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.  

Little Bennett Campground & Sugarloaf Mountain

This past weekend we decided to make an impromptu trip out to the edge of the DC metro area for our first family summer camping experience.  It was only about an hour away from us, but a totally new area for us called Clarksburg, Maryland.  We picked Little Bennett Campground there based on it being 50% off (I'll do anything for a coupon) as part of the Great American Backyard Campout event. 

I've never really camped in the prime of summer before, and was overly worried about the heat and the bugs.  But slathering us and our campsite with bug protectant, and sticking to the shade while outside made it a very enjoyable time.

We checked in right at noon on Saturday and made our way to site A8 (we decided near a bathhouse was best with our four year old).  The boys all busily set up the campground while I put together our walking tacos for lunch.  After we were fed and set up, we headed through the woods along the Nature Trail to get to the Hawk's Reach Activity Center were Theo got to make a bug box craft.

 Afterwards, we took Little Oak Trail to Big Oak Trail to Stoney Brook Trail which brought us back around to our campsite loop.  Altogether it was about a 2.5 mile, fairly easy trek.  With lots of different mushrooms to learn about and compare features.

 Despite being so tired from the hike that both boys needed to ride on daddy's shoulders, they both ran right up to the playground and had enough energy left to play some more at the end of the trail.

Afterwards we grilled some hamburgers over the quickly put together fire (another benefit of summer camping, the wood seems much better), and then headed back to the activity center for an ice cream social featuring root beer floats.  As always, our four year old was much more social than us, finding a boy to talk with based on the character t-shirt he was wearing (Legos, which we just saw at the dollar theatre).  I think this was the first time Theo had a root beer float, and of course he loved it (poor Eli just got the ice cream).

After some more campfire time, we all hit the tent.  Eli had a hard time sleeping so near to us (which meant mama did as well), but Theo slept like a rock at the edge of the tent as always and never stirred once.

After a dry night (we were surprised there didn't seem to be any dew), we woke up, had breakfast, and started packing up.  We didn't really have any plans for the day, but eventually decided that the nearby Sugarloaf Mountain sounded like a great place to spend a little more time hiking.  We figured at only 1282 feet, it's not too much for our 4 year old and almost 2 year old to manage.

We drove up to the last parking lot (West View), and just randomly started out on some trails, not planning to take a lot of time.  But we ended up hiking for more than two hours, heading up the blue trail toward McCormack Overlook, then taking the red trail up to a great vista at the top.  It was a little steep in some parts, and very rocky in others, but very doable for the boys.  The vista at the top was pretty rewarding.

Theo for some reason decided it was an Arizona mountain when he saw the view... he's got some surprises in store when we finally get to visit Phoenix with him.

Our last stop of the trip, was a quick stop at the nearby Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard that we had spied on the way to the mountain.  A quick check to their website said they were kid friendly, dog friendly, and you were welcome to picnic there.  This sounded perfect for our needs, and we had our mid-day meal at a picnic table neighboring their rows of grape vines, with a glass of wine.  (We didn't do them, but tastings are 8 for $10, fyi.)  It was so fabulous to get to relax at such a beautiful winery after a couple of days being outdoors.  Easily stopping at roadside wineries is definitely something I miss most from my pre-parenting, pre-pet-owner days, but this place was just a perfect stop for our family.  And the cherry on top of a beautiful weekend with my boys.