Shenandoah Nat'l Park

Trip legs (latest at top):

3 Nov 04 – Traveling to Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
We leave Bob and Pam's in New Jersey the day after the national election. President Bush is apparently re-elected, and we listen to NPR (National Public Radio) most of the day as the election is analyzed and Senator Kerry decides to concede. An interesting day in American history.

We cross the Delaware river at Easton, where my mom was born and raised, continue west to Harrisburg, then south past Gettysburg. We cross the western panhandle of Maryland, then just into northern Virginia we wind our way through a circuitous route seemingly designed to get tourists to stop in Front Royal, and finally locate the North Entrance to Shenandoah National Park. Thus begins our complete traverse of the beautiful Skyline Drive, which runs the 105.4-mile north-south length of this park.

North Entrance
Sometimes I feel silly taking a picture of a sign. Like, won't people believe me if I don't show them a picture that I was here? And so what if they don't? But I have landed on the feeling that these signs serve as a visual anchor.
Blue Ridge Mountains
The foliage has turned, and for the most part, fallen. We certainly got our share of fall color at Promised Land State Park in Pennsylvania. But we note to ourselves for future reference, that at our elevation on Skyline Drive, the autumn color probably came sooner than would be expected for this latitude.
We travel about half the length of Skyline Drive, and stop at the Big Meadow campground with just a half-hour of daylight remaining. We set up camp just before darkness overtakes us.

4 Nov 04 – Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
As expected, Thursday dawns cold, wet and windy. Rather than put up the rain fly over the picnic table, we stubbornly cook and eat breakfast in a windy, spattering drizzle. We sign in with the park ranger managing the campground, and get advised on nearby hikes. We also learn that, due to budget cutbacks, Byrd Visitor Center is closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays. This is a major inconvenience for us, as this is supposed to be a really nice visitor center, and it is just a crummy day to be outdoors.

We trek instead to the Big Meadows Lodge, which turns out to be a beautiful building built by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) in the 1930's. Inside we find a big stone fireplace and good, hot coffee, even decaf, which pretty much all I drink these days. We peel off our soggy rain suits and drape them over chairs in front of that wonderful, wonderful fireplace. Soon a bus full of local elders from down in the valley arrives to spend the day. As we stand around sipping coffee and meeting with them, they are uniformly amazed that we are camping in a tent in this weather. After a bit of this, we start disbelieving it ourselves.

Besides the stone fireplace, this huge great room features a wall of windows looking east into Virginia's rolling Piedmont. Today these windows are streaked with rain and show only grey fog. But a duo of basket weavers is sitting in some of the many rocking chairs, stripping staves of oak and weaving baskets using only their hands and a sharp penknife.

5 Nov 04 – Looking for Black Bear in Shenandoah National Park
After a day cooped up in the rain, we are ready for a long hike. On the ranger's advice we plan a hike where we have a good chance of seeing black bear. We strike off north from our campsite on the AT (Appalachian Trail), which passes about 100 feet from our tent.

Shenandoah Valley from Fishers Gap
We are on the AT just below Skyline Drive, having hiked northeast from Big Meadows campground. My best guess is that the town of Stanley lies in the valley on the left side of the picture. Behind Stanley lies the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. Behind that, Massanutten Mountain stretches the width of the photo at the level of my cap.
Rose River Falls
From the AT we cross Skyline Drive at Fishers Gap to hike east and then south on the Rose River Loop Trail, downhill alongside the Rose River..
Ginger and Chocolate
Turning southwest, we leave the main branch of the Rose River and start hiking uphill along the Hogcamp Branch. We stop for lunch, and for the first time create our signature confection, crystallized ginger sandwiched between Hershey's Special Dark. The challenge is to keep it pasted against the roof of your mouth to melt without chewing.

While our park ranger had suggested we might see a black bear along this hike, we had not, perhaps because even in early November, we had significant hiking traffic from guests staying at Big Meadows Lodge. In fact, trail traffic increases sharply as we hike uphill past Dark Hollow Falls. But notwithstanding, as we round a bend in the trail Dawn espies a black bear. I miss the best part of seeing it by fumbling with my camera.

Dawn: I started walking ahead of Stephen, and I thought I saw a dog. He stopped and turned around and looked back, and then I could see that he was a bear. Then he started running away up the trail, and stopped again to look back at us to make sure we were still there. Then he took off into the woods. It was very exciting!

Rather than return directly to our campsite, we divert west to the Byrd Visitor Center. We find an extensive exhibit on the acquisition of land for Shenandoah National Park, and the inevitable relocation of the mountain folk who once sparsely populated these hills. We also find a theater with a half-dozen high-quality videos we can request the staff to play for us. What a shame that budget cuts prevented us from spending yesterday here.

Shenandoah White-tailed Deer
Hiking back to the campground along the Story of the Forest Trail, the woodland critters regard us curiously. Hunting is prohibited in National Parks, and the wildlife knows it.

6 Nov 04 – Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
We hike south from our campsite on the AT and return to Big Meadows Lodge. Two days after the cold, wind, and wet, we enjoy the view north into the Shenandoah Valley from the great room in clear weather. A short hike finds us at the outcropping known as Blackrock, where we survey the panorama, and catch up with family using half-way decent cell phone reception.

Shenandoah Valley from Blackrock
That is almost certainly the town of Stanley in the foreground.
Lewis Falls
After spending about an hour on Blackrock, we hike the AT further south until we turn east on the Lewis Falls Trail. Lewis Falls is somewhat unimpressive, even a couple days after all that rain, but maybe the story is different in the spring. We have nice views into the Shenandoah Valley as we continue on the Lewis Falls Trail and circle back north and east to the AT near Big Meadows Lodge.
Campsite near AT
We didn't realize just how close we had camped to the Appalachian Trail until we return Saturday afternoon. The concrete trail marker in the foreground is marked with the white "AT" logo. The lovely princess is in the midground, and that is our tent in the background on the right.
White-tailed Music Lover
We knew they were unafraid of humans. What we didn't know is that they like old-time music.

Dawn: I was surprised by how they were approaching me. Not only were they not afraid of me, they seemed to want to get really close to me. And I was a little afraid, because I didn't know what they were attracted to. And they were coming up behind me, so I could hear them, but not see them, so it was a little bit scary. I was surprised that I was scared.