Shenandoah National Park

What little time we had on our trip out east, John and I spent most of it in this park.  The national park has been know for its Skyline Drive, 105 miles along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  According to the park brochure along this drive are 75 overlooks, offering many impressive views of the Shenandoah Valley.  We did not traverse by car the entire drive, but spent some time on it taking time to stop and enjoy the fantastic sights spread out below us.

In the view of the Shenandoah Valley above the two white splotches in the midst of the picture above
is mist arising from the valley.  On our second day the view over the valley was hazy with patches of mist arising from it.  Most of the trees were still green yet, and had not yet slipped into their fall colors.

 

On the first day in the park we were anxious to hike on one of its many trails, so we chose Stony Man.  Our trail guide described him as appearing to be "reclining on the slope of the Blue ridge, gazing over the Shenandoah Valley to the west".  It is the second highest peak in Shenandoah National Park.  Viewed from the north the mountain resembles the face of a bearded man.   Pictured below is our group at the summit of Stony Man, which gives you another view of the rocky peak of the  mountain.

The hike is  a 11/2 mile round trip, the path is well cleared but still strewn with small rocks.  On our walk down the mountain John just happened to look up and did not see a rock at his feet, falling flat on his face and breaking his glasses.  Once we cleaned up his scrapes, however, he was good to go- with no broken bones fortunately.

Except for that one mishap, we had a wonderful walk on Stony Man; with a park booklet in hand we were able to take notice of some of its more interesting features.  Pictured above is yellow birch that is determined to split a large slab of rock in two with its roots.  At one time oaks and chestnut trees were the primary trees in this forest.  About in the 1930s an Asian fungus decimated the American chestnut trees, now it is the oak which dominates the forest.  Also tall evergreens add to the forest canopy.  We did see some chestnuts, mostly as logs lying alongside our trail.  They do not decay and still can be found, serving as a host for various bugs and other small creatures.

There was a trail marker near the rocky site pictured above.  In the rocks seen along the trail is the presence of various minerals, old scattered copper mining sites can be found on Stony Man.  In the 1800s nuggets of  native copper were found on the forest floor.After our day on the mountain we still had some time the next day to visit Luray Caverns which are located in the Shenandoah Valley region.