Birthday with Black Bears in Shenandoah

So after our first two iterations of plans for Thomas's birthday fell through, we decided we would go ahead and take him on his first camping trip before he officially turned 1.  Since it has been such a hot August, Brian insisted we head up to the mountains where it would be cooler.  We left without reservations, but were able to snag a "first come, first serve" campsite at Loft Mountain Campground.  Located around mile 79.5, it is in the southern part of the Shenandoah National Park.  We picked up trail maps when we got there, but I think I'll start printing them from the website next time.

We finally upgraded the little pup tent that Brian bought in college, and got a tent large enough for all five of us (plus the dog).  The boys were pretty excited about setting it up, especially with it's windows and "porch".

 After we were settled in (and some campers told us they had just saw a black bear near our site), we headed out on a nearby trail.  Some other hikers pointed out a bear up in a tree just minutes into the hike.  Doyles River Falls trail was all downhill, until finally hitting the first set of falls.  Due to time, we went ahead and turned back after these falls, though we heard the second set were a lot higher.  The walk back up was a little strenuous, but Elijah completed the hike all on his own two feet and Brian only had to hold the baby (in his new, garage-sale-find carrier).  I encouraged Eli with the promise of a "hiking badge", and the boys saw another bear walking behind when we were separated.  The < 3 miles of trail took us about 2.5 hours.

We then headed back and had some delicious grilled chicken, steamed red potatoes and corn on the cob.  Elijah is a huge, HUGE fan of s'mores so we made those as well.

The boys slept like champs that night, though Brian and I were both restless.  Theo was terrified of the bears we'd already seen and heard of earlier in the day, so perhaps that kept me up.  But we all woke up excited to celebrate Thomas's first birthday!

After breakfast we then headed for the Frazier Discover Trail.  We weren't sure to turn left or right upon entering the loop, but we chose left.  It was quite the uphill hike until we finally reached the fabulous views the rangers had told us about.  This one was about an hour and half or less, and 1.2 miles.

We walked out and found the Mobile visitor's center, and the boys got to see some nature artifacts up close.

 Don't tell my third-born, but not only did I not have any gifts for him on his birthday (I finally thought of one the next day), I also forgot his cake so we ended up not having it at the campground but enjoyed it later when we got home.  Poor guy.  He didn't mind though, and he was all about getting as much cake into his mouth as possible.  He loved it, and his brothers were excited to celebrate with him (as long as we all kept our party hats on, and they could blast Kids Bop).

Going on a Bear Hunt: Camping in Shenandoah

So the weekend before the Fourth of July we finally made it out to camp in Shenandoah National Park. We have never been able to get reservations before, but decided to just wing it and try a first come first serve site.  Apparently they actually have a lot of these sites that are not reservable.  The night we arrived the area had a thunderstorm and flash flood warning in effect, so the campground was pretty open.  We realize we're a little crazy for that.  But I felt like we'd have some good luck weather wise.

We headed to the nearest campground from the North, which is the Mathews Arm Campground located about 20 miles inside the park.  Needing a close bathroom for the pregnant lady and almost potty trained two year old, we picked a spot in the C loop immediately opposite the bathroom.  And the water spigot.  Apparently, Theo's favorite thing to do when camping is filling any water needs at the spigot.  

And even though we knew to expect rain, the weather was some of the best June weather we could ask for.  We planned to tour an underground cave and do inside activities on the rainy day and enjoy perfect hiking weather of about 65° on the sunny beautiful day.  Some of our favorite parts of our trip were:

Campfire:  Theodore was in charge of the s'more making, while Elijah kept up a cheering section for Brian as he tried to make fires with damp wood.  

Cavern:  There are several options for caverns around the Shenandoah area. We stumbled across a group-on just a couple days before our trip, so we definitely went with that one. We only paid for one ticket for all four of us.  The Shenandoah Caverns were the first time either boys had been to an underground cavern. The one hour tour was just about perfect for them, though I was terrified they would touch some of the structures which is against the law.  They are famous for their "bacon-like" features that were pictured in National Geographic years ago, and have popcorn walls as well.  Elijah pretended to eat most of the cave.  The location also had some other random exhibits including old animated store windows and a huge barn filled with parade floats.  It was odd, but the boys liked just about everything they saw.  Their soda fountain restaurant was also surprisingly cheap and good for a tourist place, though it was pretty packed with minimal staff.

Chip Factory:  While I normally have to stay away from potato chips because I have absolutely no self-control in regards to them, being pregnant is a pretty good excuse to have a few chances to snack on some.  We kept seeing signs for the Route 11 Chip factory and had to stop by since it was right beside the caverns.  They weren't frying during our visit, but if they had been you can view it all from the retail shop windows.  As it was, it was neat seeing all the machines used.  We sampled just about every variety they have and each left with a (small) bag in hand.

Ice Cream:  We don't consider ourselves on vacation if we don't have ice cream.  We found a good place on Lurray's charming Main Street called Stephan's Sugar Shack and each enjoyed a cone of their Hershey ice cream (except Eli, who still doesn't realize he missed ice cream while napping).

Hiking:  While I was pretty nervous to set out on a big hike with me being 32 weeks along, and Elijah still being accustomed to being carried occasionally or having a stroller to jump in and out of, I had faith we could accomplish one last big hike before the baby comes.  Since it was right off our campground, and should be beautiful after two nights of rain, we chose to hike to the tallest waterfall in Shenandoah, Overlook Falls.  We found the trailhead for Mathews Arm Trail at the back of the group camping sites, and took off.  It indicated we were 2.0 miles to the falls.  Eventually, we turned onto the Tuscarora/Overall Run Trail and continued downward to the falls.  The boys had a great time re-enacting "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" (that book never gets old in our house) as we sludged through mud (just a little), climbed over logs (none really covered the path), and carefully danced across rocks over a brook (that actually did cover the trail at one point).  We found just about every color of mushroom possible as Theo is very interested in them.  Elijah was excited for all the "eggs" he found (Brian called them gulls) while Theodore made sure to tell everyone about a bear sighting one of the other hikers mentioned to us at the beginning of the trail.  We, however, did not see one this day.

Eventually we came upon a pretty large waterfall, but not a 93 footer, so we kept going.  The last 0.5 miles of the trail were the steepest but led to a huge payoff as the view at the top was gorgeous.  And then you turn and see a beautiful waterfall!  The dog and I were fairly nervous one of the boys would fall off the cliffs surrounding this area, but luckily we got in a few photos and just enjoyed the cooling rushing winds as we rested all in one piece.  We made it from the trailhead to Overlook Falls in about two hours.  Despite stopping to snack on our way back UP the trail (and Brian carrying both boys at the steepest parts) we actually made it back to the campground quicker. Overall, we spent about four hours out there.

Views:  Being up on a skyline ridge, the whole 100+ miles of Shenandoah National Park offer wonderful views of the surrounding area.  Except when it's foggy and rainy and you can't see much.  But during the sunny parts of our visit we enjoyed pulling off and wondering around some of the different scenic overlooks.  At one point in the drive, we actually saw our first black bear as one crossed the road right in front of us.  We were much happier to see it while in the car than if we had been on foot.

More Ice Cream:  We ended our visit with a stop at the Apple House in Front Royal for some soft serve ice cream and a taste of their apple cider donuts.  Elijah slept through the stop again, even with a train passing right by us as we waited on the ice cream.  It was a good ending to a slightly exhausting, but great trip together with our two boys.