Shenandoah National Park

A couple of weeks ago we were in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, the fall colours were at their peak right that weekend. What a beautiful sight that was. When we arrived the sun was shining, but soon enough the fog would come in and in the evening the campground was shrouded in thick fog. It was quite eerie I have to say. We spend most of the afternoon playing our new National Park Monopoly game.
We had a couple of nice days there, and even to to point that we could walk around in t-shirts and shorts, it was almost like an Indian Summer.

Motorhome in fog at Mathews Arm Campground

On one of the hikes we had to cross a number of streams and it was hard to keep our feet dry, even though the water was not that high, the stones and boulders were ever so slippery. Although we were hiking in backcountry we did not see any bears, just our luck again! The deer are plentiful over there though, so that surprises me.

It is incredible who quickly the weather can change in the mountains though, one day you are walking in a t-shirt and shorts and the next you have to wrap your self in winter clothes, because the temperature that dropped about 30 degrees or so. One morning we went for a walk in the Big Meadow area and it started snowing. Overnight the temperature had dropped to about 26 degrees outside and in the motorhome it was about 32 degrees when we woke up. No, we do not have the heater on at night, because it would drain the batteries.

On the way to Loft Mountain we picked up a girl who was walking with her dog along the road, it was bitterly cold and the wind made it even more cold. We are very hesitant about picking up people in our motorhome, but I really felt sorry for her. Nobody else seemed to want to pick her up, so when she made it to one of the overlooks just after we had arrived I asked her if she wanted to get a lift from us. It saved her and her dog, Polly to walk another 10 miles to Loft Mountain.

We did one longish hike to Doyle River Cabin and then further on to the Doyle River Falls and then headed back along the Appalachian trail, it was a beautiful day again although it was cold. We would have loved to stay in one of the cabins, especially when it is snowing and we would have had lots of firewood to keep us warm. The only thing is that I did not like about the hikes (45 miles or so we did) that we did in the park, that there were hardly any vistas, the trees are everywhere. If you want to see the vistas you have to do the Skyline Drive.