Summer at Massanutten Resort with Family

Vacationing with your family at Massanutten near McGaheysville, Virginia

Massanutten has been a winter travel favorite for our immediate and extended family, but this year, we tried out a week-long timeshare week in mid-July. It’s been excellent, and one kiddo even said it was better than our all-inclusive trip to Mexico because we’ve done something different every day. Now, that’s some praise!

When you’re a party of 10 with an age range of 71 years, vacation planning is required. You’re probably reading this blog because you’re planning your summer family trip to Massanutten, so here’s what we did each day and some general Massanutten planning tips. One of our requirements was no activity should be over an hour’s drive, and to be honest, setting this limitation helped us be creative and spend a lot less time in the car. I hope you’ll also find a recommendation or two useful in your trip planning.

Our Summer Week in Massanutten Activity Schedule

Sunday	Rodeo and Evening Arrival
Monday	Blueberry Picking and River Tubing
Tuesday	Massanutten Water Park
Wednesday	Introduction to Mountain Biking and Pool
Thursday	Spelunking – Adventure Caving and Pool
Friday	Hiking and Miniature Golf
Saturday	Horseback riding

Strasburg Virginia Rodeo

It’s a family tradition that we see a rodeo on vacation. It was perfect timing that the Sunday we were driving to Massanutten there was a rodeo in Strasburg, Virginia which is on the way to McGaheysville for us and less than a hour away from the resort.

We watched several cowboys ride bulls for 8 seconds and longer, cowgirls barrel race and even buckin’ broncos. The day was hot, hot, hot (90+ degrees). We were extremely fortunate to sit a row below a family that all brought umbrellas and they were willing to share their shade. The bleachers were wood planks and did not have any shade. We made it through the 2.5 hour rodeo and left sweaty, but with smiles on our faces!

If you’re staying in Massanutten in early to mid July, take a look at the dates for the Tumbling Ranch Championship Rodeo. In 2024, it was held July 6 and 7th and was $20 a person.

Blueberry Picking near Massanutten

We found an organic blueberry farm, Hickory Hill Farm, with U-pick hours during the first and second week of July, by July 12, the blueberries were all gone.The farm is only for u-pick during certain hours each day, so make sure to check the website for times of operation. The farm was just 20 minutes away from Massanutten going in the direction of Harrisonburg. We spent about an hour picking (and eating) fresh blueberries and left with about 6 pounds of berries. For $5 a pound we felt like it was a steal! We munched on fresh blueberries the entire week and made a delicious blueberry crisp. You can also purchase fresh local honey, Raw Hickory Hill Honey, from the blueberry farm located in Keezletown, VA; it’s the most unique honey I’ve ever tasted. The bee hives are adjacent to the blueberry field and the bees fertilize the blueberries. The honey tastes like normal honey and then finishes with a blueberry after taste! Yum!

We also lucked out that along the golf course there were wild blackberries ripe and ready to be picked; if you happen to be this fortunate too, make sure to pick during non-golf hours for safety!

Resort Evening Activities

We planned to spend our Sunday and Monday evening at the base of the mountain listening to music and watching an outdoor movie, but we were too tired and opted to slower evenings in our condo watching old funny farm movies (family ‘funny farm’ movies from up to 30 years ago!); everyone loved them, and we stayed up many nights much too late watching them! Side note: if you’ve been wondering if it’s worth getting your Hi-8 videos converted to digital mp4s, the answer is yes!

River Tubing Near Massanutten

Shenandoah River Adventures – Closest tubing to resort and no age limit

It has been a very dry summer, so most of the rivers and creeks are very low and not that enjoyable for family river tubing; however, we did find that the Shenandoah River had enough water. We used the very laid back Shenandoah River Adventures in Shenandoah, Virginia. This tubing outfitter was located only 15 minutes from Massanutten Resort. Unlike other outfitters, there was no age limit (many outfitters required that all participants were 5 years old) and no reservations required. You could show up at any time and launch. During low water, the trip took us about 2 hours and was very tame. We were told that at other times of the year and water levels, trips can have more exciting rapids and be as fast as 45 minutes. If your first trip is on the river before 2pm, you can take two trips down the river for the $30 per person fee which includes tube, shuttle and optional life jackets. We only made it onw trip down the river and did not take our 1-year old, but if we had put on in time for a second trip we would have brought our 1-year old, too. We definitely wanted to scout the conditions before bringing him, and with low water, the trip was calm enough for him to join. He loves the water and spends quite a bit of time on a lake near home, so he’s quite used to wearing a life jacket, too.

During our research for River Tubing near Massanutten we found two other outfitters. We did not tube with them, so I can’t share any experiences, but they might be a good fit for your family.

Downriver Canoe Company – Tube Floats

Down River Canoe company has two routes, was $35/person with a minimum age of 5 with close parental supervision, and a 1-hour drive from Massanutten. This Shenandoah River float lasts about 3 hours, starts at the outfitter’s base and ends at Shenandoah River State Park.

Shenandoah River Outfitters – Tube the South Fork of the Shenandoah River

This outfitter is located in Luray, Virginia. Tubing adventures start at 9:30, 10:30 or 11:30 and are $28/person + taxes. There’s a 5 years old and older age limit and the tour takes between 3 and 5 hours dependent on water levels.

Massanutten Water Park

Bound to be a favorite day for any summer vacation at Massanutten, the water park does not disappoint. The daily rate is pricey; be careful not to miss that buying ahead online saves you $10 or more per ticket, which adds up for large groups. The outdoor water park includes a wave pool, kiddie play pad area, mat water slides, tube water slides, water basketball, a small obstacle course (perfect for racing each other on) and access to everything in the inside water park too.

Introduction to Mountain Biking at Massanutten

Our family scheduled a morning Pathway Package at the resort. We had a range of bikers from 9 to 72 (a very athletic 72) and almost everyone was brand new to the sport. The package included a rental bike, pads and helmet, lesson and access to the trail lift and beginner/medium trails for 3 hours. You can find this package under Lessons. 3 hours was enough; our crew was tired. Many said they didn’t realize how hard mountain biking would be. Almost everyone fell, but no injuries. The spikes on the pedals scraped up almost everyone’s legs. Perhaps pants would have prevented this, but it was hot, hot, hot, so almost everyone opted for shorts.

The elementary and middle school kids loved this adventure. It was scary and there were some tears, but everyone felt accomplished afterwards and admitted that after a trip or two down the mountain it got much easier. For $95 a person, it was expensive, but worth the memories, and I think many of our family will plan to mountain bike more; it truly was a good introduction to the sport. There is an affordable “Last Chair Special” which is for 2-hours at the end of the day at the Bike Park and is a $20 Trail-Use Ticket and a $25 Bike Rental, available from 2 pm to 4 pm.

Note: we were a bit confused about the difference between the Bike Park and the Western Slope; we learned that the Bike Park is essentially the ski slope and is accessed via the lift; the Bike Shop is at the base of the lift and is the Ski Rental area in the winter. The Wester Slope is a completely different area in the Resort and has nothing to do with the Pathway Package or Bike Park access.

Adventure Caving near Massanutten Resort

WILD GUYde

We’ve been on cavern and cave tours before; you know the drill: guided paths with ropes, lights, and tour guides. Many near the resort, including Luray Caverns and Skyline Caverns, are a great fit for a rainy day or a less adventurous crowd. But if you want to get muddy and experience true adventure caving, then Wild GUYde is your outfitter. I can’t say enough how much we loved our family Wild Caving Adventure.

We had a party of 8 ranging in age from 9 to 72 and booked the Beginning Cave experience. It was challenging, educational, and fun! Our guide, Silas, was wonderful, engaging with the children and adults alike. He instructed us calmly and effectively. He taught our group how to use compasses, navigate a cave using a map, mark your trail, and document where you’ve been. We “commando” crawled with headlights and also in complete darkness! I actually was the family leader for the complete darkness crawl; it was exhilarating. I slowly crawled through the loop reporting to my nephew direclty behind me what I felt and what I was doing; he passed the messages back the line; it was the ultimate “telephone” experience, although, fortunately the messages made it to the end of the group still mostly in tact. We ascended and descended in the cave on cliffs (about 7 ft tall) using ropes and making hoisting steps with our hands and arms. We learned how to ask for an assist and how to provide assists properly.

The cave had large rooms where you had ample room to stand up and crawl spaces where your back was touching the top of the cave. The entire cave was wet and coated in a clay-like mud which made it very slick. We wore hiking boots and two layers; the top layer was long sleeved and could be stripped off when we made it back to daylight. The adult men wore kneepads that we picked up at Wal-mart on the way to the meet-up point. This was by far our favorite family adventure. It’s definitely an adventure and requires quite a bit of physical fitness, but is an amazing adventure that I’m sure we’ll be talking about for years to come!

Wild GUYde, in addition to cave adventures, also offers day hiking, rock climbing and rappelling, and canoe paddling. Lester, the owner, called us ahead of time to confirm our appointment and make sure we didn’t have questions and after because he was afraid we had overpaid and wanted to reimburse us! We confirmed with him that we had such a great time and just wanted to give Silas an extra tip; now, that’s a businessman with character!

By the way, we went caving on 7/11 and met at a 7-11 in Bridgewater, VA, which meant free Slurpies to celebrate after caving. A day in our kid’s lives doesn’t get much better!

Miniature Golf or Putt Putt near Massanutten

Our family loves mini golf. There’s a course right on the resort property managed by the homeowners association that costs about $10 a game. Alternatively, Mulligan’s is about 30 minutes away in Harrisonburg. We didn’t drive there, but it was on our “possibility list” because they offered a play-all-day $10/person pass.

Horse Back Riding Near Massanutten

For our wilderness horse riding experience, we drove an hour away to ride the shaded trails in the George Washington National Forest. We contracted with North Mountain Outfitter, a fifth-generation ranch in Swoope, Virginia, run by Dwight. We scheduled a morning 3-hour horse ride and paid about $140 per person with taxes/fees. We enjoyed the sounds of birds, the rocky up-and-down trails, conversation and guides, and, of course, our leisurely trail ride through the forest trails.

Yard Games and Outdoor Play at Massanutten

We brought out a badminton net, bocci ball, skates, ring toss, and more; however, it was so hot and humid that we played outside very little, plus we were pretty tired after days full of active adventures. On-site, several playgrounds, tennis courts, shuffleboard, cornhole, and even a nice sand volleyball court are available to guests. Of course, access to the recreational pools was included in the daily resort fee, walking paths and access to the golf cart paths before and after golf course hours. Don’t forget to bring bug spray!

Hiking near Massanutten

There is so much hiking near Massanutten. We attempted to combine hiking with swimming in a natural water hole. We didn’t have a lot of success, but we still had a beautiful hike at Mountain Run Swimming Hole (Fridley Gap) which is about 30 minutes from Massanutten. We didn’t swim because the areas of the mountain creek we found did not have deep enough swimming holes, and there were too many snakes.

Fridley Gap Resources:

• https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/virginia/mountain-run-swimming-hole-va/
• https://www.visitharrisonburgva.com/fridley-gap/
• https://www.intotheyonder.com/fridleygap.html
• Google Map

Outdoor Swimming Near Front Royal, VA and Harrisonburg, VA

We really wanted to find some great natural swimming holes, but we didn’t have time to visit any of these below; however, I’ll include my hiking and waterhole research here to hopefully save you some time. Here’s a link to a blog post about outdoor swimming near Front Royal, about an hour from Massanutten, and another post about swimming holes near Harrisonburg, VA.

Gooney Creek Campground

• Includes swimming area, fishing, hiking, and picnicking; $5/person day entrance. Address: 7122 Stonewall Jackson Highway, Front Royal, Virginia 22630 (56min drive)

Eastham Park

Morgan’s Ford Boat Landing

Shenandoah River State Park

• $10 Vehicle Entrance. 1hr from resort.

Elizabeth Furnace Recreation Area and Buzzard Rock swimming hole

• 1.25hr drive to Elizabeth Furnace Recreational Area, Fort Valley, VA.  Park @ second turn-off and walk back toward the entrance) is another great option nearby that can be accessed after a fun hike (4 mi one way!). Find it below Buzzard Rock cliffs. (info video) 

Shenandoah National Park

Riven Rock Park

The Slab in Dayton

• Directions: Take 33 west out of Harrisonburg; turn left on Hinton Rd and then right on Slab Rd. At the concrete slab bridge, park along the side of the road.

Grottoes Mountain View Park

• swimming area, playground, basketball course, disc golf, tennis courts, dog park, picnic shelters, bathrooms, and a fishing pond

Sunday Brunch

We only ate out once, and it was for Sunday Brunch on our way home. We had S’mores Waffles and Crab Cake Benedict at The Ridge Room, the rooftop restaurant of a hotel in Harrisonburg. There was a nice view of the mountains, but the view also included parking garages of fast-food restaurants and big-box stores.

Other ideas that we didn’t try out during our July trip

I looked into an outdoor movie theater and found a Drive-In one hour and fifteen minutes from the resort. That felt too far for us to travel with younger kids, but it might be an option for families with older children. Here’s a link to movie theaters near Harrisonburg, Virginia.

There are several wineries near the Resort as well as a Lavender Farm & Winery. Also, within an 1 hour and 30 minute drive there are three presidential homes that include tours and museums.

I found these Shenandoah Valley Activity links that might help you find something to do during your trip too.

Shenandoah Valley Web Things to Do and See and Farms Listing

Staying at Massanutten Planning Tips

I hope this post about our summer stay at Massanutten Resort has helped you plan your family getaway.

Are there other suggestions you think other families could benefit from? Please share in the comments below.