From the official Park web site: "Shenandoah National Park lies astride a beautiful section of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which form the eastern rampart of the Appalachian Mountains between Pennsylvania and Georgia. The Shenandoah River flows through the valley to the west, with Massanutten Mountain, 40 miles long, standing between the river's north and south forks. The rolling Piedmont country lies to the east of the park. Skyline Drive, a 105-mile road that winds along the crest of the mountains through the length of the park, provides vistas of the spectacular landscape to east and west."
As we drove on Skyline Drive on Saturday to go MTBing, I was seriously wishing I had my 'cross bike so I could do a few miles on this road. Very steep and windy, which means it would be a a hell of a climbing workout. Unfo
rtunately the was virtually no shoulder on the roads and while I did see and handful of cyclists suffering on it, I wouldn't feel completely safe on it, especially on a high traffic weekend like the 4th. Sigh. We made our way to Shenandoah River State Park (MTB is forbidden in Shenandoah State Park) and rode the trails there for a few hours. I was surprised to find that there were hardly any obstacles or log overs on the trails, but some were quite hilly and rocky, but mostly just bumpy and super fast. We were the only riders out that day so we rode everything we could. Record and I took off on the black diamond trails for the last hour and by the time we came back my legs were toast. Time to head back to camp for the Mexican feeding frenzy.I had a brilliant dinner idea that was poo-poo'd by certain people, but I decided to try anyway. Take a bag of Doritos (nacho cheese), open the bag and add sour cream, cheese, salsa, ground beef, tomatoes and lettuce. Shake bag up to mix and then slice the side of the bag to make a bowl and voila - dinner! It was awesome or maybe we were just starving but either way it was awesome. We concluded the evening with some beers around the campfire and I retired early. I did miss a skunk invasion as I snoozed away. I heard some rustling but just thought it was a bird or small animal but it was a freakin' skunk. I could not even fathom what we would do if anyone was sprayed. I mean, really, what would we do?
On Sunday we opted to not MTB and go hiking instead, which I enjoy, but it can either be really fun or really boring. April had her heart set on hiking Old Rag Mountain, which she was told was an
insanely awesome hike. The hike was about 10 miles with 4000 ft of climbing and a load of rock scrambling. Sounds good! I like a challenge. I bought these new hiking shoes yesterday since I only brought flip flops and my cycling shoes with me and I was so glad I got them. They made walking on uneven terrain and bouncing from rock to rock seem almost easy. It was a long way up, but the views at the top were incredible. On the way down, Woj and I opted to use gravity as best we could and ran down most of the 2 miles to the fire road. April and Record soon joined us at the bottom where Record ran back to the car to get in a workout (psycho) and we walked the 3.5 miles back to the car. At this point my dogs are seriously barking and I was dreaming of a golf cart coming by to take me to the car. One the way home the unimaginable happened - all the ice cream stores were closed, gahhhhhhh!We made a huge pasta/sausage dinner that night and while there were no fireworks, we did manage to enjoy some adult beverages by the fire and watch some rednecks almost blow themselves up by squirting lighter fluid on an open campfire. Wait for it...nothing happened, thankfully. I stayed up late (11pm!) and the skunk never reappeared. Must be full from invading all the campsites for a few days.
We left the next morning and returned to hazy and freakin' hot Philadelphia. I miss sleeping in 55 degree weather!
No comments:
Post a Comment