Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

I spent the last 2 nights in Shenandoah NP. Wow, it is easy to see why Herbert Hoover built his summer White House here. As we ascended into the mountains just a short distance from Washington, the temperatures cooled off about 10 degrees. That meant it was quite nice in the afternoon, and sent me seaching for my flannel shirt at sundown. For July hiking and camping, this is hard to beat along the east coast.

I followed a short section of the Appalachian Trail from Loft Mountain to the Frazier Discovery Trail and returned along the Skyline road. A hiker I met indicated there had been a bear along the trail, but I never saw him. I did see a couple of bears along the road. The black bears here look more like a big black dog than the grizzlies out west. They are feasting these days on blackberries, which were ripening nicely everywhere along the trail. Here is a look at the AT along this section.

I did spot this deer grazing on berries next to my campsite one morning, while grazing on them myself.

Of course, there are so many views of vistas and sunsets that you stop noticing after a while.

I also hiked along the Doyle River Trail to a couple of waterfalls. This is actually upper falls, the smaller of the two, but I couldn't get a decent picture of the lower falls because of the vegetation and location of the trail.

And, along the way, I took a detour to see the Doyle River Cabin. I understand this cabin is for rent for $25-40 per night. That might be an interesting vacation some day. It is only accessed by foot.

Well, that is about it for Shenandoah. I'm filing this report from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Tomorrow I'm planning to head to the Catskill or Adirondack Parks in central NY state. If you are just catching up with me, you might check out my previous stories about my recent trip to Eastern Europe. It is taking me a while to get up to date.