Sight · Shenandoah National Park
A rocky ledge opens above the creek in a basalt gorge.
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The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Shenandoah Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Shenandoah National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Shenandoah audio tourRecorded for this area
Range View Overlook: Looking Along the Blue Ridge“Up ahead is Range View Overlook, a quick roadside stop looking south along the Blue Ridge. Keyser Mountain fills the nearer view, with Old Rag and Stony Man much farther along the line of ridges.”
Plays on the road 0.8 mi from Big Devils Stairs Overlook in the Parkwolf Shenandoah Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Big Devils Stairs Overlook is a rocky ledge on the east rim of a steep gorge in Shenandoah's North District. You look down toward the creek and waterfall, with a wooded valley and distant mountains beyond. Reaching the main ledge takes about 5.2 miles round trip from Gravel Springs Gap, so save it for a day when the hike itself sounds good.
Start at Gravel Springs Gap on Skyline Drive and follow Bluff Trail to Big Devils Stairs Trail. Around 2.5 miles in, a short scramble leads right from the path toward the first rim opening. Continue about a tenth of a mile to the broader second ledge; that is the better payoff, and the turnoff is easy to miss.
Cliffs drop more than 100 feet toward the creek. From the broad rock shelf, the opposite rocky slope and wooded valley lead your eye to the ridges beyond. Leaf-off in winter or early spring opens more of the gorge and creek, though fallen leaves can also make parts of the trail slippery. For a photo with depth, keep some of the shelf in the foreground and the ridges beyond the gorge.
Big Devils Stairs cuts through metabasalt, and piles of basalt boulders appear along the descent. The walk starts in the woods and ends at an exposed stone rim, so you get a close look at the rough rock as well as the view.
Wildlife
325 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
21 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
1,036 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
167 sightingsWild TurkeyMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
93 sightingsTimber RattlesnakeMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
24 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Shenandoah. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ModerateBig Devils Stairs Trail5.2 mi · 3 hr · 1.2 mi awayTwo rocky rim overlooks face a steep, banded gorge.
ModerateNorth and South Marshall via the Appalachian Trail4.5 mi · 3 hr · 1.2 mi awayTwo wooded summit climbs open onto rocky views across the Blue Ridge.
ChallengingLittle Devils Stairs Loop7.4 mi · 8.5 hr · 2.2 mi awayA full-day gorge loop with cascades, scrambles, and a family cemetery.
ChallengingHogback Mountain and Thornton River Loop18.4 mi · 21.5 hr · 2.3 mi awayAn 18.4-mile, three-day loop linking Hogback views and Thornton River.
ModerateHogback Mountain Loop6.4 mi · 4 hr · 2.3 mi awayA ridge loop with valley ledges, steep climbing, and a creek crossing.
ChallengingKeyser, Piney, and Jeremys Run Circuit25 mi · 20 hr · 2.9 mi awayA four-day backcountry loop with fifteen stream crossings.
ChallengingKeyser and Piney Loop13 mi · 12 hr · 3 mi awayA demanding overnight creek and ridge loop for experienced hikers.
ModerateJordan River Trail2.8 mi · 1.8 hr · 3.2 mi awayA quiet, short climb along Jordan River to Thoroughfare Gap.
Sight · 0.8 mi awayRange View OverlookA quick pullout for a long look across layered Blue Ridge ridges.
Sight · 1.1 mi awaySouth MarshallRock ledges open a high view over Skyline Drive and distant ridges.
Sight · 1.5 mi awayNorth MarshallA short Appalachian Trail hike leads to two Blue Ridge ledges.
Scenic pullout · 1.7 mi awayGimlet Ridge OverlookA quick pullout for layered valleys and Signal Knob.
Scenic pullout · 2 mi awayMount Marshall OverlookPiedmont views from a pullout with a John Marshall land story.
Scenic pullout · 2.1 mi awayBrowntown Valley OverlookLook west over the valley that grew around Abraham Brown's mills.
Scenic pullout · 2.5 mi awayLittle Hogback OverlookA small roadside view of Browntown Valley and the Appalachian Trail.
Scenic pullout · 2.8 mi awayLittle Devils Stairs OverlookA quick pause for the steep gorge and layered ridgesParkwolf’s Shenandoah ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
