Shenandoah National Park---Loft Mountain Campground

The travel from Mt. Rogers Grindstone Campground to Loft Mountain took much longer than we anticipated. It was also our longest travel day this trip. It seemed we would never arrive at our destination. The last 25 miles was on Skyline Drive, another curvy, narrow road with the possibility of bicycles! We got set up and wanted to sit outside, but the gnats were HORRIBLE!

The following day, we drove to Byrd Visitor Center to get information on Skyline Drive and the hikes available near our campground. While at the lodge, we did the short walk to Blackrock Overlook.

After lunch at the lodge, we drove down the mountain to Waynesboro to visit Wal-Mart and Target. We wanted to purchase a screen room so we could enjoy our campsite! We found what we wanted at Target and headed back up to Skyline Drive. Now, the box said that set up of this screen room took 60 seconds or less! Bob and I both read the directions and it took us much longer than 60 seconds! Maybe the next time it will take less.....

Every morning, this fawn and its mother could be seen eating leaves and flowers in our site! One afternoon we even saw a 10-point buck munching in the wildflowers, but we couldn't get a picture!

Our second full day in Shenandoah we hiked DOWN to Doyle's River Falls. The upper falls had a 28 foot drop.

The lower falls had a 63 foot drop. Like I said, we hiked DOWN to the falls. Our trip back to the car was all uphill!

The next day we hiked to Jone's River Run Falls. It was not as high at the lower Doyle Falls, but it was a good waterfall.

There were several levels to it and Bob and I both enjoyed walking over the rocks to get a better view.

After our down and up hike at Jone's River Run (not nearly as steep as Doyle's), we drove to the parking area for Blackrock Summit. This trail was about 1 mile and promised an excellent view and different geological formations.

The area was all that was promised in the brochure!

On Saturday, we drove to Staunton, Virginia. After a trip to the visitor's center, we took the trolley around town. We disembarked near the Farmer's Market, which was just closing. We walked across Sears Bridge to get a good view of the town.

This was the view from the hill beyond Sears Bridge.

From Sears Bridge, we walked back toward the visitor center to find a place to eat lunch. We stopped for a craft beer at Shenandoah Valley Brewery before heading to Cranberries Grocery and Eatery for lunch.  After an interesting meal, we walked to Woodrow Wilson's Presidential Library. It was much smaller than Herbert Hoover's Presidential Library in Iowa, but still interesting. This is the Pierce-Arrow that belonged to President Wilson.

From the presidential library, we took the long way back to Skyline Drive. We made a stop at Stable Craft Brewing Company. There was a wedding taking place at their outdoor venue, but Bob and I both enjoyed our beers in their taproom.

Back to Skyline Drive and our campsite! Sunday found us hiking the Appalachian Trail around the campground. The butterflies and bees were enjoying the thistles! Neither moved as we walked around the plant!

From the Appalachian Trail, we took the Frazier Discovery Trail which was a loop that would take us back to our campsite. We had several great overlooks on the trail.

The sun and shadows made it hard to get a good picture at this rock outcrop.

The concrete post is an example of the markers on the Appalachian Trail. The metal band at the top of the marker gave mileage and directions at intersections on the trail.

At one point, we came upon large boulders on the side of the trail.

Monday we returned to Byrd Visitor Center to enjoy the views from the back deck of the lodge..

We spent seven days at Loft Mountain and enjoyed our time relaxing and hiking the area.I have to say that the only hill that really gave us trouble was the one that we had to hoof up to get back to Sol! This picture was taken when we were halfway up!

Our site was excellent for solar and we were able to get over 70 television channels. The only thing we couldn't get was cell phone service....no Internet!

The next day would be a travel day---down the mountain and back to sea level!