Shenandoah National Park

America's second most visited National Park

Day 73

My first full day in the park ended up being my longest day to date at 24 miles. It started with surprise trail magic: pancake breakfast! AT and PCT thru hiker Giggles was doing trail magic periodically over the past month and is about to start the CDT for the last of her triple crown trails. The Triple Crown of US long-distance hiking, if I haven't explained before, is the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail. A Canadian informed me that their Great Divide Trail can be included for the North American Elite Four.

First overlook from Skyline Drive 

I made a big effort to reach the first wayside (small grill/cafeteria restaurants in the park) after 19 miles, and yes it was worth it. With all the smooth trail, I actually came nowhere close to beating my Fitbit step record: long strides cover lots of ground versus trudging climbs get lots of steps.

Low quality photo of the famous blackberry milkshake and a grilled cheese sandwich

The next shelter was just shy of 5 miles past Loft Mountain wayside, and by the time I got there I was hungry again. Guess my stop was a large afternoon snack and not dinner.

With all the bugs out now, I seem to be walking through a large quantity of spider webs. Of course, it's most noticeable and annoying when it's on my face, and you only hope you didn't pick up the spider along with it. Also a reminder that walking around with your mouth open is a poor idea. Yes, bugs do literally fly into your face, and your dinner. You'd think this behavior would be bad for species survival long term.

Day 74

A quick compilation of creatures I have photographed recently.

Rabbits, snakes, turtles, and frogs.

Hunting is prohibited in national parks, and the deer here are the most brazen I have ever seen. Even compared to suburban deer, these ones will graze ten feet from you, look up, and make eye contact like, "I'm not afraid of you." Really, there isn't enough woods that you want to graze right in camp? However, deer are still mundane to me and thus have not been photographed.

Perhaps it's simply seasonal work or more likely it's due to the upcoming Memorial Day Weekend, but I ran into more volunteers doing trail maintenance today than I have in the past month combined. Shout-out to the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club for maintaining the section that includes Shenandoah.

What a surprise, a scenic overlook

I managed to make it to a campground store with only 2 minutes to spare. I got ice cream (a chipwich for those interested) plus resupply. Trail magic strikes again as there was a reserved but empty site at the campground, and the hosts allowed us thru hikers to set up there for free. We sat around the campfire and appreciated access to a real bathroom.

Day 75

Ice cream day 3! The next wayside restaurant at Big Meadows was only a few miles away, so most of the campground group made it there just as lunch was starting. My treat today was blackberry cobbler topped with blackberry ice cream, alongside my veggie burger and fries.

Looking west

I stopped in at the adjacent campground for shower and laundry after lunch. It was definitely worth a stop, even though I immediately put those clean clothes on and started hiking. At least I was the cleanest hiker for a few hours.

Water sources within the park are helpfully labeled

I actually thought this stretch near Big Meadows was particularly pretty. Skyline Drive gets most of the views, and sometimes the trail feels like it's just plopped into the woods with little intent. It has been rather monotonous at times. The rolling hills don't lend themselves to great views as much as high peaks do.

Of course, reading this and following my Instagram, you only see the spots I've deemed worthy of a picture. There is a LOT of monotony during a thru hike. All the viewpoints start to look the same (I say you get max 2 good views a day before thinking, "the first one was better"), and all my selfies look the same as I only have 1 hiking outfit, weather depending. The AT is known as the green tunnel because so much of the trail is walking in woodlands, green with tree cover and understory alike. Plenty of times, you are tiredly trudging along in a daze, willing the hours and miles to pass by faster.

Day 76

For those unfamiliar with Shenandoah National Park, it's centered around a ridgeline in the Shenandoah Mountains, and the primary feature is Skyline Drive. This scenic road runs the entire length of the park, over 100 miles, and it was the central idea during the park's creation in the early days of the automobile.

The Appalachian Trail at one point early in its history traversed the route that became Skyline Drive. Today, the AT runs approximately parallel to the road, crossing it many times and coming within spitting distance many times more. As a hiker, you are rarely more than a half mile from the road within park boundaries. This is bad if you hate road noise but good if you like slackpacking, meeting up with non hikers, or taking advantage of all the park amenities.

Most every trail junction and road crossing contained these signs, warning the casual hiker

Addendum: I later learned that the trail's proximity to Skyline Drive and "civilization" led to a huge rift among its founders. It meant sacrificing the "pure wilderness" vision, but the effort needed to detour completely around the park was deemed excessive. The trail near the Blue Ridge Parkway faced a similar dilemma.

More town/development is visible now, and the surrounding terrain is definitely flatter than in other parts of Virginia

This morning, I was strategically camped so I could arrive at Skyland Lodge right at breakfast. This is a standout within the park because it is an all-you-care-to-eat buffet, a phrase that immediately makes thru hikers perk up. For a reasonable $15 dollars, I got my fill of healthy fruit, yogurt, and granola alongside fried potatoes and pastries. Shout out to the pound cake.

Trying for those artsy photos. Skyline Drive is very clearly following the ridgeline from this perspective.

The AT functions as an artery for hiking trails in Shenandoah with a great many side trails branching off of it. Day hiker traffic can vary wildly. As mentioned before, there are plenty of monotonous sections of the AT, both in Shenandoah and in general, that are not particularly interesting and serve more as a way to get from point A to point B. If the AT is near a popular trailhead, campground, or point of interest, you see a lot more foot traffic. Especially on this beautiful Saturday of a holiday weekend in the more developed section of the park near several popular peaks/destinations, I was nearly constantly passing people. And dogs, since this is once of the few national parks where dogs are allowed on hiking trails.

At first it was nice to break out of the trail bubble and interact with normal humans, but that quickly passed. There's a difference between crowds and company, after all. Today was at least remarkable for never needing to filter water and using 3 different flush toilets since I passed through several developed areas.

Day 77

My last day in the park brought a surprising burst of longing. If it wasn't a crowded holiday weekend and I wasn't coordinating a pickup today, I would have liked shorter days and a bit less rushing. Take some more side trails and sit around at scenic views. It's easy to get bored of overlooks, however; I even thought this during my visit to Shenandoah last summer. One of the perks of a long hike like this is the ability to rapidly change plans and say, I want to pause here, enjoy the moment. I worked hard to have no strict deadlines around my thru hike.

For others, testing your limits is rewarding, and there are numerous self-imposed challenges. Can you hike for 24 hours straight? How will you know unless you try?

Squeezing in some final overlooks from Skyline Drive

I haven't felt nostalgic about completing other stretches of trail, so this caught me off guard. Perhaps it is due to approaching halfway, or approaching familiar terrain as I head north. Perhaps it's influenced by loneliness, as I seemed to have lost track of everyone I've regularly hiked with, all at the same time.

Shenandoah has a distinct shelter style. The walls are stone, as is the semi circle fire pit. The inside has a bunk level.

It's obvious to compare Shenandoah National Park with Great Smoky Mountains National Park, two East Coast ridgelines containing the AT that have the #1 and 2 most visitors of all NPS parks. The experiences are not at all alike. GSMNP has much more rugged terrain, is known for its rainfall, and is one of the most isolated stretches of the AT with minimal other trail traffic. Thru hikers going NOBO cross it at a tough time of year and could get ice storms. SNP has very moderate rolling hills (not flat, you're still experiencing a few thousand feet of elevation change per day, but gradually), no high elevation weird weather, and is a very accessible, developed stretch of trail. I had fantastic weather with temperatures around 70 during the day and 50 at night, sunny and no rain.

Contemplating the future? Celebrating the journey? Or digesting lunch?

Today I met up with Zoe, my good friend from Dartmouth who also organized the trip to Shenandoah last summer due to her proximity to the park. It was lovely to hang out, eat good food, and share some trail stories.

Happy hiking!