We left the Washington, D.C. area on a Wednesday morning. For once, it wasn't raining! We hit the road early to beat as much traffic as possible. The next stop on our trip was Shenandoah National Park in northwestern Virginia. We made a few stops along the way. We were passing by Manassas National Battlefield Park so that was our first stop of the day.
This Civil War site saw two historic battles. On July 21, 1861, the Union Army met the Confederate Army in the Battle of First Manassas, also known as the Battle of Bull Run. The Union Army was planning to march to Richmond and take over the Confederate capital to bring the war to an end. People were excited. Families actually followed the army as they marched, planning to picnic in the fields to watch the battle. The "show" they were expecting became a tough battle that proved the Civil War was far from over. The Union Army pushed the Confederate lines back, causing them to flee toward Henry Hill as reinforcements under the command of General Thomas J. Jackson arrived. On Henry Hill, Jackson's brigade held for hours against the Union attacks and became a rally point for the other fleeing Confederate soldiers. This event earned Jackson his famous name "Stonewall," after General Barnard Bee yelled to his men, "There stands Jackson like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians!" Bee would end up being killed later in the battle. The Confederates eventually repelled the Union attack and won this battle.
The Old Stone House at the bottom of Henry Hill was right in the thick of the action. It was used as a hospital during the first battle here.
The Old Stone House with Henry Hill behind it.
The Lucinda Dogan House. This house marked the site of Groveton, near where the second battle began. The house was caught in the crossfire and suffered damage from numerous bullet strikes.
The Confederate Cemetery near the Lucinda Dogan House.
We were at the battlefield before the Visitor Center opened, so we explored on our own around the fields and through the historic areas. The grass was still wet from all the recent rain so we got our pants soaked, but it was a great experience. It was very humbling to stand at the bottom of Henry Hill and think about the men that charged, and stood atop to defend, that hill.
We zipped further west to the town of Front Royal where the northern entrance to Shenandoah National Park is located. There are many caves in the area. We decided we would see at least one on this trip. Front Royal is home to Skyline Caverns. We were there just as they opened and were able to get in on the first tour of the day. There were no other people there yet, so Shannon and I basically got our own personal tour of the cave. The entrance drops in from the gift shop. The descent was quite small compared to most caves we had gone in. It is quite a shallow cave. There were many stalactites and stalagmites hanging around once we got more toward the bottom of the descent. A small creek flowed underground out of the mountain and passed through the cave. There was even a tiny waterfall in one area. I enjoyed the cave structure, but they used colored lights in some areas which made things look really weird. Colored lights give off less heat than regular lights, so they had swapped over to prevent mold growth down in the cave.
A stalagmite with a reflection
One of the open rooms along our tour of Skyline Caverns
Draperies
The second half of the cave was pretty awesome. The underground lake called Fairyland Lake had some really cool reflections in it. The water in the cavern is supplied by the Long Lead. The cave is home to a species of blind snail that has only been found in one other place in the world (Germany), as well as a beetle variety that has never been found anywhere else in the world. Only seven of the tiny, eyeless beetles have ever been found, and those were found by accident in water samples taken from Long Lead as it flows through the cave. Another oddity in Skyline Caverns is several rooms full of anthodite crystals. The anthodites look like white sea urchins, with spiny protrusions growing away from the center. They are made from either aragonite or gypsum and only form in an oxygen-less environment. The anthodite rooms in the cavern were once sealed. An explorer accidentally punctured the wall of one of the rooms and felt the air flow into the vacuum. After some digging to expose an entrance, the hidden rooms were found. It is awesome we can see these amazing formations, but as soon as they were found they stopped growing as oxygen moved into the chambers. Early visitors to the cave would bust off pieces of the anthodites to take home, so many are broken. A fence was put up to protect some of them located on the cave ceiling. The fence really ruins the viewing of the crystals, but it is doing a good job protecting them from people. These crystals can form in any limestone cave, but they are only found in abundance in four main locations, three of which are in the United States and one is in France. Skyline is obviously one of the three American locations. The second is famous Carlsbad Caverns and the third is actually in Tennessee at Craighead Caverns. Our guide said she had heard that a large quantity had recently been discovered at another Tennessee cave, Cumberland Caverns, but she had not been able to confirm the reports yet. Since then, I have also seen no reports that this is true, but it does make me want to go to Cumberland even more than before! Another cave formation we saw at Wind Cave in South Dakota, frostwork, is in the anthodite family.
Fairyland Lake provided some cool reflections of the stalactites and stalagmites. Just wished the colored lights weren't there. It just looked so unnatural.
More reflections in Fairyland Lake.
Anthodite crystals
Anthodites all over the ceiling protected by a fence
A collection of some of the things found in Skyline Caverns, including the Valentine beetles.
We were out of the caverns by lunch. After hitting up a local burger and shake place, we grabbed some clothes at a local store. Shannon didn't bring much in the way of a jacket. The temperature just kept cooling down. We were roasting when we left Tennessee, but now temperatures were in the 50s at times. We got her a hoodie and some supplies before leaving town and entering Shenandoah National Park. This park runs north-south along the chain of Blue Ridge Mountains. A scenic parkway runs the entire length of the park. Skyline Drive is appropriately named as you climb up into the sky near the peaks of the mountains. I was itching to get on my bike. So far I had zero bike time on this trip. I was hoping to be able to ride all 105 miles of the parkway during our time in the park.
Small waterfall along Skyline Drive just after we entered Shenandoah National Park.
First viewpoint on Skyline Drive
It was a beautiful sunny afternoon as we climbed the mountains entering the park. There were small waterfalls and spectacular views around every winding corner. We stopped by the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center, where I discovered the van has a little nook in the center console that likes to eat park passes and driver's licenses. After removing most of the plastic pieces off the console of the van, we finally retrieved the two cards. Won't do that again. We then continued south on the parkway to find a campground for the night. We passed a short waterfall hike and decided to stop. The hike was just 0.8 miles to reach Lands Run Falls. It began on an old gravel fireroad, then turned to singletrack as we passed through the darkest stretch of forest I have ever been in. It looked like a great place for a bear attack. A hiker coming out said that he had just seen a black bear by the waterfall about 15 minutes ago. We had our eyes peeled, but saw no bears. It was downhill all the way to the falls. It was a nice little waterfall with plenty of rushing water, but kind of hard to find a good viewpoint.
Wooded stretch on Skyline Drive. It was a beautiful drive today.
Lands Run Creek just above Lands Run Falls
Top of Lands Run Falls
Lands Run Falls
By the time we climbed back up to the car, clouds had filled the sky. We moved on down Skyline Drive and found the Mathews Arm Campground. By the time we got registered and found a campsite, it was clear a big storm was coming. We had planned to set up our tent, but decided to stay put until it passed. That was a good plan as it was a nasty little storm with lots of driving rain and wind. It lasted over an hour as we sat in the van in our campsite and researched hikes within the park. Tree limbs were down all over the campground afterwards. By the time the rain clouds moved out, it was too late for a road ride. My plan of riding the first portion of the parkway tonight was out. We were tired of sitting in the van, so we ventured back out onto Skyline Drive and checked out a few more viewpoints. We were treated to a big rainbow and nice sunset as the sun peaked out from the clouds just before it dropped below the horizon.
More Skyline Drive before the rain hit
Rainbow after the storm
Mary's Rock Tunnel on Skyline Drive
A brief glimpse of the sunset
Rain moved back into the area overnight and we woke up to steady rain yet again. My plans to ride were again doused by the rain. We didn't want to sit around all day waiting for the rain to leave, so we set off looking for some hikes. The first thing we came to was the trailhead for Mary's Rock. It was raining lightly as we put our boots on the trail and started up a 1.4-mile climb to the mountain top where Mary's Rock was located. It was foggy at times, but actually cleared up as we neared the top. The rain stopped and we were able to sit on the rocks that make up Mary's Rock and enjoy breakfast with a beautiful view high above Skyline Drive. It was a super cool start to a dreary day. You can climb up to Mary's Rock two different ways. We took the southern approach, which was super rocky with a lot of oddly spaced ledges to step up on. My right knee got a little sore on the way down, which is unusual for me as I can only think of one other hike where I have ever had knee pain. I think it was just that my right leg kept having to take every ledge as they were spaced just right so that the same leg kept doing all the work.
On the trail headed for Mary's Rock
Coming up on Mary's Rock as we reach the top of the climb
Shannon getting her first view of the day
Skyline Drive down below Mary's Rock
The rain came back just as we reached the van. Our next stop was at the Little Stony Man Cliffs/Stony Man Mountain trailhead for another uphill hike to a view. It was pouring rain in the parking lot and we could barely see the mountain right in front of us. The rain slackened a bit and we hit the trail. It was wet and a little cold, but it sure beat sitting in the van. That's the thing with van camping. When it rains or things are closed, there's nothing to do but sit in the van. That's the last thing I want to do on a trip. I am in explore mode and ready to go!
Rocky start to the trail up to Little Stony Man Cliffs
Through the tree tunnel
The hike was a steady climb with plenty of rocks. It was foggy when we started and just got worse as we climbed up into the clouds. We could barely see the Little Stony Man Cliffs when we got there. Despite the low chance of being able to get a good view at the top of Stony Man Mountain, we continued up the trail. It was only 1.5 miles to the top. The wind was howling on top of Stony Man Mountain. The view was of the inside of a cloud. You could only see about 10 feet in front of you. Not the best reward for a hike, but the trail was fun and it wasn't the inside of the van, so we were pleased. We will definitely do this hike again in the future on a clear day to see that view.
Little Stony Man Cliffs up ahead through the fog
Not much of a view atop Little Stony Man Cliffs
Spooky forest on Stony Man Mountain
More foggy tree tunnel trail
Made it to the top of Stony Man Mountain. Not much to see though.
We had lunch and then planned out the rest of our day. The rain continued so we chose to hunt out waterfalls and take advantage of the rainfall. Dark Hollow Falls was close by and a short hike at just 0.75 miles down to the falls. The trail follows a stream as it enters Dark Hollow. The water then falls off the mountain into the hollow, dropping about 70 feet. The hike was pretty easy overall, only getting steep right at the bottom. You can view these falls from the top and bottom. They were quite spectacular, some of the best I have ever seen.
Heading down to Dark Hollow Falls
The creek next to the trail grows as you descend. Little tributaries are constantly flowing in from the forest.
The water begins to cascade in places as you near the falls
The top of Dark Hollow Falls
Dark Hollow Falls
One last cascade just below the falls
After finishing our third hike of the day, we visited the Larry F. Byrd Visitor Center. Shannon's poor poncho was already destroyed from the three hikes today, so we bought her a nice waterproof jacket at the gift shop that was surprisingly cheap. She didn't have a good, warm rain jacket so she was hiking all day in her new hoodie and an emergency rain poncho. It worked for a while.
We wanted to do more hiking as we still had time left before dark. Near this visitor center was another waterfall hike to Lewis Spring Falls. Again, it was all downhill to the falls and a short one at just 0.8 miles one-way. The rain picked up as we headed in on a steep gravel road that then turned to more dark forest. We saw several deer along the trail and no people. The trail was not marked well. We took a side trail that we thought would take us to the falls. After a few minutes we reached a small stream, and a huge cliff. You couldn't see the waterfall so we thought that wasn't it. We hiked back to the main trail and continued hiking down the mountain. The trail began to veer away from the edge of the mountain and the stream so we stopped. We were well beyond the 0.8 miles our hiking guide said it was to the falls. We walked back up to the side trail and I hiked down it again to see if I could find a better view. I crossed the small stream and found a trail on the other side that had been hidden from our view. The trail traversed the edge of the cliff on a piece of sketchy singletrack. There were two metal rails for hand holds and they were absolutely necessary on a wet day like today. It was treacherous to say the least. At the end of the second metal rail was a stone platform where you could see Lewis Spring Falls. It was amazing! The bottom was not visible as it was so far below us and almost completely vertical. It looked like the water fell onto the top of the tree canopy below us. The fog in the air made it even more spectacular It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. The pictures do not do it justice at all. The water fell 70 feet off the cliff, but it looks much, much bigger than Dark Hollow Falls.
Deer in the mist
Some kind of old cellar
Boulders along the trail
I lost count of how many creek crossings we went through today
Water flowing from Lewis Spring
The top of Lewis Spring Falls
More water flowing into the falls
Lewis Spring Falls. I felt like we were standing on a cliff in the rain forest here.
The rail on the way down to the overlook platform. You better use this one. Just off to the left of the picture is a massive vertical drop.
Crossing Lewis Spring on the hike out
We slogged back up the mountain with smiles on our faces. We didn't even mind being wet and tired after 10.8 miles of hiking in the rain today because we saw some really cool things. Shenandoah is pretty cool.
We spent the night at another campground in the park, Lewis Mountain Campground. We got there well after dark and ran through the rain to the bath house. This campground had a shower unlike Mathews Arm the previous night. They weren't dinky little showers either. They were full shower rooms and were super warm. It made us feel good before bed. Since it was so late, we just cooked a quick meal on the picnic table and slept in the van again. No sense in getting the tent wet when the van was already set up and starting to feel cozy. The campground host came over to check us out. I think he thought we hadn't paid so he came over to check our tag. I was in the middle of changing in the dark leaned up against the driver's seat with the door open and the guy just walked up on me with a flashlight in my face. I didn't have any pants on so I just held my pants in front of my legs and stood next to the van talking to this guy for several minutes. I don't think he even realized it. Shannon and I had a good laugh about it while we ate. Another interesting adventure on one of our trips!
More from Shenandoah in the next post!
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