The "Heavy-Duty-Industrial-Tote-Trip" to Shenandoah and New River Gorge
OK, so I first have to explain the name we gave to this trip. And yes, it was *we*, not *me*, who named this trip thusly as the "heavy-duty-industrial-tote-trip." We took a vote and everything! So you see, we have two black plastic storage crates that we use when we go camping. They fit perfectly in the back of the Sorento with some extra room to pack stuff, and they don't stick up so high in the back that they block my view out the rear window. They're awesome! Anyhow, one the first night while we were camping, I asked W to get something out of one of the crates. And he replied, "You mean the heavy-duty industry tote?" I laughed, and that was it. For the rest of the trip, all three of us were actively finding ways to say "heavy-duty industrial tote" as many times as we could. And as we were driving home, we all agreed that this trip would be properly named the "heavy-duty-industrial-tote-trip."
For this trip I knew the first day would be our longest travel day, so we woke up early and were on the road before 7am. Our first day of driving was relatively uneventful except that we drove through a LOT of heavy rain in Indiana and Ohio. We drove all day, and I have to say––the Alleghenies in Pennsylvania reminded me very much of the Ozarks in Missouri and Arkansas…that is, sneaky beautiful landscape. I was hoping to get to Shenandoah and to our campsite before dark so that we wouldn't have to set up our tent in the dark. Well, it turned out that didn't happen. We did, in fact, end up setting up our tent in the dark. But it was worth it. We ended up arriving in the park about an hour before sunset, and it was about 1.5 hour drive from the park entrance to our campground. That means that we were driving along the famous Skyline Drive during the magic hour. And it was breathtaking. Not only because of the views, but also because the deer were out and about, playing and looking for food. There was one particular moment that we couldn't photograph, but it was spectacular. We were cresting a hill looking toward the setting sun, and right as we came up enough for the sun to be in our eyes, there was a deer standing in the middle of the road, perfectly silhouetted in jet black against the sun. It was, literally, a picture-perfect Kodak moment––the kind that is captured on the film of your brain forever.
We had entered Shenandoah from the north entrance, and we knew we were going to exit south, so we camped at the Big Meadows Campground, which is in a very high meadow in nearly the exact center of the park. We had an uneventful night and woke up on Thursday morning ready to explore. We drove up Skyline Drive about five miles to Bearfence Mountain, where there is a short 1-mile hike over a rocky peak with a 360-degree view. Now, climbing on rocks is one of my most favorite things ever, and it turns out that C has also caught that particular bug, too. She later said that "rock scrambling" was her absolute most-favorite activity we have done at national parks thus far, and the entire rest of the trip she was always asking on any of our hikes, "Is there rock scrambling?" Anyhow, we went over the top of Bearfence Mountain and then turned back to the parking lot via the Appalachian Trail (which parallels Skyline Drive through the entire length of the park). We got back to the Sorento at about high noon.
We then drove back toward Big Meadows to do the hike down to Dark Hollow Falls, since that trail was mostly in the shade and it was getting hot. Dark Hollows Falls is a cascading waterfall that's about 70 feet high. It's not a spectacular waterfall by any means, but it was charmingly beautiful, almost "magical" quality but not quite. There was just something about the way sun was shining through the green leaves and onto the rocks and the rushing water. There were lots of people around the falls climbing on the rocks and playing in the water, so we didn't stay very long, but long enough C to do some bouldering around while I watched her and made sure she did not try to climb the rocks with moss on them! The hike back to the parking lot was a steep 440+ foot ascent, and by this time we were all feeling a little tired. We decided to go back to the campsite for a rest before we did our final planned hike for the day.
And then the clouds rolled in. I say "rolled" in, but that makes it sound way too leisurely. This happened *quickly*. Literally, we were all sitting around the picnic table at our campsite deciding what to do when I looked up and said, "Hey guys, we might want to get in the car because I think it's going to rain." And less than a minute later, it started raining. And I mean, RAINING. Raining so hard that I quickly took all of our bedding out of the tent and stuffed it in the back of the car, and in that time I was soaked. Well, it's no fun just sitting in a car in the rain, so we decided to drive up and down Skyline Drive and just see what we could from the overlooks while we waited for the rain to stop. And that was surprisingly beautiful, actually, because from the overlooks you could the cloudy mists rising from the valley and rolling over the mountain. It was just extremely cool. We drove around for a an hour or so, and it looked like the rain had stopped we drove back to the campsite. We were there for about an hour and had started to make the fire to cook dinner when the rain started again, so we got back in the car again and drove the other direction on Skyline Drive to see what we could see. By now it was dinner time, and we didn't know how long the rain would last, so we ate some of our canned food in the car while we were driving around. And since we didn't know if we'd be able to make s'mores properly later, we ate graham crackers and chocolate and marshmallows in the car, too.
I think it was about 7pm by the time the rain stopped for good and the sun came out again for a while. But by this time there was not really any hope of making a good fire, even our wood was dry because I had also put it in the car. We did manage to get a fire going enough to heat water to make hot cocoa, so that's what we did until it was time for bed. We were all kinda tired anyway, so we went to sleep pretty early.
The next day, Friday, was a relatively short driving day going from Shenandoah to New River Gorge in West Virginia. I let W &C sleep in while I cooked breakfast and broke camp. I think it was about 10:30 by the time hit the road again, and we had a good 1.5 hours to drive just to get out of the park. On the way south we stopped to hike the Blackrock Summit trail, which also follows the Appalachian Trail and skirts the peak. The top of Blackrock Summit is all large, loose scree..so, of course, we scrambled up to the top! The highest point on the summit is a jagged rock, and we all took turns balancing on one foot at the very highest point so that we could say we stood on top of Blackrock Summit! We exited through the south entrance of Shenandoah at about 1:30pm or so, and started the 2.5 hour drive to New River Gorge.
We got to the Sandstone Visitor Center at New River Gorge just before it closed at 5pm, and it was a good thing, too! New River Gorge National Park is not very developed, and we might have had a really hard time finding our campground if we hadn't talked to the ranger at the visitor center. There are no camping reservations at New River Gorge. All the campgrounds are free, but they are all first-come, first-served. And the ranger figured that all the campsites in the middle of the park would be taken already, so he pointed us toward the closest campground to the southern end. That turned out to be perfect for us, because it was in a big grassy meadows right along the banks of the New River. I bet our tent was less than 50 feet away from the river. I myself wasn't a big fan of the campground, because it was, quite literally, just a big piece of wide open grass with 17 drive-in tent campsites and 1 outhouse-style bathroom. But W & C absolutely LOVED that campground, because there was lots of room to run around and throw the frisbee around without bothering (or even getting anywhere near) any of the other campsites. However, we discovered that there was any running water at that campground, so we piled in the car and drove to the closest town to get a big 4-gallon bottle of water at the supermarket. We had a leisurely evening around the fire and went to bed.
The next morning, Saturday, was the highlight of the trip: the Bridge Walk. The centerpiece of New River Gorge National Park is the New River Gorge bridge, which is the third highest bridge in the United States with the road deck a full 876 feet above the New River. Now, the Bridge Walk is a walking tour the full length of that bridge, but not along the road deck. Oh, no, the Bridge Walk is a walking tour on the *maintenance catwalk* for the New River Gorge bridge, which means that you're walking below the road deck, at the bottom of the truss on which the road deck is built. And for a good portion of that 3000 foot long bridge, the steel catwalk is the only thing between your feet and the river 851 feet below. All of us on the tour were strapped in with a safety harness and everything, so I never felt in any actual danger. But I was surprised at how unnerved I because once we were well out on the bridge and hundreds of feet above the gorge. At one point near the middle of the bridge the tour guide allowed us to sit down and dangle our feet out over the side, and that also was surprisingly nerve-wracking. I mean, the whole thing was was just incredibly intense. But it was AMAZING experience, definitely in the category of a once-in-a-lifetime experience. W&C and I all put the Bridge Walk in the top three experiences that we've had in national parks thus far. That bridge is just so incredibly huge, and it's just awesome and amazing to see it up close, both on the outside AND on the inside!
Our tour ended at about 1pm and it was very hot, so we decided to drive the old road down the gorge that the big bridge replaced. That road––running down the gorge, across the old steel truss bridge close over the river, and then up the other side––is only about 8 miles long, but it took us a good 25 minutes to drive that distance. It was very winding and surprisingly steep. And it was really cool to be on the old steel truss bridge about 20 feet above the river and then look up at that really big bridge almost 1000 feet above, especially when just an hour before we had been way up there! I have to say, the entire New River Gorge Bridge experience was just incredible.
After that we drove to the Grandview overlook, which was also very cool but not as majestic as the big bridge. We hiked a short trail and climbed on some more rocks. After that we drove to the Sandstone Falls, which is only about 20 feet tall but is about 1500 feet wide. And kinda like Dark Hollow Falls at Shenandoah, I was surprised just at how beautiful it was, in its own way. It certainly majestic, not at all. But it was really beautiful in a way that I can't describe to do it justice. I think it was something about the combination of everything together––the sound of water rushing over the rocks, the sight of sunlight shining through the falling water (even if only a few feet), the growth of green plants and reeds among the random pools of water made by the water––I don't know, but it was also really very cool to see. We didn't stay very long there, because it was late in the day by that point. But I was so very glad that we spent the extra time to go see it.
Coming back to the campground from Sandstone Falls took us through town, so we stopped at the supermarket again. [This is now the 2nd year in a row that we have planned to cook hot dogs while camping and then totally forgotten all the condiments at home!] Again we had a leisurely evening around the fire cooking hot dogs and s'mores and then went to bed. For our final morning we made our traditional final breakfast of SPAM and honey on flour tortillas, then broke camp and left for home. Along the way we passed through Charleston, West Virginia, and I was sad that we didn't have time to stop and explore the city at all. It really is a beautiful city, nestled as it is in the Blue Ridge mountains. Oh well, next time.
We stopped for dinner at a Cracker Barrel outside Indianapolis, and I think it might become a new tradition for us! As always, we counted US state license plates, and we got all 51 (including DC) except New Mexico, Nevada, Wyoming, and Hawaii. I do believe this makes two summers in a row that we have seen an Alaska license plate, which was really cool! The current plan is to hit Great Smoky Mountains and Congaree next summer. Can't wait!
posted by Joel @ 4:58 PM
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