Saturday, October 13, 2012

Fall Break

To enjoy Paul's fall break we decided to take a drive to Shenandoah National Park and view the fall colors. Our original plan was to camp in the park but we were easily persuaded against that when we saw the evening temperature dropping into the low 30's. Plus, we just went camping a few weeks ago and were able to enjoy great weather, dutch oven dinner, and we even saw a black bear! However, we were not quick enough to snap a photo, maybe next time.

There are tons of hiking trails within the 105 mile long park. I left it up to Paul to find us a trail that he would like to hike because of his keen interest in fly fishing. He found us a "4 mile" round trip hike that would meet up with a small stream he could fish in. Our hike also took us to Rapidan Camp which was a summer retreat for President Hoover while he was in office. We went on a quick tour of the summer cabin and enjoyed our lunch on the deck. 

We continued our hike following our blaze marked trail. At the crossroads there was a post that said what the trials were and how many miles until then next post. When we arrived at our second post, we read it carefully. From Rapidan Camp plus how many more miles we had to go until the next post, which wasn't the end, did not add up to 4 miles.  When we finally made it back to our car and got a good look at the map, it turns out we went for a 9 mile hike instead of the expected 4. All said and done we had a good time and next time we'll be sure to read the fine print. 


Welcome to the Shenandoah National Park.

Can you hear the leaves under our feet? Crunch! Munch! Crunch! Munch!

Paul crossing the small stream. 



Beautiful waterfall & a pool for fishing. 

I'm guessing this is where "sounds of nature" records their waterfall track. 

Little Brook Trout



President Hoover's Summer Retreat. Nice place.



Bridge crossing the river next to Hoover's cabin.
We were told  that he fly fished in this stream regularly.



The white blaze marking our trail.
Glad we didn't get lost even though we had no idea how far we were hiking.







2 comments:

  1. *sigh* we were wishing we were with you guys today. I'm glad you had beautiful weather for your trip!

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  2. We will do something together again soon I'm sure. We had a great time with you in North Carolina last week! I'll be sure to take pictures next time we get together.

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