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 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… 🙁
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.
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.
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 🙂
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.
As soon as I heard about the Triple Crown hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains, I knew I had to do it!
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???
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.
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.
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 were under COVID-19 restrictions almost overnight after I returned from an amazing hiking trip to New Zealand, and though I’ve stayed active, it’s been difficult not to lose fitness and gain Pandemic Pounds!
So I created a 6 Week Training Plan to get back in shape in time for summer trips, if they’re allowed.
I thought you might find some encouragement from training notes and videos from my 6 week training journey. Weekly logs are posted below:
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.
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.
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.
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!
I first used this 8-week training plan in early 2020 to get ready for an amazing hiking trip to New Zealand, which I’m thankful I was able to do before travel was cut off due to the pandemic.
Then I used it get ready for a postponed hiking trip to Kauai that never happened in 2021 (or 2022 or 2023).
In 2022, I kept it closer to home and did some great multi-day trips to hikes on the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains – including the amazing hike to the summit of Old Rag, which was probably one of my most uniquely challenging day hikes of the year.
Finally, in 2023, I used the 8 Weeks plan to get ready for an epic 2-day hike on Mt Olympus in Greece– a trip I’d had to postpone for 4 years due to Covid travel restrictions. (The link goes to my training post from 2023, when I decided what my goal hike for training was.)
If you’re training for a specific bucket list hike or even if you’re just training to get in better shape – and maybe lose a few pounds before the Spring – my 8 week plan could work for you, too .
This year, I’m hoping to make it to more of my exotic Bucket List hikes, but I haven’t chosen my exotic destination yet, so for the moment I’m focusing my “8 Weeks to Awesome” training goals on hikes that I can drive to from home!
Get The FREE PDF!
Everything that you need to start your 8 Week training is included in this post.
But it’s a long read and may be inconvenient to refer to while you’re training.
For your convenience, you can click here to sign up and download your FREE “8 Weeks to Awesome” PDF file.
You might find some encouragement in training notes and videos from previous years’ 8 week training journey.
Keep an eye peeled for the new log entries I’ll be adding each week as the 2024 training is completed 🙂
Most recently updated February 29th, 2024Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes – – Training Week 5 started with another nice day, and leading another great group...
Most recently updated January 27th, 2024Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes – – I began this year’s second week of training on Sunday 1/14, leading another...
Most recently updated January 21st, 2024Estimated Reading Time: 2.3 minutes – – I started the Awesome hike training again this first Sunday, with a 30...
Most recently updated February 3rd, 2023Estimated Reading Time: 2.3 minutes – – I started the Awesome hike training again this past Monday, with some yoga...
Most recently updated January 29th, 2022Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes – – Training Week 4 started on Saturday with the world all socked-in with snow...
Most recently updated January 18th, 2022Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes – – I began the second week of training on Monday, leading a great group of...
Most recently updated January 18th, 2022Estimated Reading Time: 2.3 minutes – – I started the Awesome Training Again this past week, with a moderate 6-mile...