November 2, 2024 - November 9, 2024 -- Shawnee State Park, PA to Big Meadows Campground in Shenandoah National Park, VA
Written By: Wendy
As Scott and I drove away from the magical Prince-Phillips Millstone Farm, we were on a high. We excitedly talked about all the things we loved from the past week. It felt like the retreats we both took in high school and college that were religious based where when you left it felt like emerging out of a bubble. You had only been gone about 48 hours, but it felt like a lifetime. Lasting friendships were made, inside jokes were had, many impactful memories flashed by, and you had no idea what happened out in the "real world" outside of the bubble. We had that feeling, totally and completely, and we loved it. We were energized by it. We decided that maybe, just maybe, we'd even do another event, and maybe soon. We dreamed up the possibilities on that 4 hour drive south while our kids vegged out listening to their Yoto players and napping to recover from the week. We stopped at a state park in PA for two nights to recover and recharge, literally, before boondocking again.
Our next stop was Shenandoah National Park. We booked the campsite right when the booking window opened up, exactly 6 months ago, and I had been looking forward to this stop for a long time. Some of my favorite songs were written about this beautiful place, and I couldn't wait to see it. For the very first time in our lives, we left our campsite on that sunny Monday morning ahead of schedule. We were all just as shocked as you are. We had a 3.5 hour drive in front of us, so plenty of opportunity for delays, but we were excited to knock off another national park and wanted to take full advantage of our time there. Scott had looked at the route ahead of time, and the route it suggested on Google said to go through the park on Skyline Drive, which looked like a zigzag of tight turns. We had done some harrowing twisty drives with our RV before, and we ideally wanted to avoid it. Large RVs and hairpin turns just don't mix well. He looked at RV Life, and it suggested a different route that avoided the twisty Skyline Drive for the majority of the trip, so we decided to take that route. It was smooth sailing, and we were about 15 minutes out; Caroline had just fallen asleep (not ideal but to be expected) and Parker was quietly listening to his Yoto but starting to get a little restless. We were definitely off the main drag and going through what seemed to be some rural back roads with a smattering of houses. It seemed a little off, but we were so close. I was in the navigator's seat and told Scott to take the next right. Just as he started to turn, we saw the huge sign that said in all caps, "DEAD END. ROAD DOES NOT GO THROUGH TO SKYLINE DRIVE. NO ENTRANCE TO SHENANDOAH PARK." "Uh-oh, but there must be another entrance close by," I thought as I looked up our directions in Google. Then a pit fell in my stomach, Google said we were over an hour away. What?! We were only 15 minutes away! Not only that, we were stuck on a tiny rural road with no where to turn around. Scott and I were about to panic when a local pulled up next to us asking if we were heading to Shenandoah. "Yes, sir, yes we in fact are." He said that the road was a dead end, but that we would probably have enough room to turn around at the end of the road. Probably was our only option at that point, so we kept heading down the road that seemed to continue to narrow. While heading in the wrong direction, I remembered that Heather and David were coming as well and left a few hours behind us. I sent a frantic text in all caps that said, "DO NOT FOLLOW RV LIFE DIRECTIONS" as my one bar of service wavered. I was able to get the text out, but I couldn't send any more details. We made it to the dead end, turned around, complete with a jack knife and crunching metal on metal that ended with a bit of a scratch on our trailer due to the jack knife, but we made the turn. We were now about 1.5 hours away and heading in the correct direction. When we finally got back into service, we had several texts from Heather and David requesting more information. We gave them the scoop, and they luckily had enough time to change their route before heading onto our path. About an hour later, we finally made it to the park entrance, after going on one very steep gravel road that we definitely should not have gone on. At the entrance, we were asked the height of our trailer and given the clearance to go this way since we were just barely under the height restriction of the tunnels. Heather and David's rig was not, though, so I sent off more frantic texts while the ranger told us which entrance they needed to use. Luckily, they were able to turn around in time. Finally, we made it to our campsite just as the golden orange sun was setting over the hazy glow of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Moral of the story: if you plan to go to Shenandoah with an RV, please do your research ahead of time. Or call me.
The next morning, I woke up and went for a run along the Appalachian Trail that ran through the campground. I ran right along the ridge line while I watched the sun peek up and over the mountains. It was gorgeous, and I stopped several times to breathe in the beauty. Scott and I swapped exercise time and kid duty and then we swapped lodge time. The lodge was a short walk from our campground, and when I entered it, I immediately felt like I was thrown into a Hallmark movie, and I never wanted to leave. It was a rustic and quaint old lodge, and as I walked past the reception desk into the sitting room, I knew I would be spending a lot of time here this week. There was a roaring wood burning fire on one side, a small coffee shop on the other side and plenty of cozy couches and small tables in between. A tall bookshelf filled with books, puzzles, and games lined one side wall. The far wall was all big picture windows with rocking chairs lined up along the windows so that guests could fully take in the view of the Blue Ridge Mountains below. It was breathtakingly beautiful. And not mention, there was also a delicious restaurant that Scott and I were able to have a date night at one night, and a bar down below. It was rustic luxury, and I loved it so much.
The next week was spent exploring the nearby hikes and spending as much time as I possibly could in that adorable lodge. This was our last stop with the Herds, so we soaked up as much time as we could with them. We didn't know when the next time was that we'd see them again as we were both still trying to figure out our winter and spring plans. The Big Meadows campground is an excellent jumping off spot to explore Shenandoah as there are several hikes that leave from the campground and even more that are within a 15 minute drive. One afternoon we all set out to hike the Story of The Forest trail that took us to the visitor's center. The next morning I did a very long, very emotional run on the Lewis Spring Falls trail. (We purposely want this to be a neutral space that welcomes anyone and everyone, but I'll just say that it was early November, and I needed a long, hard run to get out my frustration and let the tears flow on that foggy Wednesday morning.) That afternoon we all hiked Dark Hollow Falls that lead us to a stunningly large waterfall at the bottom of the trail. There were large mossy boulders at the bottom of the waterfall along the creek that in the spring are usually covered in water, but in the fall, there are dry and bare. The kids bounced from rock to rock, playing superheroes and looking for bugs under the smaller boulders while we all ate a picnic lunch. Afterwards, we decided to all check out the bar and enjoyed happy hour at the bar in the lodge and drank our sorrows away.
The Herds were leaving a day before us, so on our last day all together, we planned an epic hike to finish off our epic 4 month journey together. We hiked to the top of Stony Man Peak. It was short and steep, but we rewarded with stunning views of the valley below. We were just past prime leaf peeping season and all the trees at the top were bare, but in the valley below, there were still vibrant patches of golden leaves. The kids carelessly jumped from rock to rock at the peak while all the adults kept up a steady stream of "Be careful!" "Watch where you're jumping!" "That's too high!" "You're too close to the edge, come over here!" Once the four of us were on a verge of a heart attack, we finally decided it was time to head back down the mountain. As we walked back, we reminisced over the past 4 months and all the amazing adventures we had together. We finished off our evening with a picnic dinner together and fire complete with s'mores.
After saying good bye to the Herds that next morning and shedding a few tears, we decided to squeeze in one more hike that afternoon before we had to leave the next morning. We did the Hawksbill Mountain Loop trail. This took us to the highest peak in the park. It was an approximately 3 mile loop with a decent amount of vert, but Parker had become quite the proficient hiker, so we knew it would be no problem for him. We were correct in our assumptions. He easily made it to the peak with little need for encouragement. We took in the stunning views again, had a quick snack, and headed down on the backside. Most people just went up and back down the same trail, but we opted for the slightly longer and less traveled trail to make it a loop. It was perfect. We saw only one other person on the way down and Parker was able to completely immerse himself in the story Scott told him of Sinestro, Ernesto de La Cruz's evil twin brother, a unique rendition of Coco, while I was able to let my thoughts wander as Caroline snoozed in the pack on my back. We finished off our day and our time in Shenandoah by watching the sunset at one of the many pull offs on Skyline Drive. The peak was windy and the temperates were dropping. We didn't bring enough clothes, and we still had 30 minutes until sunset, so we were about ready to throw in the towel. I brought out all our car blankets and wrapped the kids up in the them while I read a book about the national parks. The pictures were gorgeous, and we slowly took our time dissecting each picture to make the time pass more quickly. Finally, the sun turned into a bright orange ball behind us, and I put the book down. We all sat in silence and breathed in the fresh air and beauty that only sunset in a National Park can bring. Our hearts were full from the intentional time together, our bodies were content from all the hiking, and our desires were little at that moment. We were happy to just be.
We said good bye to Shenandoah the next morning. As we drove out of the park, Scott and I were already making plans on when to come back and what we would do next time. Maybe a trip just the two of just to the Big Meadows lodge? Or maybe we'd try out a different campground with all of us and aim for peak leaf week? So many possibilities! We easily chatted about it all as we headed south towards North Carolina.