline Drive; this is near the highpoint of the Drive and is notable for the now-skeletal relict forest of hemlocks.

Stony Man Mountain Overlook - this has a view of what can only charitably be called a "stone profile"; see what you make of it!  This is one of the best places in the park to see the layers that make up the Blue Ridge.

Pinnacles Overlook - here is a good view of the granitic rock of Old Rag, a favorite climbing and hiking spot to the east.

3rd Leg -- Massanutten Mountain (approximately 1 hour) - US 211 to CR 675 west in Luray to Massanutten Mountain; this route takes us by the caves at Luray, through the town, and past a sinkhole field; beyond the South Fork of the Shenandoah, we rise up and over the eastern ridge of the Massanutten Mountain syncline; of special note as we rise up the hairpin bends will be the outward-jutting yellow sandstone that holds up this side of the mountain.

CR 675 to Kings Crossing; this takes us along the bottom of the fold that is Massanutten Mountain; note the shale that is exposed in the road cuts; if you're quick, you may also glimpse an oddity: exotic prickly pear cactus growing on the dry shale soils; at Kings Crossing we'll stop to view a small hillside with distinctive warps and folds in the shale (watch out for the cow chips!).  Also notable on this stretch is the concentration of surviving German forebay barns and Lutheran churches that are diagnostic of the German settlement of the lower Shenandoah region.

Kings Crossing to CR 678 to CR 758 west, to Woodstock Tower - this tower affords an excellent view of the Shenandoah Valley proper and is the best place to see the entrenched meanders of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River.

CR 758 to CR 665 to US 11 south - this will be the scariest part of the drive, as CR 758 makes sharp hairpin turns on the steep descent of the northern flank of Massanutten Mountain!  Be sure to count the number hairpins!

4th Leg -- Shenandoah Valley (approximately 3 hours) - This section of the trip will afford a view of the physical, cultural, and economic aspects of the Shenandoah Valley.

US 11 through Woodstock to I-81 south to US 11 at New Market to south US 11; we'll see log structures, poultry processing plants, and contoured fields; at New Market,   The reason for getting off the interstate at New Market is to tour a cavern (Shenandoah Caverns) for an up-close view of karst features.  Farther south on US 11 is the only marked portion of the Fairfax Line and one of the best photo opportunities on the trip just inside Rockingham County.

US 11 to I-81 to first Harrisonburg exit, then north on US 11 and west on CR 765; this takes us across sinkhole country and past some very well-maintained dairy and poultry operations;  for you urban and suburban kids, it's a good opportunity to crack open the windows and smell the glory that is farming country!

CR 765 to CR 701 to US 33 to CR 733; this puts us on the flanks of Mole Hill, a volcanic plug that is one of the few evidences of volcanism in the Valley.

CR 733 to CR 734 to US 33 to CR 701 south to SR 42 to CR 747 to CR 731 to Natural Chimneys Regional Park - this gets us to Natural Chimneys, an erosional karst feature; walk in amongst the towers and note that these columns of limestone have been metamorphosed by contact with intrusive lavas, making them more resistant to erosion than the surrounding limestone rock.
 

5th Leg -- Ridge-and-Valley Region - Optional circuit west on US 33, south on US 220, and east on US 250 (approximately 3 hours) - This leg will depend on the time left after visiting Natural Chimneys; it will have to be about 3:00 or 3:30pm to make the trip worthwhile; an option is to make a shorter trip down SR 42 to US 250 and make the trip to Monterey in Highland County and back (approximately 2 hours); in any event, we'll either see the stunning ridges along US 33 west on the way to Franklin, WV and the somewhat less stunning ridges through Highland County and Augusta Counties, or simply the latter.

CR 730 to SR 257 to US 33 west to Franklin, WV - this route takes us across several ridges and up to the edge of the Allegheny Plateau; of note is the red sandtone that forms the ridges; also note that the farther west we travel, the less warping and tilting you'll see in the rock layers;

Franklin to US 220 to Monterey - this traverses one of the long valleys of the Ridge-and-Valley region and takes us to Highland County; in Monterey, look for

Trimble Knob, another volcanic plug; Highland County has climatic properties similar to areas farther north in New England and as a result, sugar maple is one of the commodities produced there.

US 250 - if time permits, we'll backtrack on US 250 and climb up on the Allegheny Plateau at the VA-WV border; heading back east, we'll stop at the Augusta

County line for the stunning sunset view back across the ridges.
 

Return Leg (approximately 3.5 hours) -- US 250 to I 81 to I 64 east to SR 20 south to US 15 south to Farmville and Longwood College; this leg will probably be after sundown, so you'll mostly see darkness.

Updated October 13, 2010