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Shenandoah National Park
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For this next set, we sort of jump ahead a few months past my other current sets I'm uploading. After returning from Montana with my cousin for two weeks I came home with another itch, to see Shenandoah National Park, so me and Sam decided to head down to Virginia for a long weekend and camp for three nights. I didn't do any research on Shenandoah before leaving the house so everything from hikes to campgrounds were sort of a surprise to us, we only knew Shenandoah from a few pictures we seen that showed the "rolling hills" of the park for as far as you can see.

Shenandoah is one of the closest National Parks to my home, besides Cuyahoga (I am from Pittsburgh) and believe it or not I have only been to them once a piece to this day, compared to parks like Arches and Yellowstone that I've been to a whopping four times, it's a pretty crazy thought. We packed up the tent and my passport book and we headed south. The drive down was pretty average, a lot of highways and not many back roads, a turn right into the park and we were there, nothing really spectacular yet, we passed through the toll booth to enter the park and found the nearest visitor center we could stop at to figure out where to camp and of course get that elusive passport stamp for my book.
We ended up at Dickey Ridge Visitor Center around 4 PM and found out they luckily had a few camping spots open so we pounced on the nearest campground and decided if we didn't like it we would just move to another campground the following day, which ended up happening. Our first night we opted for Big Meadows, which was a big mistake. We ended up getting a spot that was basically an island between two roads, we had cars and headlights constantly, the other issue is the campground really piles people on top of each other, at any given time you are in view of another 5-7 campsites, no privacy or quiet at all. In the morning we were awoken by the neighbors dog that they just let roam free at our tent door. The next night we headed to Loft Mountain Campground and loves it, lots of privacy, small but nice and secluded camping sites with lots of cover. Just before arriving at the campsite we spotted three black bear, a mom and her 2 cubs at the bottom of the hill which was a cool surprise that we'd have some other neighbors as well. So lesson learned, stay away from Big Meadows unless you have a big party or like a lot of noise.
As for sightseeing and hiking we did quite a lot. I think we stopped at about every viewpoint along the drive. Sunsets were amazing over the rolling hills. One thing I can say that a lot of people might not agree with is, after seeing the Smokey Mountains a few months after this trip, I'll say I actually liked Shenandoah more. The mountains might have been smaller, but it didn't feel like an over developed tourist trap like the Smokey's did to me. Don't get me wrong they are both their own parks in that regard, but Shenandoah has a better vibe to it, if that makes sense at all. In the Smokey's I almost felt rushed, meanwhile Shenandoah actually felt like you were in the middle of nowhere at some points. That is another point, Eastern parks seem to have that feeling to me. The Smokey's are also the most crowded park in the NPS so that might explain why I wasn't a big fan of it.
Now back to hiking, in our three days in the park we really only had a day and a half to really do any hiking, so we squeaked in 4 or 5 shorter hikes. Our favorite was probably the rock scramble on Bear Fence, besides running into a rattle snake on the scramble it was a ton of fun and the view at the top really had me thinking we were standing on top of a great mountain out west. It's a must do hike if you are in the park. If you're into waterfalls Jones Run Falls is a nice one to check out, another shorter hike but a nice sized fall at the end of it. I have quite a few hikes on my list to go back and do in the future, at the top of it is the famous Stony Man and Black Rock Summit.
Overall I enjoyed the park a lot, I really do look forward to heading back down there within the next year and doing a few more hikes. The wildlife in the park was as good as any western park. Be sure and be aware of the cops/troopers in the park I had a bad experience where I got pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt, when I was wearing a seatbelt and still ended up getting hassled, so make sure you watch out for that as well. Hope you guys enjoy the set!

Taken on: August 24, 2012

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Sets appears in: • Shenandoah National Park • D800 HDR more » • National Parks/Monuments/Ect • HDR « less

Camera: Nikon D800, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, 24mm, ISO 1250 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D800
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.008 sec (1/125)
Focal Length:	24mm
ISO:	1250
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Gain Control:	High gain up
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)
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