Shenandoah National Park 6/18/14

We are staying at the historic and rustic Big Meadows Lodge (built in 1939) in the middle of Shenandoah National Park.  No room phones, no AC, no internet, and sporadic cell coverage.  We don’t miss any of that because the park does have blue violets, black cohosh, marsh marigolds, spotted touch-me-nots, Virginia spiderwort, eastern hemlock, brook trout, red-backed salamanders, peregrine falcons, eastern towhees, Virginia opossums, bobcats, and black bears.  The terrace and view outside our room is shown below.

 

In the morning we hiked down to Dark Hollow Falls where we saw copulating water skimmers…

Mountain laurel

Moss

Lichen

A stream

And the falls.

Then we had to claw our way back up.

In the afternoon we went for another hike, this time on the Appalachian Trail, a 2,100 mile trail that extends from Georgia to Maine.  One hundred miles of it runs through Shenandoah National Park.  We hiked about a foot and a half.

In the evening we visited Big Meadow, near our lodge.

Fly poison

Sunset from the lodge.