Shenandoah NP, VA
At the south end of Shenandoah NP is Rockfish Gap and the starting point of Skyline Drive, the famous, scenic 105 mile drive through the park passing by many overlooks. It is also the end point for the Blue Ridge Parkway, which as you remember earlier, starts at the Smoky Mountains.
The AT trail also runs very close to the the road, sometimes crossing it. This will become relevant in just a little bit.
The overlooks are nice at first, but become boring after the first couple of them. You see the beautiful rolling hills, and because the park boundaries don't expand much from Skyline Drive, you see cities and farms just beyond them which spoil the view.
We did come across a group of fit 20 somethings doing a photo shoot for Marmot outdoors company at one of the overlooks. They had prepacked backpacks, and Marmot clothing, walking around in undesignated areas for hiking amongst the tall grasses. They didn't have on hiking shoes, just tennis shoes covered up by the tall grass. One guy standing on the roof of a minivan with his Nikon SLR and Cokin filter ordering the models around. I'll have to go pick up the next catalog from Marmot to see if I can find the pictures.
The thing about this park that is different from the other parks are the deer. Here they come out all times of the day, whereas, in the other parks you see them at dawn and dusk. You could throw a stick and hit 20 deer. They were everywhere.
As we went further, we came across hitchhikers. Clearly, they had been hiking the AT trail because if their backpaks, trekking poles, and disheveled looks. They needed a lift, probably to a campsite or camp store. Normally, we don't pick up hitchhikers, but they looked so sad that we had to stop and get them. Don't worry, we had our pepper spray on hand if we needed it. They were nice boys in their 20s. We asked their names to which they said, Rambles and Yodi. Hmmm, strange names, but I figured that was their last names. They needed a ride up to the camp store a few miles away. They had been hiking the start of the AT in Georgia since mid-April and met each other recently in North Carolina and became hiking buddies. As we learned, they didn't purify their drinking water, but drank from moving water sources. Seems to me like a gamble. They eat ramen noodles, peanut butter, jerky, etc. The last two nights, they came across 3 bears each night. Rambles was Connecticut and Yodi was from California. As we learned, on average, hiking the entire AT trail takes about 6 months, so they should finish in mid-October. They were quite happy for the lift and we got a little education from it, maybe a little good karma too.
Our goal was to get halfway to Big Meadow and camp there for the day. As we left again, we found another hitchhiker and picked him up. His name was Brother Bear. That's when I realize the AT hikers give each other nicknames. He did look kinda like a bear, so I am assuming that's how he hit his name. Brother Bear was from Ashville, NC, and a self-proclaimed country boy. He started the trail back in mid-March. When asked what kinds of food he ate, much of it was the same as the last set of hitchhikers, but he added that he ate foods with high caloric content and lightweight. He wanted a lift to the store at Big Meadows which was perfect as we were heading there. He was looking to recharge his electronics there. As we passed a bunch of his friends at one of the overlooks, he let on that many AT hikers hitchhike here. His friends were people he met on the trail and he says he knows 500 of them. When asked about bears, he says he saw them as well and gave some tips on what to do. Most of it was just ignoring the bears as they are big babies. Not sure I want to find out. We also asked him about the shelters. They are place about every 8 miles apart. Sometimes, shelters meant for 6 people will have 20 people crammed into them. We dropped him off and headed to find our campsite.
Needing the rest we took a nap and made dinner. We bought some firewood for the evening and as the sun was setting, drove out to big meadow and went for a walk to work off the food we just ate. Hoping for something more than deer encounters, we went on a road looking for bears and other wildlife. We met a father and daughter from Pennsylvnia along the way doing the same thing (working off dinner). This was their first National Park, so we gave them suggestions for other parks as well. We hiked about 3 miles round trip but didn't encounter anything but more deer. On the way back, it was dark enough that the lightning bugs lit the way, almost like a Disney movie ending.
We headed back to camp where we proceeded to settle in for the night around the campfire until it was time to sleep.
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