We Hiked the Appalachian Trail! (well, a teeny, tiny portion of it)

After a fun, relaxing week with my brother Tom and his family, our next destination was Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. We parked Monday night at a Gander Mountain store in Winchester, VA and arrived at Big Meadows Campground in Shenandoah early Tuesday afternoon, 10/11.  We have just four nights here and there is so much to do – 105 miles of beautiful vistas on the Skyline Drive and over 500 miles of hiking trails, including a 101 miles of the Appalachian Trail – we won’t be able to even scratch the surface.

Big Meadows Campground is situated about the middle of the National Park and the Appalachian Trail was maybe 50 feet from our RV. Herds of deer wandered through our campsite and they were not the least concerned about us. There were also rumors of a bear sighting close to our campsite, but we never saw hide nor hair of him. I kept my trusty bear repellent (camera) with me at all times, just in case. Lol.  The bear trap occupying a site not too far from ours isn’t something you see every day.

Lots of deer in the campground.

This girl has attitude!

Not sure if this comforting or not. Lol.

On our arrival day, we did a short nature trail and walked to the Byrd Visitor Center. The history of the Shenandoah National Park is fascinating – In the 1930s, Shenandoah National Park was pieced together from over 3,000 individual tracts of land, purchased or condemned by the Commonwealth of Virginia and presented to the Federal Government. In the process, at least 500 families were displaced and some fought it all the way to the Supreme Court. While we certainly enjoy our National Parks today, it is interesting to learn how their creation was often controversial and caused real hardship for some people.

Our weather is supposed to be pretty good, with the possibility of a little rain on Thursday. What wasn’t in the forecast are the falling acorns! There are huge oak trees everywhere and the dropping acorns sound like gunshots when they hit the roof of the RV – which they do at random intervals all day and night! Let’s just say my startle reflex got a good workout. Lol.

With so many hiking options available we asked the Park Ranger for some recommendations and consulted our REI National Park Trails app to plan our attack. Turns out there were two great hikes starting right from our campground and more close by. We decided to skip the Skyline Drive – we did get to see a small portion of it on the way into the campground – in favor of more hiking time.

Sunset from the Appalachian Trail just a short walk from our campsite.

Pretty colors at dusk.

Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore. The next three days are all about the ups and downs – should be fun (not!). Lol. On Wednesday, 10/12, we did the Rose River Falls Loop trail and added in a detour to pick up the popular Dark Hollow Falls.  We started off from our campsite and walked the first section of our hike on the Appalachian Trail. Woohoo! 

Oh yeah, that is me on the Appalachian Trail. :) 

This was our first real hike in quite a while and it showed. Speaking of “showing”, allow me a (somewhat) brief rant. Several of the hikes we have planned are to picturesque waterfalls. Many folks hike to these popular falls just to photograph them. What is with people who park themselves in the middle of the scenic shot and camp out?? We had the misfortune of following a couple whose bucket list appeared to include not quite skinny dipping in each of the falls on our hike. At both of the major falls, I could hardly get a picture without them in it! You have no idea how tempted I was to pick up their clothes and turn them into lost and found at the park office. Lol. Another gal felt the need to do multiple yoga poses in front of the falls and yet another couple climbed out onto the rocks so they were perfectly framed in the middle of the falls and set up a picnic lunch. Arrrrgh! 

Rose River Falls

Water cascading over boulders on the Rose River. 

Some of these pretty waterfalls don't even get a mention on the map.

The lovely Dark Hollow Falls (photo bomb top right - arrgh!)

We have two more days of hiking with several more waterfalls. With over 500 miles of trails, surely we won't run into these same folks again!