 |
| Shenandoah River |
The river was
calling, the Shenandoah River, so we headed north-east up highway
I-81 to the next park, Shenandoah River State Park which is a
Virginia park. This park has a late check-in time, 4:00 PM, and we
arrived just after 4. You can reserve a space but select a site upon
arrival – not a bad solution when you are new to the park. After
setting-up for the next four nights we strolled down to the river for
a look, met the neighbors, and played a few tunes.
The next day was
sunny so we headed out on a hike along the river to the visitor center and points beyond. Memories of picking and eating ripe berries along the trails date back to my childhood and this park kept the tradition alive.
 |
Trail near the Visitor Center
The park is not flat! |
 |
Raspberries
A reward for hiking the trails |
The rapids in the river were noisy but did
not scare us, we were ready to paddle upstream regardless of the
current! And paddle we did... against the current, over rocks,
around rocks, and through rapids. Now, some rapids required more
than one attempt to cross as we miss guessed the best crossing point.
Not a problem, we would regroup, re-assess the water, and ford that
rapid on the second attempt. Ninety minutes later it was time to
float back down stream and this time over the rapids with the
current. Wonder why it was so hard before?
Needless to say,
sleep was not a problem that night. We awoke to the sound of rain
which was a good excuse to go easy until the weather broke and we
could hike to the other end of the river.
 |
| View from the River Trail |
 |
| Flowers abound on the upper trails |
 |
| And you may encounter a friendly snake! |
The overcast afternoon gave us time to visit Front Royal for lunch and supplies. Now, it was only 6
miles to the Skyline Drive aka Shenandoah National Park, you guessed it, we visited.
 |
| Front Royal, main street |
Our last full day
in the park was reserved for bicycling the dryer trails. As with the previous trips, we were not disappointed. Bill found more raspberry bushes with delectable berries. The scenery was memorable and the trails we selected easy to ride. Keep this park on your adventure list.
 |
Along the trail
|
 |
Wonder who lived here?
|
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.