I went back to Shenandoah again this Spring, to hike the Rose River Loop, the Cedar Run Circuit and maybe add some more to my list.
It wouldn’t be hard to do, since Shenandoah National Park offers some of the best hiking in Virginia!
I took a break from hiking to explore the Barboursvillle ruins.
I had spent a great week there a couple of years ago, but the trip was over before I had a chance to complete my list of “must do” hikes – including the Rose River Loop.
And of course the iconic Old Rag hike.
So I had to go back and try again!
Where is Shenandoah National Park?
Shenandoah National Park is only 115 miles from Washington, D.C., 95 miles from Richmond VA, and 250 miles from Raleigh NC.
That’s close enough for a great long weekend or longer family vacation, without the expense of air travel!
My previous Shenandoah visit was for a whole week. This trip was a quick visit of only 3 nights – which was still enough time to get in a couple of great hikes and see some local sights 🙂
For years, I’ve been driving from my home near Raleigh, NC past the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) in Tennessee for work, but never had a chance to stop and explore.
It was very frustrating… 🙁
The Pulpit rock cairn marks the end of the Bullhead Trail.
But finally, this past summer, I was able to spend a few days hiking in the GSMNP.
It was everything I hoped it would be!
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) was the most visited national park in 2019, with over 12.5 million visitors.
That’s nearly twice as many tourists as the Grand Canyon had that same year!
The Park covers 522,419 acres in North Carolina and Tennessee, making it one of the largest protected areas in the eastern United States.
It also straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are a division of the larger Appalachian Mountain chain.
And as if that’s not enough to warrant a visit, the Appalachian Trail also passes through the center of the park on its route from Georgia to Maine.
Hiking on the Appalachian Trail.
Read on to learn about the park layout, history and the amazing trails that I hiked during my visit… and how you could hike them, too!
The Zombie Tunnel Hike is a route that goes from Umstead State Park, and all the way through Carl Alwin Schenck Memorial Forest – with the help of the Richland Creek Trail.
All tunnels could be zombie tunnels…
I’ve been leading this hike for years, and people really enjoy it.
At over 11 miles, it’s a good long hike, but it’s pretty flat, and has a lot of different features – like Zombie tunnels!
Okay, there may not *actually* be any Zombies, but it sure looks like there could be….and one time I did find a mutant fish in there 🙂
According to legend, Brigadoon only appears for one day every 300 years.
I don’t host this hike very often because conditions need to be just right or the route is impassable, and I hate to disappoint anyone.
The other thing about this route is that, depending on recent weather conditions or new construction, parts of the trail have been known to disappear like Brigadoon at sunrise.
So earlier this year, before I posted the hike for others to join me, I decided to take a look and see if the route was still there – and still the same.
Good news! The route was still there – and still mostly the same. In fact some parts had actually been improved!
Now – just in time for Halloween! – I’ll tell you what I found, and how to get there – and maybe you can go try this somewhat spooky trail for yourself…
UPDATE: There have been some major changes to the Schenck Forest access area over the past few months. Read on for more updated info.
New construction on the Schenck access road off of Reedy Creek road.
As soon as I heard about the Triple Crown hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains, I knew I had to do it!
View of the Dragon’s Tooth at the hike summit.
It’s an epic hike within easy driving distance from my home in North Carolina, do-able as a solo hiker – with reasonable precautions – even in the heat of summer.
Most importantly the summer of 2020, the Triple Crown trails and trailhead parking were just re-opened for use.
Effective June 13: The National Park Service has reopened the Appalachian National Scenic Trail in Virginia’s Blue Ridge, including the Triple Crown section of Dragon’s Tooth, McAfee Knob, and Tinker Cliffs.
The Triple Crown hike is actually a group of three hikes – Dragon’s Tooth, McAfee Knob, and Tinker Cliffs – that can be done individually or tackled as an overnight backpacking hike all together.
The Triple Crown trail loop is 35 miles of the best hiking in the Roanoke Valley and arguably some of the best overlooks in the entire state of Virginia.
Have you become a remote worker recently due to circumstances beyond your control? Whether you have chosen remote work, or it’s been thrust upon you, it can be a difficult transition for you and your whole family.
You can find yourself getting stressed, socially awkward, and extra fluffy 🙂
And this can add additional stress, which creates a really bad cycle that it’s best to avoid altogether.
So, that said, what’s the best way to protect your mental and physical health when you’re suddenly forced to work from your home???
Sign promoting hand-washing along local greenway trail
People who had already chosen to work remotely before any Stay At Home mandates have probably figured this out already.
But for those who became remote workers overnight due to the COVID-19 health crisis response or other sudden life change, this could be a problem – especially if there’s no end in sight.
As an aside, I joined the workforce when there was no such thing as “remote” work, because there were no laptops, internet or cell phones.
…. I’ll pause here so you can say “Okay, Boomer” 🙂
I also remember when working remotely was the shiny new Holy Grail of work situations, and only the Cool Kids got to do it.
The rest of us had to fight family, school buses and traffic to make it into the office on time despite a blizzard or an illness that had you burning with fever.
Your commute to work can be replaced by a nice long walk or bike ride
Those days are not entirely gone, but most companies now recognize natural disasters, communicable diseases, and different time-zones within Global teams as valid reasons to work off-site.
Fortunately, with today’s technology everyone is able to work remotely as needed, if your business will allow it.
Some people work remotely 100% of the time now and some younger workers have NEVER had an office-based job.
“Working from home” used to mean something very different.
At this point in my career, I’ve worked in all kinds of remote, half-remote, on-site only, etc etc situations, and I have to say – I really like working from home most of all!
But working remotely is not everyone’s favorite thing.
When working from home – whether it’s as someone’s else’s employee or as your own boss – there are a lot of bad habits you can fall into.
Finding the discipline to manage your time and ignore distractions, especially if you’ve also got kids at home – never mind anxiety about world events, or depression due to isolation – may be unusually difficult.
And staying focused enough to get some exercise and eat right can be almost impossible!
There are some tricks I’ve learned over the years that might help you 🙂
It’s time to get back in shape after…..whatever happened to make you feel less than your optimal buff self.
Maybe you’ve just been really busy, or worn out from your Summer and Fall adventures, or – like me – you’ve been laid low by allergies or seasonal cold and flu?
Or maybe some of you – also like me – can’t remember how to dress yourself to go anywhere if it’s not 100 degrees and 99% humidity outside?
Author ready for a hike
Well, you’d better get over it pretty quick, because Fall is here, and you know what that means?
Resort travel and Holiday parties. That’s right, and you won’t be able to hide under that bulky “ugly” sweater for all of them.
Some Resort travel will require swimwear (ack!!) and some gatherings will require the dreaded slinky dress.
The Ugly Christmas Sweater isn’t appropriate at the beach…
And then there are all of those relatives and former classmates – perhaps even at the same resorts and gatherings…..
In North Carolina, it’s pretty much always warm enough to get outdoors and exercise – even in the Winter.
So, now that it’s cooled down enough that spontaneous combustion isn’t a concern, I’ll start getting serious again 😉
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Everything that you need to start your 6 week training plan is included in this post.
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Then you can print it out and refer to your plan anytime you want. Happy training! LJ
Honestly though, I never really stopped hiking.
That said, ever since late May, when I returned from my epic 2-week hiking trip to Greece, I HAVE slacked off on my indoor cross-training – and it shows!
View on Mount Olympus
I worked my butt off for months prior to that trip, so I’d be able to do the 2-day Mount Olympus hike without hurting myself – and it was great!
But that was a few months ago, and now I could use a quick tune-up before slipping into that slinky party dress.
Keep reading to learn more about how I’m doing a quick tune-up for my upcoming Holiday trips and gatherings – and how you could, too!
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing, a 12 mile day hike on New Zealand’s North Island, is one of the most popular day hikes in the country.
New Zealand is where the Hobbits live!
Located inside The Tongariro National Park, the alpine crossing is part of a larger 3-4 day hike that is one of New Zealand’s Great Walks.
Tongariro National Park was made famous – like so many places in New Zealand – by it’s appearance in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.
The park’s alpine, volcanic scenery is the setting of Mordor, home of Mount Doom – aka Mt Ngauruhoe – the object of Frodo and Sam’s quest throughout the series.
I had the opportunity to take this trek as part of an active group trip to the North Island early this Spring.
(Fortunately, I was able to return home before travel became restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Here’s how hiking the Tangeriro Alpine Crossing went for me, and some information that will help if you want to go try it for yourself!
Home school kids need to get outdoors in the sunshine and play – for their physical and mental health and for ours, too.
If you’ve recently become a remote worker AND a home-schooler all at once, courtesy of COVID-19, you’re probably already running short on patience.
Getting outdoors, either in your own yard or in a local park or forest, can help boost the entire family’s mood and immune system.
Footpath in Lake Crabtree County Park
Sitting still for long periods of time is hard for everyone, but it’s especially difficult for energetic young ones who may have shorter attention spans.
When children have the space and freedom to move around, they can work off their excess energy and be more focused on learning when playtime is over.
Through physical outdoor learning activities children can improve their speed, strength, stamina and motor skills, too.
Here are some ideas for incorporating outdoor time into your new at-home daily schedule, and some tips on places to go for outdoor fun where you can still avoid crowds, for social distancing purposes.
We started in Barcelona and made our way across the country to end the tour in Madrid – all in 8 days!
For me, the highlight of the tour was a short day hike in the Aragonese Pyrenees.
Gaudi house museum in Barcelona, Spain
Don’t get me wrong – the rest of the tour was great, too.
But I’m not usually a fan of big cities, even cities as beautiful as Madrid and Barcelona.
I usually like to spend my holiday time away from cities, sweating in a desert canyon, searching for ruins in a rainforest, or hiking up a steep slope to a mountain view.
To be honest, the hike in the Pyrenees was the main reason I signed up 🙂
I’d been planning another trip that cancelled at the last minute, so I decided to take a chance on a different sort of trip for me. I’m very glad I did!
This is the time of year when everyone resolves to somehow change their lives for the better in the coming year.
This past year, my goals were pretty easy to define – at least for the first couple of months.
You see, I’d been battling a really vicious head and chest cold – since late November.
I hiked on New Zealand’s North Island – where all the volcanoes are!
Then, that turned into an infection (of lung and sinus type) for a few weeks and that went away but the original cold came back!
This illness plus inclement weather and Holiday shenanigans kept me from doing my usual basic maintenance workouts or scheduling as many hikes as usual.
So, my goal was to be healthy and strong enough to do all the things in New Zealand without any struggle.
I had about 8 weeks to make that happen. The good news is I did the training, went to new Zealand and had an awesome time hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.
I squeaked back into the US literally hours before they shut down international travel to New Zealand.
Fast forward to now, and we’ve had some version of COVID-19 lockdown in place, limiting our activities, since I got back home in March.
That Man and I had planned a trip to Hawaii – Kauai, to be exact – for April that had to be rescheduled for this coming winter’s Holiday season.
That’s where my training program “8 Weeks to Awesome” – or Auckland, to be specific – comes back into play.
I’ve got to get back on the plan to be ready for the Hawaii trip – assuming we’re allowed to go this time. (As of this writing, prohibitive quarantines and testing requirements are still in place for out of State visitors…)
If you’re looking for a way to get back into shape before the Holidays – even if you don’t have a big trip coming – maybe you’d like to do it with me!
