We left our campsite on the Blue Ridge Parkway around 8:30 Sunday morning June 25, 2017 and rolled on down the road towards our destination for the next 2 nights.
The Blue Ridge Parkway ends and becomes Skyline Drive, which traverses Shenandoah National Park. We made our way along Skyline Drive to Big Meadow Campground. Locating our campsites, we set up camp. It was late in the day and we were hungry so we went to the Lodge and had a nice dinner before calling it a night.
Monday morning I crawled out of my little nest and found a sunny spot and sat still just soaking in the blessed warmth of the rays. Nights on this trip have proved themselves to be chilly affairs and we are heading steadily north. I dare say it will not warm up significantly.
We walked up to the shower house and laid down the quarters for 4 minutes of bliss under a steady stream of hot water. It felt great to wash and putting on clean clothes after 3 days on the road is not to be overrated.
Mom and I went to the visitor center to orient ourselves, getting a trail map and advice from the helpful Rangers. We picked a 4 mile loop hike that was easily accessible from our campsite, included a piece of the Appalachian Trail, and had a nice waterfall.
We gathered together at camp and got our hiking supplies and the 6 humans and one canine that made up our vacation cadre headed out into the woods.
The AT runs alongside Big Meadow Campground and we accessed it via a very short trail. Making a left we headed towards the side trail that would take us down to Lewis Falls. The walk along the AT was easy, the trail marked well and maintained. We veered off and headed towards the Falls.
The trail to Lewis Falls was steep and very rocky. Mom had difficulty navigating over some of the rough terrain. Stepping up onto or over or down off rocks on uneven ground proved taxing and Tyler and I kept a close eye on her lending a steady hand for balance whenever necessary. She was game and never complained. We came to the overlook for the waterfalls and enjoyed the beautiful view as we rested up for the climb back up.
The trail made a loop so we took the other route up and luckily it proved a little less rocky and navigating it was a bit easier. We hit the AT and started back to camp. We had to stop and rest several times as Mom’s energy reserves were zapped from the difficult terrain and the climb.
The AT through Shenandoah is often sighted by through hikers as one of their favorite stretches of trail. The views off the AT into the Shenandoah Valley are beautiful. The little bit of the AT we did was fairly easy walking. The world was green, the skies were blue and dotted with fluffy white clouds, it was slightly cool with little humidity. There had been several bear sightings around the Lodge and up from the campground, but we never saw any.
As we got close to the Lodge we left Mom with Tyler and Abby and Zoe while Craig, Donna and I went to the camp to get a vehicle to pick Mom up at the Lodge saving her 0.6 mile of walking. We rested up a bit then from the hike before hitting the visitor center again for souvenirs.
We ate at the Wayside then crossed Skyline Drive to wander the maze of trails through the Big Meadow. How can you camp out at Big Meadow Campground and not go experience it’s namesake?
I will go back to Shenandoah when I can dedicate more time to just exploring all it has to offer. We barely touched the tip of the iceberg here.
MrsSmithsLifeUnexpected 