Shenandoah River State Park

Shenandoah River State Park is near Bentonville, VA, about 15 miles north of of Luray. It lies along the South Fork of the Shenandoah River and has more than 1,600 acres along 5.2 miles of river shoreline. The park has a very nice and informative visitor center, an overlook with a wonderful view of the Shenandoah River and Massanutten Mountain, a pollinator meadow, and other features including river access, a riverside picnic area, picnic shelters, trails, campsites, and cabins with hiking, biking, and horseback riding.

We had learned that there would be a Virginia Bluebell Festival at the park on April 13, 2024. We were planning to visit the park then but it was very windy that day so we postposed our visit several days for nicer weather.

When we arrived and started looking at the flowers, it was obvious that the Virginia bluebells were past their peak but we looked at a number of possible areas of interest shown on the park map. When we visited the pollinator meadow, we realized it was too early in the season to see flowers and pollinators as the meadow was still all brown and dry. There were only a few wildflowers visible – several are shown in the Additional Images section below. Our conclusion was that the park was excellent for camping, hiking, and horseback riding but less for flowers and photography, except for the overlook.

Additional Information

Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation: Raymond R. “Andy” Guest, Jr. Shenandoah River State Park

Additional Images

Technical Data

These images are all High Dynamic Range (HDR) images, each of which consists of three photos taken at different exposures and combined with Aurora HDR software. (Please see the Definitions, Software, & Apps page for additional information about this technique.)