Virginia 2021 - Day 5: Shenandoah National Park, upper third

The days start early, here on the farm.

This morning, our alarm was a tractor pulling a mowing attachment, just after 7 AM. I took a short video from the porch, so we can relive that sound at some future date.

We had breakfast on the patio, as the tractor did laps in the adjacent field.

He was still going strong at 9:30, as we were starting to pack the car and discussing plans for the day.

(I had expectations of being woken up tomorrow morning by the hay baler, tractor loading bales, etc., but they baled and carted off the evidence while we were out for the day.)

The field looked good, with the hay in neat lines, as we left the farm around 10:30 AM.

It was a perfect day for more hiking: partly cloudy, high of 84F, and a gentle breeze.

We gassed up and drove about 45 minutes back up to Thornton Gap, entered the park, and headed north on Skyline Drive.

Our first hike today was the Overall Run Falls trail.

Sabrina spent the first half mile yelling at bugs, and attempting to sword-fight them with her hiking poles. Eventually she relented, and applied bug spray, as you can see in this action shot.

The trail was mostly downhill-but-gradual, until we reached the upper falls. The path down to the water was precarious.

We found some flat-ish rocks in the shade, and enjoyed our lunch amidst the cool rock walls of the small valley at the base of the waterfall.

Here you can see me using the behind-the-head selfie technique. Judging by my eyes, I'm not cut out for farm life.

As you can see, we wanted to blend in with the serious backpackers today, and therefore went with the wool socks and boots. (Also it wasn't as hot, and we probably should have used the boots on Tuesday, too.)

After lunch, we continued down the trail, which got increasingly ridiculous, until we found the viewing platform for the lower falls.

Overall Run Falls, the top of which is barely visible here, is the highest waterfall in the park, at 93 feet.

The view of the Shenandoah valley was also spectacular, although difficult to capture without getting too close to the edge.

Here's the best shot I could get of the falls, without risking a lethal tumble.

The edge of this rock leans out over a sheer drop of hundreds of feet.

After admiring the view for a while, we opted not to do the additional 1.5 miles to the bottom of the falls, and headed back uphill towards the parking lot. We did, however, opt to return via a different path, making it into a loop of about 5¼ miles.

We continued north along Skyline Drive, and eventually stopped at an overlook for a snack break and more planning.

We were going to just sit on the rock wall, but it was covered with tiny red ants. Thankfully, we had two camping chairs in the car for just such an emergency.

I didn't want to sit in the sun, so I turned the car around for some shade, and we enjoyed more leftover chips/salsa with some fresh guacamole, just as we had done on Tuesday.

The view was splendid, and there was a cool breeze flowing up the hillside.

We decided to squeeze in one more short hike, on the way towards the northern park entrance.

Along the way, we stopped to admire the view and caught a glint of sunlight reflecting off the Shenandoah River.

For our second, easier hike today, we parked at the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center, heading for the Fox Hollow Trail.

It was around this point that we suddenly had cell phone reception, for the first time in about 5 hours.

Sabrina had received a series of messages from our Airbnb host, detailing some problem with the (water) well pump back at the farm, explaining that they were working on alternative accommodations and/or water supply for us. We told them we'd like a place to shower, but other than that would just roll with whatever happened.

What that settled, we commenced our short hike through the site of a former homestead, complete with random rock piles/walls and a (still-maintained) cemetery.

We were once again on the lee side of the ridge, though, so the air was still and humid. The trail was fairly easy, but we still had over an hour's drive back to the house. We had considered extending this second hike along another route, but opted out and returned to the car after about 45 minutes.

After changing into flip flops and less-sweaty clothes, we received an update about the water situation; it was just a broken pressure switch, and had been resolved already. They seemed surprised that we were unconcerned about the threat of surviving one night without running water.

The view from the visitors center was completed by this inviting bench, but we didn't have any more time to sit around today.

On the drive back to the farm, we ordered takeout from Mad Local, in Madison; this proved to be unfamiliarly difficult due to poor cell coverage.

They seemed to feature their local, organic chicken sandwiches, so we both got chicken. It was very good, which was fortunate because they seemed to be just about the only place that was open.

This is not an area for a food-focused trip, it seems.

As usual, we ate on the patio as the sun set (behind the storm clouds, again).

We hiked about 6.5 miles today, again, and I didn't even need any Aleve this morning.

I'm not quite sure what the plan is for tomorrow. My vote was for more wine/beer sampling; word on the street is that some of the closer places might even be open, what with it being Friday. There was also some talk about doing another hike, though.

The weather forecast looks iffy, in the afternoon. I'll report back when I know more.

Virginia 2021 - Day 4: Kayaking, Shenandoah Spirits Trail

We had originally planned to have a lazy morning, and then leave the house around 10:45 AM to have a comfortable buffer for making it to Shenandoah River Adventures before noon.

But the weather forecast over in Elkton suggested thunderstorms would roll through in the afternoon, so we shifted our itinerary an hour forward, leaving the house before 10 AM. On the way out, we got a long shot of the farm from the gravel driveway.

It was about a 45 minute drive, with a few delays for road work and tree pruning, over the Swift Run Gap, down into Elkton, and into the grassy-field parking lot at SRA.

I don't think we really had any expectations, but it's definitely an efficient operation.

First, we had to sign a lengthy waiver that was approximately 50% absolution of negligence, 25% alcohol-related, and 25% search-and-rescue costs. After filing our paperwork, we got back in the car, followed the shuttle bus across the street to the boat launch / park where we would finish the trip, then boarded the bus to the upstream launch point.

We were the only passengers. It was a loud and bumpy ride, but had ample airflow.

I helped the driver unload a tandem kayak, paddles, etc., and we loaded the rest of our gear into the boat. As he turned to walk back to the shuttle, he said (literally) "You're done when you see the orange buoys. Any questions?"

I asked if there was anything to know about, between here and there. He quipped "Not really. Watch for alligators."

We went with SRA because it was explicitly not a guided/group tour, like the other companies. As we were the only people embarking around 11 AM, we practically had the river to ourselves for the entire trip.

There were 8 or 10 areas with rapids; we definitely put a few new scratches in the bottom of that kayak. A few of them were more exciting than we were expecting, but we managed to keep everything in the boat.

For most of the 7 miles or so, our only company was the occasional turtle.

We beached the boat against a log and stopped for lunch about halfway through, but it was extremely hot in the sun so we didn't dawdle long.

Early on, it seemed like it was going to be a very quick trip; the first half was much faster than the second, however. The paddles they gave us were also very heavy and rugged, which contributed to the difficulty. The labels, still attached, extolled their durability and strength.

By the time we landed, pulled the boat out, dried off, called SRA, waited for boat pickup, and changed out of our wet clothes, it was 2 PM. We debated lounging around the park, possibly catching up on some reading, but the sky looked ominous to the west.

Indeed, our decision to shift everything an hour earlier turned out to be a wise one.

Somewhat tuckered out from our trip, but also wanting some shelter from the impending precipitation, we beseeched Google to find us a nearby winery.

The closest option was Brix and Columns, so we made our way to Dave Berry road and sampled two of their finest flights.

We had driven 10 or 15 minutes south, and managed to almost find the gap in the line of thunderstorms. It rained while we enjoyed the wine and the view, but we had scored a table under cover.

I think we spent over an hour at that winery, just relaxing and enjoying the view, with some wine.

After the storm line passed, the cool breeze faded and was replaced with hot air and the smell of the farm, so we consulted the Shenandoah Spirits Trail map and found another nearby option.

It was unclear at first if the Cave Hill Farms Brewery was even open, because Google maps said it should be, and there was an "open" sign at the gate... but there was also a "brewery closed" sign halfway up the drive.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but the brewery is literally in a barn. Which is also a museum?

The ambiance was fascinating. The music was a bit too Country for my taste. Also the beer wasn't good.

I'm glad we went, because it was a unique experience/venue, but I need to say again: the beer was not good. Of the four that I tried, one was decent, two were mediocre, and the fourth was just bad.

It was hot and very loud inside, so once we got our snack, we relocated to the outdoor seating.

We apparently documented this, from all angles.

It was around 5 PM when we left the farm brewery, and I was on the hunt for a decent beer, so we stopped at Elkton Brewing, on the way back to Swift Run Gap.

The four beers I tried here (5, 9, 10, 12) were all excellent. I wanted to bring them all home, but #9, #10, and #12 were not available in crowlers.

We ran into a group of four people that had also been at Brix and Columns and at Cave Hill Farm Brewery with us; we discussed how bad the beer was at the previous brewery.

Options for dinner were sparse and uninspiring (sorry, Elkton), and the few places we had considered on the east side of Swift Run Gap were not open tonight, so we just returned to the house and finished the last of our leftovers from earlier in the week.

Another line of strong storms rolled through; it was loud on the metal roof.

I took a nap on the couch. We researched hike options for tomorrow.

It's been a peaceful evening.