RoVer’s First National Park!

We were pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy it was to disconnect everything and get RoVer back on the road this morning. And, by mid-afternoon, Mark and I were saying that we may not want/need to tow a vehicle – we LOVED having the RV with us all day…

  • When we left in the morning, we didn’t have to worry about what we MIGHT need throughout the day – different clothing for changing temperatures, snacks, water, etc. We just brought all of it with us!
  • Shenandoah is NOT heavily populated with restrooms, so it was wonderful to always have a bathroom with us.
  • We did a relatively difficult hike after lunch, and Mark was very happy to go back to the RV and take a short nap.

The narrow, winding roads of a National Park are not necessarily RV friendly, and many of the parking lots at Shenandoah were definitely not RV friendly, but we managed and Mark has become a real pro at driving RoVer! I didn’t drive within the park, but did share the driving home from the park.

RoVer in her natural habitat!
This GPS screen sums up National Park driving…’sharp curve’ warnings constantly, and the orange line gives such a nice preview of what you have to look forward to!
ummm, yep, sharp curve ahead…

One thing we have to get used to is thinking about height clearances, and not just at gas stations. At the park entrance gate, the ranger asked how tall our RV is…because very soon after the entrance, there’s a tunnel that is 12’8″ high. We’re only 11′, so no problem, but it’s not something I’ve ever paid much attention to in a car! We did invest in a GPS that’s made for RVs; we entered RoVer’s vitals into the unit, and it will route us around/warn us about any potential issues with height clearance, narrow bridges, weight-limited roads, etc. Well worth the investment to keep the top of the RV where it belongs…

  • Warning, tunnel ahead!
  • Phew, we made it!

As for Shenandoah, you can see for miles and miles (the song by The Who kept running through my head…!) from many of the 60+ overlooks along the Blue Ridge Mountains. Today, we drove about 1/3 of the 105-mile Skyline Drive, in the middle section of the park. It was a hazy, overcast day without much sunshine, but there’s a beautiful, distinctive blue tinge to the mountains all the time. Spring comes a bit later at the higher elevations of the park, so while trees are greening up and flowers are blooming at our campground, they’re a few weeks behind in this section of Shenandoah. The most popular time at the park is October, which is completely understandable – fall foliage here must be amazing! We ate lunch at one of the overlooks, and then headed to Dark Hollow Falls trailhead for a ‘moderate’ hike down to the waterfall. We knew it would be a downhill climb to the falls, and then a steep incline of almost 450 feet of elevation change back up to the trailhead, and because it had rained all day Wednesday, the trail was muddy and the rocks were slippery. So it was a slow go. Fortunately, Mark had thought to pack our hiking poles in the RV and we were VERY happy to have those to steady us through the more treacherous areas. The falls themselves were beautiful – I do love waterfalls! – and well worth the hike down, and even the hike back up!

 We were back at the campground by about 4:30pm, and after a quick leveling job, Mark was able to re-connect everything in no time. Without any rain, besides! Yay!