Weekend in Shenandoah National Park

Friday June 2, 2017                                                                                              Most Recent Posts:
Big Meadows                                                                                                          Long Time No Post
Shenandoah National Park, Virginia                                                            Happy First Birthday Celia Claire

 

Thanks to you all for such great comments.  They really are wonderful to read and motivating.  With that incentive, I went to work on this post about this past week-end.

The Shenandoah National Park Association sponsored a workshop on Nature Journaling.  It started Friday afternoon and ran through Saturday.  Since I’ve kept a daily handwritten journal for over 40 years, I guess I could say I’m interested in journaling.  I’m also very interested in illustrated journals.  I have always wanted to be able to draw but after taking several art classes in the past, I have found that on my own I really don’t “see”.  With my instructor right there to point out why what I’m drawing doesn’t look like what I”m seeing, I can correct myself and in this manner have done several watercolors with which I’m at least satisfied. 

 

I normally lay low on weekends in parks, but hope, spring eternal so I signed up for this class and I’m glad I did.   The class begins today at 3:00 and extends into tomorrow all day long.  Many national parks have workshops and seminars you can attend for a fee.  Usually they are sponsored by the park’s “friends” group or “association”.  Google the next National Park you are visiting and see what interesting things you might find.

I drive up to the park on Friday with my backpacking tent since taking Winnona would be nearly a 100 mile round trip and seemed unnecessary.   I pick a spot in the Big Meadows Campground near the spur trail that leads to the AT.  This turns out to be a very popular spot but more on that later.

It’s only about noon when I get set up since I’d planned to hike some of the AT before the workshop starts.  On my way I walk by these two Tent Cots.  They are the cutest things I’ve seen and all I’d need for this week-end and I wouldn’t be sleeping on the ground which is a first for me in a long time.

 

I start out on the spur to the AT from the campground and right away come across wildflowers including these jack-in-the-pulpit.

 

 

 

I am so bad at selfies especially with the canon.

 

 

 

The hay scented fern is in profusion on both sides of the trail.

 

 

 

I arrive at the junction to the AT and see the familiar cement sign post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It isn’t long before I come to the first views west toward the rest of the Blue Ridge Range.

 

 

Big rock with a view though not a comfy sitting spot.

 

 

The Blue Ridge is definitely living up to its name today.

 

 

 

From this vantage point I can look to my right (north) and see the Skyline Drive curving through the gentle Appalachian Mountains.

 

 

Beautiful mountains as far as I can see.  That little spot on the ridge is the Skyline Drive from the above zoomed in picture.

 

 

 

Back on the AT, I’m being watched.

 

 

 

These may not be the Rocky mountains but the trails are often very rocky.

 

 

Another view, this time out over the Shenandoah Valley also to the west.   I stay back to allow these folks their time in this beautiful spot and then I have it all to myself.

 

 

 

 

 

We moved to these mountains in 1978.  Back then the “Valley” was a patchwork of farms and small or tiny towns.  It’s astounding how much it has grown and developed away from farming.

 

 

 

At this point I sadly have to turn around and head back to the shorter spur trail that leads to the Big Meadows Lodge.

 

 

I hike up to the lodge to see how they are doing on the new roof.  They’ve had to move the dining room into what is normally a lounge with comfortable chairs and sofas and a wall of windows to the west.

The construction is taking place just off to the left out of the view of this picture.

 

 

From here  I take the paved “trail” that connects the Lodge and the Visitor Center along the road.  But I take only a section of it because having spent so much time in this park, I know just where to cut off and pick up the “Nature Trail” which will allow me to walk through the forest to the Visitor’s Center where the workshop will begin at 3:00.

 

 

This section of the forested trail actually is an old apple orchard.   I’m sorry the trees have been left unpruned.  The apples would be wonderful fruit for me and the animals but I guess even the small amount of time to prune a dozen or so trees isn’t in the “mission” statement of the National Park.

 

 

 

It’s a lovely trail and crosses two bridges before heading up to the visitor center, the practical and the picturesque.

 

 

 

I love that the park has an electric car charging station.  They are in the forefront of concern for the environment if allowed and funded to do so by the government.

 

In front of the Visitor Center the CCC Boy stands.  He’s a regular statue in every park in which the Civilian Conservation Corps was largely responsible for much of the infrastructure.

 

I just take a peek inside.  But I’ll come back.  I do see one of the original posters from the early days of the 30’s and 40’s in the park.  I really love them and have looked for them in all the National Parks we have visited.

 

And then it’s 3:00.  We get checked in by our leaders  Betty Gatewood and Rhonda Roebuck.  We get a royal ranger welcome to the park and the workshop begins.   But that’s for my next post.