This past three-day weekend I went with the Venture Crew to backpack in Shenandoah National Park. This was meant to be the kids’ first overnight, long-distance, back-country, backpacking trip in preparation for our planned trip to the Grand Canyon next Summer. The kids did a very good job for their first trip of this kind.
After fighting our way through traffic in the global epicenter of stupid (DC), we stopped along 66 for dinner at Pizza Hut. We then continued to Shenandoah National Park, arriving near 2200 at our camp site in Big Meadows camp ground.
The next morning we drove along Skyline Drive for about 50 miles stopping from time to time at scenic overlooks. Unfortunately there was a mist covering the valley, so some of the views weren’t as spectacular as they might have been.
At one stop, some of the kids decided to climb a tree. What isn’t clear from this picture is that the bottom limb on which the two girls are sitting was about eight or nine feet in the air.
At another stop the kids did some rock climbing. These are all the kids who came on the trip, minus one girl who joined us later in the day.
After hiking a couple of miles on Saturday, the sky opened up, and we were drenched. At one point we took refuge under a rock overhang while the storm passed.
After hiking about three miles and linking up with our missing crew member we set up camp in a fern-covered area. This was probably the first time that most of the kids had camped in a non-prepared, meadow-like camp ground with comfort facilities. Setting up camp went well, and the kids enjoyed a good night. Several of the girls kept the rest of us up quite late with their squeeling and giggling.
Sunday was “death march” day. We had planned to hike about six miles, but at the six-mile mark we were on the side of a steep mountain with few good sites to set up six or seven tents. By the time we reached a decent campsite, we had marched over 10 miles over goat trails and rough terrain. I’m proud of the way the kids kept up their spirits despite the exertion.
Along the way we stopped at a stream to replenish our water bottles and soak our feet in the cool, swiftly-moving water. Water purification techniques included filter systems and iodine tablets.
We finally made camp on this rocky outcropping. Again it was a new experience for many of the hikers to camp in an unimproved and less-than-ideal location. Some of the kids found small patches of moss or grass on which to pitch their tents. The boys ended up on a steep slope and spent the night sliding down inside their tents. The good news was that the water soaked through their tent, so they got to be wet all night too!
… But this was our view from our rocky campsite. Wow! I woke up about 30 minutes before the others and watched the mist passing between the various lines of mountains in the distance. It was quite a morning.