We woke up, gobbled some oatmeal and packed up. We were on the road before nine and were only about an hour away from Shenandoah National Park. It was an easy drive through small Virginia towns. Entering the park, our altitude climbed as we embarked on the Skyline drive.
It was still foggy but we stopped at many of the overlooks along the way, snapping pictures of both valleys. The long mountain ranges, small peaks and clustered villages made for great pictures.
We meandered down the windy road, stopping at Big Meadow Campground to take a site for the evening. We picked a site at the corner of the campground, overlooking the Appalachian Trail. During the rest of the day, we watched scruffy, burly looking hikers wander by, looking exhausted.
After eating some spaghetti-os for lunch, we filled the backpack with snacks and headed towards the visitor center. We asked a ranger for a good afternoon hike and ended up traipsing towards Dark Hollow Falls. It was a great trail - the falls was a seventy-foot drop with a cool mist that was actually welcome on this warm April day.
Hiking back up, we found that we could skirt the road and walk back to our campsite via the Story of the Forest trail. There were two deer eating grass in a small open meadow on the way back.
We made some canned chow mein for dinner and hiked a small portion of the Appalachian Trail before bed. At sunset, another pair of deer wandered by our site. Lisa enjoyed playing with every camera setting until it got dark.
It was a cold night in the tent. I was comfortable in shorts when we went to bed, but it dipped into the thirties. We got up early and boiled water for oatmeal and tea. We even had a campfire which we huddled around.
We cranked the heat in the car and headed towards Milam Gap for our hike of the day. The ranger had suggested it the day before so we filled our backpack with chicken salad sandwiches and cheez-its and hit the trail. We followed a loop, starting with a portion of the Appalachian Trail which had some spectacular panoramic views of the valley.
Turning east, we sloshed through mud and streams towards Rapidan Camp. It was Herbert Hoover’s summer White House, the Camp David of the early thirties. We explored the areas and then ate our lunch on Hoover’s back porch, with the Rapidan River babbling in the background.
Hiking out, we followed a trail used for horses, and managed to avoid any manure piles along the way. We got back in the car to finish the Skyline Drive. It was clearer today, although there was still a characteristic haze in the distance at many of the overlooks. Seeing the valley from above helped us understand how “Stonewall” Jackson could have hid his troop movements in the crags below.
We made our way slowly to Charlottesville, Virginia for the evening. We walked around the University of Virginia campus in the evening, noticing that many of the dorm rooms still had their own fireplaces. After burgers at the Horse and Hound - it was bedtime for us - hopefully a little warmer than last night!
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