Hawksbill Summit
Luray, VA
Shenandoah's highest peak at 4,051 feet offers a classic cliff-top perspective over the Shenandoah Valley - the stone wall summit platform frames the view perfectly.
Photography Guide
- Best Time
- golden hour
- Crowds
- Moderate
- Shot Types
- panoramiclandscapewide
- Best Seasons
- fallspring
Author's Comments
The summit platform here is built from the same stone the mountain is made of, and that continuity matters. You do not arrive and then look at a view. You arrive and become part of the ridge. The Shenandoah Valley opens below in every direction that counts, and the scale is genuine in a way that photographs rarely capture fully. I have made the climb in October, when the forest below was mid-turn and the valley floor was still green, that particular layering of color you only get in the two weeks before peak. The light in late afternoon comes in low and raking and turns the ridgelines to the west a deep, smoky blue. The summit platform, rough and wind-worn, gives your foreground something real to stand on. Spring is worth the cold. The peregrine falcons nest on the cliffs below and if you arrive quietly and wait, you will hear them before you see them. That alone justifies the climb in April. Two approaches, neither long. The elevation does the work. Come hungry for horizon.
Gallery
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