Shenandoah National Park

Our excursion to Big Meadows in Shenandoah National Park was a success! We learned a lot about towing, boondocking, and of course the park itself. Danine and I have hiked in and around the Shenandoahs many times, but not since Elise was born. We forgot how beautiful it is and how much we love this area. Elise’s smile sums up the trip.

We cruised out on Saturday morning, planning to drive from the park’s North entrance near Front Royal, Virginia down Skyline Drive to Big Meadows. I had Danine turn too early though, and we were headed down Rt. 522 parallel to the park. No big deal. We decided to enter at Thornton Gap and then continue south on Skyline Drive. Rt. 211 leading to this entrance to the park has quite the grade though, steep with plenty of switchbacks. We watched the transmission temperature gauge creep up, so Danine shifted down to third. Eventually it crept up again, so she went down to second. The engine did the work at 2500-3000 rpm for the most part and we cruised up to the top at 35-40 mph. We decided not to come home that way — no sense testing the limits of the brakes just yet.

The drive along Skyline was a little foggy and very lovely. While it’s a windy road, the speed limit is 35 mph, which makes for an easy and stately pace, even with a big trailer behind you.

We had reserved a pull-through site, but it turned out to be one of the shorter ones. The campground was too crowded to switch sites. Our rig just fit into the site bumper to bumper. Oh, and we dumped our gray and black tanks for the first time when we arrived at the campground. I didn’t bother to take a picture… Elise hovered nearby as I did it, saying, “Ewww, gross! That’s disgusting… Can I see?”

After settling in, we hiked the mile or so down to the visitor’s center and checked it out. Our one regret was not having enough time to start the Junior Ranger program for Elise. Hopefully next time. Around 5pm we headed out to the meadow and wandered about. Little paths meander in every direction and, as one ranger put it, “If it looks like a trail it is one.” Elise led the way through coarse, lush grasses, thorny red bracken, and little thickets of weather beaten bushes. She decided to venture through one of these. And so she did, entering, in her words, “the depths of despair.” The kid has a knack for hyperbole.

Once we were back at the trailer, Elise and I conjured a small fire while Danine made mac and cheese from scratch. We had a visit from the owners of one of the other two Airstreams in the campground, Ken and Jill Shuck. They are in the Arizona unit of the WBCCI (the Airstream owners’ club) and have been on the road since March. They offered us good advice, encouragement, and an invitation to visit a rally when we are in Arizona. We were glad to meet them and hope they continue to have safe travels.

Then it rained. Not right away — about an hour after we went to sleep. It was a twenty-minute downpour that was so loud we couldn’t hear each other talking ten feet away. Danine was worried that we wouldn’t hear Elise if she woke up and called for us, so she went down to Elise’s end of the trailer and sat on the step near her bed until the rain stopped. Of course, Elise never woke up – figures! We were safe and dry, but I felt bad for the many tent campers!

In the morning we took a 90 minute hike along the Appalachian Trail, which passes by the campground. It was a fantastic way to begin the day and end our time at Big Meadows. It was a short, sweet trip. We packed up and left just after noon. I drove us north on Skyline Drive past many beautiful spots and finally past Dickey Ridge where Danine and I hiked on Valentine’s Day in 1998. It was covered in snow and ice then and the drive was closed. Now, Spring is just beginning in the Shenandoah, the air cool, and we are happy to be traveling.