Shenandoah National Park is a land of special places—cool mountain hollows, waterfalls, meadows full of butterflies, trails winding among native wildflowers. Habitats here teem with an amazing variety of living creatures, plants, trees, and fungi. These special places were well loved by families who lived here or came to visit long before the national park was established in 1935.

Take time to appreciate them.

The beautiful woodland orchid you discover may have taken 10 years to build enough energy to send forth its one blossom. That cellar foundation you're sitting on may have stored a family's entire supply of winter canned goods, proudly laid by. That gnarled oak tree may have shaded Stonewall Jackson's troops on their way to Chancellorsville. The rock you're resting on may be the remains of lava that oozed out of the earth over 500 million years ago. The lichen growing on the rock may have taken 50 years to grow the size of a quarter.

These delicate, inspiring places and things—which have lasted for so long—can be forever altered by one selfish or thoughtless act of removal, trampling, cutting, or marking.

The more time you spend in the park, the better you'll get to know and understand the special places and things we protect here. Perhaps you will help us to make sure they remain undamaged and thought provoking for many years to come.

Shenandoah National Park encourages the practice of Leave No Trace principles.