Excessive heat warning? Let’s sleep outside! Back in April, when Ray and I booked our summer camping trip to Shenandoah National Park, we didn’t realize it was a bad idea to camp in the dead of summer. It didn’t occur to us that it would be too hot, let alone the hottest weekend of the year. The week before we left for the south, I checked the forecast and saw numbers that scared me to my core. 98-100 degrees Fahrenheit. Hiking. Sleeping in a tent. I was going to roast like a marshmallow. With my history of passing out in the heat, I was not excited about this weather update. But, to the mountains we must go.
On Thursday, we packed up our gear and set off for Virginia. We drove four hours then stopped in a town called Winchester for the night. We got dinner and a hotel room, then blasted the air to subpolar temperatures, like it would have some residual effect on the days to come.
We welcomed sleep on Friday morning and slept in to an astounding 9 am, then I lost my waffle house virginity! Yumm waffles. Before heading into the mountains, we stocked up on food at a local Walmart (I swear there was one every mile here) and went on our merry way. Ray and I decided to avoid the heat by finding caverns and indoor drinking activities. I think we went to almost every alcohol establishment we could find!
Later, when we began to ascend the mountains on Skyline Drive, we were happy to see the temperature on my dash slowly drop. We arrived at our beautiful campsite at Big Meadows Campground, and were pleasantly surprised by how bearable the climate was. YAY! We would live to see another day. For the rest of the trip, we were pretty satisfied with the temperature. It was VERY hot between 2-4 pm; otherwise, the windy mountain tops and high elevation helped keep us cool. We loved Virginia!
Although we only scratched the surface of what there is to do in Shenandoah, we were happy with everything that we accomplished in the little time we had. Here’s a list of everything that we did and a list of what we didn’t do but want to on our next trip!
Big Meadow Campground
This was a great location, near most hikes and waterfalls that you’d want to visit. The campsites were nicely laid out with a ton of tree coverage and were equipped with fire rings, grates, driveways, and some had anti-bear food storage. Some bears periodically wander through the grounds, but we only saw deer near us. We also made friends with some of our neighbors, a couple from Virginia and a group of older biker guys from Nevada!
Skyline Caverns
There are a ton of caverns in this area, but we chose these because they were along our route to Skyline Drive. With an average temperate of 55 degrees down below, this was a great escape from the heat. The stalagmites and stalactites in the winding alleys of this cavern were beautiful to explore.
Dida’s Distillery/ Rappahannock Cellars
A few miles away from the caverns, we stumbled across a sign for a winery and decided to check it out. To our surprise, it was both a winery and a distillery. Ray was thrilled to test some gin and vodka. And, I was happy to try some wine. I enjoyed everything but the dessert wine. Those are always too much for me. After our tasting, we got a truffle flatbread, and they let us sit in the club member area with a beautiful view of the vineyard. It was great! They even let me take a souvenir glass home.
Pen Druid Brewery/ Copper Fox Distillery
Up next, I found a brewery halfway between the winery and our campsite. So, we said, “Let’s do it!” After rolling up, we were a bit confused. The outside honestly looked like a dump. But, inside of the warehouse had a very chill atmosphere. The beer was ehh, but we enjoyed ourselves. After, we checked out an amazing antique furniture store next door. There were so many beautiful wood tables Ray and I wanted to buy.
By this time of the day, it was a full-fledged 100 degrees outside. We couldn’t bare walking to the car, so we stumbled into a distillery across the way. This place ended up being the coolest! One employee named Apple gave us a free tour of the whole place. We got to see how the whiskey-making process works and even got to smell a dung hole of a barrel in the back cellars. We loved it! After we did a tasting and I could barely try five (they were soooo strong), we checked out the cute sitting area by the creek outback. Ray absolutely loved it and got two bottles before we left.
Bearfence Mountain
Our first hike of the trip! We did this one early Saturday morning when the weather was nice. The trail was short at about 1.0-mile round trip, but it was steep. The trial was covered in layered rocks, so it was like walking up a giant staircase. At the top, I was slightly disappointed by the view. You have to scale down some rocks to get a better look at the mountainside in the distance, but it was still mostly covered by trees.
Stony Man Mountain
Next, we conquered Stony Man Mountain. This trail was easier at about 1.5-miles round trip, and it went through the Appalachian Trail. We went here around 11 am so it was pretty busy at the summit, but we still loved it. With a perfect view of Skyline Drive and the mountains below, it feels like you can see everything from up there.
Lewis Falls
After lunch at around 1 pm, we felt the heat start to creep in. We were sweating to death at our campsite so we got our bathing suits on and picked a waterfall hike where we thought we'd be able to swim. Parking off the side of Skyline Drive, we found a short cut to walk to the falls. The entire hike was meant to be about 2.0-miles round trip. On the way there, we saw a full-size female black bear! Ray was so excited, and I was so shocked that we forgot to take a picture.
A half-hour later, we arrived at the waterfall. I don’t know if I’ve become a waterfall snob over my years of exploring or what, but this was lame. We couldn’t swim and we could barely see the falls through the trees. Since it hadn’t rained recently, there was little to no water spitting out from the top. Hot as hell and angry about my mistake, we hiked the entire way back on a steep uphill in 96-degree weather. We were not happy hikers.
Hawksbill Mountain
On Sunday morning, before heading home, Ray and I did one last morning hike to the highest peak in Shenandoah (we had to, of course). And we were so glad we did. We chose to hike the Upper Hawksbill trail rather than the gap trail because it seems flatter and shorter (it was). The 2.0-mile loop was easy to navigate and just plain pleasant. We saw a ton of butterflies! At the top we were welcomed by the best view in the park. We sat on the rocky cliffside and took everything in. The wind felt lovely and we were the only ones up there. It was a great way to end our trip!
What we want to do next:
· Old Rag Mountain
· Whiteoak Canyon Trail
· Dark Hallow Falls
· Cedar Run Falls
· Rose Valley Falls
· Shenandoah Caverns
· Early Mountain Vineyards
· Blue Mountain Brewery
· Wisteria Farm and Vineyard
P.S. (One of the best things about camping in Shenandoah National Park was being able to see every single star in the sky. One night we just laid down on a blanket looking up and we saw a shooting star!)
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