SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK trip
Sep. 14-17 2019
PART 3
Monticello Loop, a one-way road surrounding Monticello.
Northeast on 5th Street SW in Charlottesville, Va.
This is about where 5th picks up Ridge Street.
Going back the other way on 5th.
Continuing on 5th.
Not sure here. This may be getting on Skyline Drive. And where exactly is alcohol prohibited? Along the road's right-of-way? Certainly not throughout the national park, if the behavior of a group of elderly women at the campsite is any indication.
Here we enter the park on Skyline Drive. Skyline Drive is a 105-mile scenic road that runs the entire length of Shenandoah National Park. It is part of the unsigned VA 48, which also includes the Blue Ridge Parkway. The road has been around since the 1930s. It once had chestnut log guardrails, but they decayed in the 1950s.
Probably continuing on Skyline Drive.
Mark Sanford would like this photo! This trail in the park is part of the Appalachian Trail. You can see the "AT" monogram on the post. This is near the Blackrock Summit Trailhead. With my declining health, this was probably one of the last times I'll be able to hike a trail.
Some good park scenery. Shenandoah National Park was established in 1935 and includes parts of 8 counties. Unfortunately, some folks who lived here when the park was formed were deemed "squatters" and therefore ineligible for compensation when their homes were acquired for the park. ("Squatter" is one of these terms like "communist" and "pirate" that gets thrown around by people who don't know what it means.) A discredited report about locals' living conditions was used to support burning their homes. Also, when the park opened, it was marred by the stain of racial segregation: Virginia insisted on enforcing its Jim Crow laws within the park. This ended by 1950 after the National Park Service lowered the boom.
More fine park scenery.
Pretty sure this is Skyline Drive where it goes over US 35.
The Tim Tent conquers the campsite at Shenandoah.
An unspecified road at the park.
One of the trails at the park crosses a creek.
A deer looms in front of an RV.
Look at this beautiful deer!
The deer gives the viewing public an alert gaze.
Shenandoah afforded us a big sky and good views like this.
Probably looking east. I doubt you could see all the way to Washington, D.C., though, so we don't get to add another D.C. photo set like our spectacular 2013 trip or the 2017 human rights conference.
More Shenandoah roadliness.
Marys Rock Tunnel on Skyline Drive. This tun opened in 1932.