This is a retrospective blog of my seven-week exploration of Virginia along with a journey through the Shenandoah National Park and on down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Cherokee, North Carolina. 'Retrospective' means simply that it wasn't written during the trip, but is being written in hindsight a little over a year later. Baaswell Sheep accompanied me and is writing the blog in the way he's done my later blogs, since he's so good with the color commentary. Unfortunately, since I didn't plan for this blog back them, my pictures are limited to the major attractions, but I'll try to make those galleries a little bigger than I do in my later blogs.
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Before we headed out on our adventures away from Big Meadows, we got a treat of getting to watch a red-headed woodpecker on a tree, pointed out by a couple of the other guests. My companion was able to grab his camera with a zoom lens and get some fairly decent pictures of the fellow.
Today we drove ten miles north to the Skyland Resort. Skyland predates the national park by several decades, having been built as a private mountain resort with lots rented out to people who then built their own cabins. An interesting footnote is that the resort owner wanted to ensure good sales at his restaurant, the Polluck Room, so he put a rule into the rental agreement that cabins could not have kitchens in them. And thus, to this day, there are no cabins with kitchens in the cabins at Skyland, though there are a number of much newer lodge buildings for those who want more modern amenities. My companion stayed at Skyland for both of his previous visits to Shenandoah National Park: once for two nights, and once for an amazing ten days in July of 2019. Unfortunately, he wasn't blogging back then, but perhaps someday he'll try to write a retroactive blog about that experience. Today, we wanted to relive a few fun memories by returning to Skyland for lunch and dinner, and then doing a hike a little ways north of Skyland. The pictures below are a random mix taken at both Skyland and at an overlook near Skyland
In the Pinnacles area of the park, we took a hike on the Hannah Catlett Mountain Trail. We had hoped to do a full loop, but after getting out about two-and-a-half miles and reaching what looked like a dry creek bed, we decided it would be best to turn around and go back, rather than try to press on and complete the loop. Even with the somewhat cooler temperatures, it was still in the low eighties in the late afternoon, which is not the easiest of weather for hiking. Still, we had fun and enjoyed the views and the peace and quiet of the forest.
After a nice caesar salad for dinner at the Skyland Tap Room, we waited around until dark and then headed back to Big Meadows, stopping at an overlook with a wonderful clear view of the sky. It was still pretty close to a new moon, so we got to stare at the constellations again and ponder our place in the universe. These constellation viewings were such a nice unexpected part of our visit, and it's always nice to have something unexpectedly fun happen when you take a vacation trip.
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