Luray and Shenandoah National Park

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After a night in Harrisonburg we headed into the Shenandoah National Park, paying the $15 entry fee which was good for 7 days. Shame we were only going to be there for a couple. It was difficult not to make comparisons with the Blue Ridge Parkway as we drove along Skyline Drive. Skyline is a much better road with clearly a funding advantage. This is probably down to the entry fee and its proximity to Washington DC. We saw many signs saying "Your Recovery Dollars At Work" which is, we're told, one of Obama's schemes.

We actually entered Skyline about a third of the way down and continued North stopping at one or two viewpoints. Many of them were closed though. "Your Recovery Dollars At Work" is obviously a long term project which rather spoils the experience for the short term visitor like us!!!! The views are nice but they lack the drama of the higher mountains further South. If you drove North to South it would probably be good as it would get more dramatic whereas the farther North we travelled the less dramatic it was.

Our first stop was the visitors centre at Big Meadows. Although there is a very big meadow there, it is in fact named after a person called Meadows. There we found out about a short hike we could do nearby. First though, we had lunch at the picnic area. We then had to retreat to the car because it rained!! The rain soon passed and we drove a short way along Skyline to the parking spot for our hike.

The Rose River Waterfall hike is about 4 miles altogether. It began with a well defined path meandering through the woods. Still no bears though!! After a while it became a bit more difficult under foot and that took us down to the river where we found the waterfall to be a little disappointing. The path back up was a bit tricky in places and we found ourselves scrambling up some rocky climbs. We passed one couple who had taken 2.5 hours to do what we had accomplished in an hour though, so we didn't feel too bad about ourselves. We just hope they got out before sunset!!

On the way back up we stopped to cool off by a refreshing pool of water. Russ got attacked by a hideous insect (see photo!) and Trish didn't want a similar fate so we didn't stay long. The tough part of the climb ended at the end of the Dark Hollows Waterfall walk where we met a lovely lady, Brenda, who was walking with her daughter and son-in-law. Apparently that path had been pretty tough and she didn't fancy going back that way, so she asked if she could walk with us on our easier path back up to Skyline Drive. It's a good job she did as on the way we came across a huge rattlesnake. Brenda said it wasn't particularly big but at 4-5 foot long we didn't much fancy an encounter with its big brother. Just how big do they get? Russ went chasing after it with his camera before Brenda got him to stop by identifying it as a rattle snake. So that's what the noise had been - a warning from the critter!! The rest of the walk was uneventful except for the sighting of a white tailed deer in the woods and, yes, still no bears!!

Our destination for the evening was Luray where we were Couch Surfing again. The instructions made our host's house seem like it was in the back of beyond. It was way beyond there! But the back of the back of beyond does have its advantages. Jane's place was gorgeous and her two dogs, Molly and Morty were lovely, if not particularly playful. We sat out in the evening and watched the glorious sunset as we chatted and got to know our host. Jane was heading down to Washington the next day but put her faith in us to look after the house and let ourselves out when we left. That next day we were just so happy to be so far away from it all that, but for a trip into town to buy provisions, we did almost nothing but play Frisbee in the fields, read and relax.

Eventually though, we had to leave as we had commitments in Washington DC. It was decidedly chilly as we left. The temperature had fallen from 85F to 59F overnight! The coldest temperatures we had experienced since Chicago which seems a lifetime away now. We drove the rest of Skyline Drive stopping to do a short hike on the way. It warmed up as the day wore on but not too much. In fact, it was perfect for hiking and all we had time for was 2 miles. Still no bears in the woods though, and that was probably our last chance.

Interstate 66 runs from the end of Skyline Drive into Washington DC. On the way you pass some of Virginia's wineries. Well, who were we to miss the opportunity?! It's not free though. We paid $5 each at the Naked Mountain Winery which got us not-exactly-small samples of six different wines. They were nice enough but nothing special. Even so, we bought a bottle as a gift for our host in DC and continued on our way to the nation's capital.

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