Camping in Virginia

In an effort to give Tony some space and quiet time to study for his CFP (and to selfishly get out and enjoy the weekend), I went camping with my dad in the Shenandoah National Park this past weekend. We ended up camping on Lewis Mountain (instead of the crappy "Heavenly Acres" we were originally headed for). We took a hike each day and saw some beautiful waterfalls, amongst other things.

Our first destination was Dark Hollow Falls, a moderately short, yet steep trail that we hiked in the rain. The weird thing about trails off of Skyline Drive is that they all start out downhill. So, when you are coming back, you're actually climbing the mountain. Ugh! Here is one of the many gorgeous pictures of Dark Hollow Falls, taken by my dad.

Of course, regardless of the sign, we left the trail in a few places to traverse slippery rocks so that Dad could get the pictures he wanted!

In the evenings, we couldn't quite bring ourselves to "rough it" completely... didn't feel like packing tons of food or a campstove... which brought us to the Big Meadows wayside where we received incredibly poor/almost non-existent service but ate hot food nonetheless.

Inbetween thunderstorms, we watched a neat sunset from an overlook on the mountain. Dad tried to capture photos of the lightning storm that night, too, but it was pretty impossible to time.

We slept through thunderstorms in our tent all night. Luckily, the tent stayed dry inside! The rain had passed by morning and we took a long drive down the mountains and through the countryside. We traveled to the lower end of Whiteoak Canyon so as to be able to hike up first and end with a descent (smart ones we are!). Only, we weren't that smart afterall, because we took a wrong turn at the split in the trail and ended up climbing a MUCH steeper trail for about 2 miles before realizing our mistake! I think we figured it out about the time that we asked someone if we had reached the "lower" or "upper" falls. He said: "I don't they classify them like that on this trail... just on Whiteoak Canyon." My dad, exasperated: "You mean we're not on Whiteoak Canyon??" Man: "No... that's way over there on the other river." Dad: "%&*(#)(@**#%#*!" And we began our first descent.

After 4 miles of hiking on the wrong trail, and a break to recharge and convince Dad to keep going, we finally got on the right trail and arrived at Whiteoak Canyon Falls. The falls were beautiful and they dumped into a big pool that people were swimming in. Too bad we didn't bring our suits!

Somewhere along the way, I almost stepped on this snake. First time I've come face to face with a live snake sticking it's tongue out at me like it wanted to attack!

atop Bear Rock

at the campfire

Monday morning, we took an early walk (6:30am) along a trail down to a stream. The stream was babbling, but I think the best part was the sunrise. Here's a picture of Dad walking down the trail followed by the most dramatic picture of the weekend... the sun creating a spotlight on the trail.

I had a really great time this weekend. Even though it rained each day, we got in some good hiking, enjoyed delicious PB sandwiches and granola bars, and had some great father-daughter time. Hopefully I can convince Dad to do it again. If anyone else wants to go camping this year, too, let me know... I'm up for it!