Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Day 4: Shenandoah National Park

Tuesday, April 21
Shenandoah NP VA
Odometer Begin: 108,566
Miles traveled: 69 (to Luray and back)
Time spent traveling: 1.5 hrs
Other: Miles traveled by foot; 6
What $1 will get you for shower; 5 minutes including the first minute you have to wait for hot water.
Wx: sunny and warm to start, rainy and cold to finish. Thick fog on Skyline drive with some breaks and undercast.
States traveled through: VA


Morning broke with beautiful bluebird skies and mild temperatures. We ate breakfast, said good morning to the deer and decided to spend another night in Shenandoah. We headed to the ranger station and found a Ranger this time. He checked us in for another night and gave us a recommendation for a 5-6 mile hike, that we could get to without moving the car. We made a loop out of the Appalachian Trail (AT),
From Shenandoah
Rose River Trail, Dark Hollows Falls Trail and a nature trail that lead back to the campground. The falls were…well, let’s just say that we saw Rose River falls with out realizing it and though Dark Hollows was pretty, our falls at home in the Whites put these guys to shame. This sign
From Shenandoah
was right next to this falls…
From Shenandoah
But the hike was very pleasant and it felt good to stretch the legs.

We ventured into Luray after a shower to get some groceries and look for WiFi. The search for WiFi was proving to be fruitless and we decided we were tired so we headed back to camp…and rain. The temperature had dropped a fair amount, we’re guessing it was in the high 30s. We brought the iPod and little speakers into the tent and played a few games of Kings In The Corner. The rain broke for dinner prep and eventually cleared for a lovely sunset. We put our culinary skills to work and had red rice and not-exactly-falafels for dinner, yum!
From Shenandoah
From Shenandoah
We were visited shortly before we turned in for bed by the reason we needed the bear box…Rocky the raccoon. He didn’t stick around for too long but we are pretty sure he came back to scratch at the tent and clank the chain on the bear box during the night.

To see more photos of Shenandoah, click here.
Shenandoah
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 22, 2009 at 5:32 PM

    Hey guys! You're really traveling now! What I remember about Skyline Drive is driving like 15 mph, parting deer who seemed to enjoy sunset best from the middle of the road. bri - I got your message and will try you guys tomorrow. Happy trails and sweet dreams, Amy

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  2. SparkplugApril 22, 2009 at 9:08 PM

    That is one big tent! :-)

    I hope you had the chance to stop at one of the lodges and get a big slice of Blackberry ice cream pie. My fondest memories of the Shenandoahs from our AT trip are getting Blackberry ice cream every day we were in the park, and the pie at Skyland was huge!

    Have fun!

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  3. Williston ObserverApril 23, 2009 at 1:01 PM

    Hey Guys,

    This is Tim in Vermont, former Auto Roader/Climbing Wall Day Care Facility Director. I'm very much enjoying your trip and living vicariously through your experiences. I went along the Skyline Drive when I was 10 once. It was so hazy we couldn't see anything. I don't even remember taking pictures. I do remember going to Monticello nearby. That was pretty cool.

    Keep taking awesome pics!

    Tim

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