Appalachian Jesus Rays

We’re hoteling it on this one. Even though on Southwest bags fly free, the thought of parachuting in with all our camping gear is a bridge too far. Between flying and a maniac hour plus on the highway, while trying to escape the environs of our nation’s Capitol, we made it to the park’s highway exit. Only there we found, a commuter info road sign at the park’s door step, a mere thirty miles from the West Virginia state line. That’s right folks the Federal government is sprawling towards you even as you read this post.

Skyline Drive within the park is 105 miles long and with a 35 MPH speed limit making for an almost four hour drive. Both yesterday and today, we’ve used I-81, which parallels the park to jump up and down its length. Skyline Drive runs hundreds of miles south of the park, all the way to the Smokies and Tennessee. We’ll save that drive for another day, because it takes days to do.

Today, we walked away from the car and got a few steps. For some reason my Fitbit records 50% more steps than Anne’s does. This really bugs her. We hiked down to Dark Hollow Falls, which was still flowing. Then a siesta at Skyland, the origin point for the National Park. Then it was back out on the trail and we hiked Stony Man trail, the second highest point in the park, which was actually easier than down to the falls.