Skip to main content

Day 26: Shenandoah National Park

Drove from the urban, crowded, active metro of Washington DC to the rural, lush forests and mountains of Virginia and West Virginia today. The goal was to visit both Shenandoah and New River Gorge National Parks today, but that turned out to be too ambitious. Will have to go to New River Gorge tomorrow after staying the night at an AirBnb in Fayetteville, West Virginia.

After a wonderful, but too short a time with my nephew in DC, hit the road in the morning. It was slow going through the traffic on Constitution Ave. It gave me a chance to catch a glimpse of the White House, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial.

 

 

 

After getting out of DC into Virginia, I made a quick stop at a supercharger and then was on my way to Shenandoah National Park.  Driving in the countryside in the east coast is beautiful with lush green rolling hills covered with dense forests. Quite a contrast to the west coast. This was also true for the drive today.


I reached around 1pm at the trailhead for my first hike in Shenandoah National Park to Stony Man Mountain. It was a short hike, but through amazing, dense ferns.  The views of the series of mountain ranges from the summit were also cool.



The second short hike in Shenandoah was the Dark Hollow Falls trail.Again, the surrounding forest during the hike down to the falls was awesome. The falls were nice, but nothing spectacular. These two short hikes in Shenandoah was all the time I had today. There is a lot more to see and do in the park and something to look forward in a future visit, 

After leaving Shenandoah, stopped for an early dinner at an Applebee restaurant next to a Tesla supercharger stop. The soup and salad were reasonably good, but what fascinated me was the friendly, happy, smiling waitress. Can't recall when someone last called me "honey" and "dear" so many times within 20 minutes.  

I was hoping to reach New River Gorge before sunset, but it was already pitch dark by the the time I drove past it. So, went directly to my AirBnb, a house in the remote countryside surrounded by forests all around.

The raw numbers for the day:

  • 338 miles driving, 9200 steps walking
  • 3 Tesla supercharger stops
  • 2 states - Washington DC, Virginia, West Virginia

Next:  Day 27:  Mammoth Cave National Park (Sept 30, 2022)

Comments

  1. "Can't recall when someone last called me "honey" and "dear" so many times within 20 minutes" ---> माँ दा लाडला बिगड़ गया..

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Driving in the countryside in the east coast is beautiful with lush green rolling hills covered with dense forests." This is so true! One of the big perks of living out east for sure.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

USA48 Road Trip: The Whole Story

  The whole story of my road trip across USA in a Tesla, captured in a series of blog posts below. My six-week adventure was from Sept 4, 2022 to Oct 15, 2022.  The links to the blog posts below are in chronological order. Best viewed on a larger screen  of a computer, not on a phone. Click on the photographs in the blog posts to see larger images.   Road trip across USA - Why? What? (July 10, 2022) Road trip in a Tesla - will it work? (Aug 11, 2022)  Day -2: Road Trip Delayed (Aug 27, 2022)  Day 0: Starting Road Trip Tomorrow (Sept 3, 2022)  Day 1: The Adventure Begins (Sept 4, 2022)   Day 2: A drive through Oregon (Sept 5, 2022) Day 3: Mount Rainier National Park (Sept 6, 2022)   Day 4: Reminiscing in Seattle (Sept 7, 2022) Day 5: KOA Cabin in Glacier National Park (Sept 8, 2022) Day 6: Hiking galore in Glacier National Park (Sept 9, 2022) Day 7: Drive from Glacier to Yellowstone (Sept 10, 2022)  Day 8: Yellowstone and G...

Day 5: KOA Cabin in Glacier National Park

  A long drive today from Spokane to the West Glacier KOA Resort, which is close to the Glacier National Park entrance. I had to slow down or stop many times during the drive due to road construction underway at multiple places. There was also a traffic jam to deal with at one place. Lastly, I had go past the most direct route for about 15 miles to get to a supercharger in Superior, MT and then retrace back.  I reached my destination for the day, a cute looking KOA log cabin in a beautiful KOA resort surrounded by mountains. The cabin has electricity, heater, refrigerator and a microwave. Not too shabby, changed my perception of what a KOA kampground is like.  The nearest supercharger from Glacier National Park is over 120 miles away. The primary reason I chose to book at KOA is because they provide access to a NEMA 14-50 220V charger. A timeslot for the single outlet they have needs to be  reserved ahead of time. I was very relieved when all of this worked and my...

Day 14: Enjoyed with Friends in Minnesota

A long drive from Bismarck, North Dakota to Minneapolis, Minnesota today. The drive was mostly on the I-94 interstate freeway, so it was very smooth, high speed limits and lots of Tesla superchargers along the way. The first three hours of the drive was through heavy rain, which was for the first time during the trip. It was nice to transition from the dry grasslands of North Dakota to the lush green trees and grasses in Minnesota, the land of 10000 lakes.  During the drive, I reflected a bit on all the different places I had been to over the past two weeks. I have enjoyed each day since it brought something different and unique. However, one thing is sure that my favorite days so far have been the ones in the big mountains of Mt. Rainier, Glacier and Rocky Mountain National Parks. The imposing mountain ranges, snow capped peaks, the lakes, the waterfalls, the rivers and creeks, the tall trees, the fresh air, all combine to create something magical. I can't get enough of it.  ...