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 🙂
So I abandoned my spot on the Ark, and took off on a solo roadtrip down the East coast.
Starting from the Raleigh area, I drove all the way to St Augustine, FL (which is a story for another time) and then worked my way back up the Coast towards home.
Peacocks on the grounds of the Fountain of Youth archaeological park in St Augustine.
My first stop on the way back up was St Simon’s Island, Georgia 🙂
It’s a favorite family beach destination for visitor’s in the summertime.
Off the beach, St. Simons Island is dotted with remnants of historic sites you can visit, like the St Simon’s Lighthouse, Fort Frederica National Monument, and Christ Church.
The beach near St Simon’s.
You can also follow the ancient footsteps of the very first tourists to the island, who travelled either by walking the forest paths or paddling down the waterways.
I did some research and found a historic hiking spot at Cannons Point Preserve on the north end of the Island.
Among other reasons to visit, the trail at Cannon’s Point Preserve leads you to some extraordinary abandoned historic ruins along the coast.
Winterpast Farm in Wake Forest is not your regular alfalpha and soybeans kind of farm.
And though this 10-acre family farm near Falls Lake has previously been a tobacco farm, a Christmas tree farm, and a horse farm, in it’s current incarnation Winterpast is a working animal sanctuary.
“Bedhead” the guinea pig enjoys some attention.
Winterpast provides a home for goats, sheep, emu, two mini donkeys, several types of ducklings, peacocks, a goose, pigs, lots of bunnies, hedgehogs, guinea pigs and many varieties of chickens.
And – luckily for us – Winterpast is now a place where families, students, scouts, and pretty much anyone can go to pet and play with all of the animals.
If you get really attached, you can rent a pet to take home for a week… or maybe keep fur-ever 🙂
Except maybe for the hedgehogs, because they’re hardly ever home. The hedgehogs are really popular…
These days, masks are required to visit – and never fear! There is a hand-washing facility with soap and bleach wipes available for your safety.
Sheep hanging out at Winterpast Farm.
Anyway, if you want to visit the rest of the critters, all you have to do is look up the open hours for the week and text Farmer Mary to schedule a visit!
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!
We would go on our own, or with another single Mom friend who also had young kids, and make a day of it.
The kids loved the access to the Cape Fear River at the Fish Traps rapids, and scrambling on tree roots and rocks on the trail to the massive Raven Rock.
The trails were short enough that we hardly ever had to carry them back to the trailhead – a big plus, since neither of us were all that much bigger than the kids 🙂
I haven’t had much reason lately to make the 50-minute drive to Raven Rock, since my daughter (though still pretty short) has been out of grade school for much longer than a decade now – and I usually like longer trails.
Trailhead sign at the Raven Rock loop.
I’d also lost touch with my friend, and though we’d comment on social media now and then, hadn’t really talked for at least ten years – no reason, just the kids got older and we had drifted apart.
Then, when I went to wish her a happy birthday, I found that she’d recently passed away.
So I decided to take a trip down to Raven Rock, walk the trails, and remember my friend.
Some things had changed, but the park is still a good place to go for a walk – with your kids or on your own. 🙂
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.
Historic Yates Mill County Park is not on my usual round of go-to parks.
View of Yates Mill from the rocks.
This is mainly because it’s a longer drive for me than either Umstead State Park or Bond Park, both of those parks have longer trails – and these days I’m usually looking more for a place to have a serious hike than to entertain kids.
Raven Rock State Park is another great place to take younger kids, but it’s an hours drive away….
But a couple of weeks ago, I had an hour to spend and didn’t want to get too sweaty.
So I dropped by Historic Yates Mill County Park to take an active break.
I’d visited Yates Mill once before, in the winter, but this visit I got to see what it was like in the summertime.
I wasn’t disappointed.
There’s a pond, a few shorter – mostly shady – flat hiking trails, and fishing (with a permit).
Plus, it’s got a historic working water-driven grist mill. So there’s that 🙂
Based on what I found, if you’ve got grade school or younger kids, or even Middle-schoolers who (unlike mine) DON’T refer to hikes as “forced marches”, Historic Yates Mill County Park could be a wonderful hang-out for your family!
Opened in 1936, at only 424 acres in size, the park is one of the smallest state parks in North Carolina.
But with 1.3 million visitors annually, despite it’s small size, Fort Macon State Park is the second most visited state park in North Carolina.
I’ve always been too busy on my Coastal visits to be one of those visitors.
But I made up for my previous neglect a couple of weeks ago on a spontaneous overnight trip to the Coast.
A visit to Fort Macon was the main thing on my “must-do” list. I was delighted with what I found!
The park surrounds the US Coast Guard Station
The park completely surrounds the United States Coast Guard Station Fort Macon, and park visitors can catch a glimpse of one of the Coast Guard Cutters that are moored there.
The infamous pirate Blackbeard’s ship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, has been discovered in shallow water right off the Park in the Atlantic Ocean and is being recovered.
The park is also the site of the Battle of Fort Macon, which was fought there March-April 1862, during the American Civil War.
A map of Fort Macon State Park
In addition to tours of the fully restored fort, the park offers both sound-side and surf fishing, hiking trails, ranger guided tours, a protected swim area, a refreshment stand, and a bathhouse.
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 🙂
We have miles and miles of local greenways available near where I live in North Carolina.
Greenways are a great off-road resource for healthy outdoor family activities like bike rides, hikes and walks.
This is especially important these days, when most State Parks and National Parks have been closed or partially closed since March- and we don’t know when we’ll be allowed to fully use them again.
