Day 6 – June 17, 2015: Skyline Drive

I love the idea of camping. In principle, it is a great concept – out in nature, breathing in the fresh air, disconnected from the stressors of the real world, etc. And for the most part, I do enjoy camping.  But the amount that I enjoy camping seems to decrease exponentially as I do it. Back in February when I made the reservations for the campground, I felt like I loved camping. Last night, I wasn't such a big fan. I don't mind the sleeping outside part and I love sitting outside around the campfire. The bugs and my allergies making it difficult to breathe are annoyances, but I can deal with them for awhile. Eating and cooking outside aren't difficult, but the actual process is way more effort than the payoff is worth. However the aspect of camping that always gets me is the showers. I love taking showers.  And I much prefer my showers when they are clean and private (from both other humans and freakishly big daddy-longlegs).  This does not happen when camping, so my troubles begin.

When we showed up at our campsite we found that the showers were being renovated and therefore out-of-order. In their place, the company that runs the campground  had set up a trailer with showers(despite being in a National Park, campgrounds and resorts are run by private companies). We were a bit skeptical at first, but were pleasantly surprised to find 4 very nice shower stalls on each side of the trailer. They were clean, smelled fine, had plenty of space, had great water pressure, and plenty of hot water. A fellow camper described it as the Shangri La of campground showers and I wouldn't argue with that assessment. So we were very surprised to find the trailer closed with a sign saying “[s]orry for the inconvenience.” Apparently the company's lease had expired and, despite not having functioning shower facilities, they had failed to renew the lease. Instead they opened up one (half-completed) shower on each side (one men's, one women's). And they were only open from 5:00 pm to 8:00 am. And it was $.25 for each 3 minutes of (cold) water. So it was at this time that Amy and I decided we would skip our final night in the campground and stay in a hotel at the south end of the park tonight. In addition to the creature comforts we would enjoy, it would also allow us to get going sooner on tomorrow as we make our way down to Durham, North Carolina.

A wet and foggy day on the Skyline Drive.

So we made that decision last night, but still had one more night in our tent. The air conditioning from the first two nights did not reappear, but instead we were cooled but a light rain shower all night. When we woke up this morning, the rain had stopped, but it was still foggy and gray all around. Every day we've been here, it has looked like it would rain at some point in time, and it often changes depending on where in the park you are. Luckily for us, we only had rain when we were driving or sleeping. But we could tell that today would be different. The fog was thicker than we had seen and there were no signs of blue skies anywhere. Fortunately, all we had planned for today was a driving tour of the park with two shorter hikes if time and weather permitted.

Standing on top of Stony Man.

To guide our drive, we had a CD my parents gave us that described the park's history, ecology, and geology at various points along the 102 miles of the Skyline Drive, going from north to south through the park. Our views were significantly limited by the rain and fog, but it was beautiful nonetheless. Both of the hikes we had planned for the day were in the middle section of the park, between the 40 and 50 mile marks.

Standing on top of Hawksbill Mountain.

Our first hike was a 1.7 mile lollipop trail to the summit of Stony Man, the park's second highest peak at 4,010 feet. Unlike the Old Rag hike where we basically hiked up the entire mountain, here we were able to drive to within 400 feet of the summit, making this a nice easy stroll. A helpful booklet produced by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) provided information about the history, vegetation, wildlife, and geology we encountered along the trail. And we were fortunate to hit the summit just as there was a brief break in the fog. As expected, the views from up there were beautiful.

The second hike was a 2.9 mile loop that included part of the Appalachian Trail before taking us to the summit of the park's highest peak, Hawksbill Mountain. Once again the car got us most of the way to the 4,050 foot summit, with only 860 feet of climbing needed to reach the top. This was another great hike through thick forest and over steep rock slides before making the final climb to the summit. We weren't as lucky with the fog at this summit and there was also a herd of noisy middle school kids – I just can't escape them. Then, just for fun (and with plenty of help from gravity), we decided to run the mile down the trail back to our car. It was a fun run down and no one got hurt – yeah us!

The only major excitement along the rest of the ride was another bear sighting. Not far past Hawksbill we came across a mama and two cubs. We were able to sit along the side of the road and snap pictures for a few minutes before a ranger came to move us along. After that, we headed back to camp to pack everything up, finished the drive, and then headed into Waynesboro, Virginia for dinner at Logan's Roadhouse and hot showers at the Best Western.

The sun finally starting to peak through the clouds as we leave Shenandoah National Park.

Tomorrow we are going to head into Charlottesville to check out the University of Virginia and Monticello before hopping on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Most of the rest of the day will be spent driving down to visit Jake, Kemi, and little Simon Doll in Durham, North Carloina. There we will meet up with Zach and Carolyn D'Allessio-O'Donnell. Then on Friday, Jake, Zach, Carolyn, Amy and I (and possibly Joao Dutton too) will make our way to Asheville, North Carolina.