Shenandoah National Park

Blue Ridge Mountain view from the Skyline Drive

Our time on the Blue Ridge Parkway was over, we had reached the northern terminus. But on the bright side, Shenandoah National Park stretched before us with its own scenic roadway, the 105-mile Skyline Drive beckoned us onward.  One magnificent parkway ended but we still had some more ‘slow road’ to explore and a whole national park we had never visited.

 

Lunch time near Cave Creek Falls, David and Maya were dwarfed by the large boulders 

Spanning the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the historic Skyline Drive is the only public road through Shenandoah National Park.  Construction of the Skyline Drive began even before Congress established the national park.  It was to be Shenandoah’s single greatest feature, a road to the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains back when skyscrapers and air travel were not commonplace.

 

Rose River Falls

Along the Rose River Loop Trail

 

Like the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, many families lived in what would become Shenandoah.  The park was formed from over 1,000 privately owned tracts of land – a patchwork of forests, fields, orchards and home sites. Times were very hard in the early 1930’s and over half of the people had already moved from the area.  There was the depression and then there had been a serious drought and crop failures.  The chestnut blight had killed the majority of the chestnut trees by then so a prime source of income was gone.  Many of the remaining farmers were hired to help build the Skyline Drive after the crop failures.

A foggy morning at our campsite near Big Meadow

 

 

 

The park opened in 1935 and Skyline Drive was finished in 1939 during Roosevelt’s administration with most of the picnic grounds, comfort stations and overlooks built by the Civilian Conservation Corp. (Those CCC boys again!)  There are also more than 400 buildings and structures along the Skyline Drive that are listed in the National Register of Historic Buildings as representative of the “best of the 1930’s.”  From President Hoover’s Rapidan Fishing Camp to the Skyland Resort established in the late 1800s, the park is full of historic structures to visit.  It is no wonder that Shenandoah National Park soon became everyone’s mountain retreat, a place to escape summer heat and urban life.  

Maya and David barely visible on our Cedar Run/White Oak Loop hike

 

The fog created a forest full of mystery and magic

There are four campgrounds in Shenandoah and we decided to stay at the largest, Big Meadow, because it was about mid-way through the park and that made a convenient ‘base camp’ for us to explore.  The park has over 500 miles of hiking trails with over 100 miles being part of the Appalachian Trail.  It was also so nice that Shenandoah is one of the rare national parks where dogs are allowed on most of the trails, so Maya went hiking with us every day.

Cedar Run Trail

 

One of the many cascades on the Cedar Run Trail

 

Two beautiful, sunny days bookended our stay in Shenandoah.  In between it was rainy and foggy with one day having dense fog well into the afternoon.  One thing about being in a park where the major road follows the crest of the mountains – that means just about every trail descends rather steeply and then you have to climb back up.  One trail in particular, the Cedar Run/White Oak Loop, was over 10 miles long and 2,598 feet of elevation gain.  Thank goodness it was a cool day, although a bit humid.  I hate to think how much I would have “glowed” if it had been warmer…  We were all a little tired at the end of that day but I do think it was the prettiest hike we took in the park.  It was made extra lovely by the dense fog that morning. The woods were magical.

Stream crossing on White Oak Creek

Maya always does better than David and I - she doesn't mind getting all wet

 

After the crossing

 

 

One day we had a very cool surprise.  After a fairly strenuous hike we thought we deserved something cold to drink or maybe some ice cream so we stopped at the Big Meadows Wayside on our way back to camp. There sitting at one of the tables in the restaurant, were friends of ours from San Antonio, Texas, Judit and Carl Green and their two children.  They were on vacation and camping at the park in a different campground.  It was so good and unexpected to run into ‘folks from home.’  We just never see anyone we know out on the road unless we have planned to meet.  We had a nice visit, compared notes on our various activities and Judit treated us to ice cream and blackberry cobbler.   What a good day!

 

The Green Family with Maya

 

A rare family portrait - Thanks Judit!

 

David's Stats:
Days Hiked      4
Total Miles Hiked   26.33     
Ave. Miles per Day      6.43
Total Elevation Gain       5,684
Ave. Elevation Gain per day   1,395

Lower White Oak Falls

 

Another view of Lower White Oak Falls

 

Upper White Oak Falls