Front Royal, VA - Halftime festivities
I’ve spent the past 5 days taking some R&R from the trail in commemoration of passing the half way point on my journey. Having accumulated 1124 AT miles ($11.24 so far if you are a $.01/mile Family Promise Hikeathon sponsor), it was a good time to take a break.
On Friday, I was dropped off at Harrisburg airport, picked up a rental car, drove to Dulles airport near DC, and picked up my wife Carolyn. She flew in to spend some time with me and see some of what I’d experienced on this hike. We drove to Front Royal, VA, where we would base out of for the next several days. Once checked into our hotel, we headed to the historic downtown area to sightsee and have dinner. We ate at the Old Mill restaurant in the heart of downtown, and explored the area. After some delicious ice cream at C&C Treats, we headed to the hotel for the night.
On Saturday, we headed down to Luray to check out the caverns there. Luray Caverns are the largest in the eastern United States, and draw crowds from around the world. We arrive right when they opened, and had the caves almost to ourselves. Spectacular doesn’t begin to describe this place. We wandered around there for an hour, then checked out the adjoining Classic Car museum, Antique Toy Museum, and Heritage Museum. A great morning.
From there, we drove to Culpeper VA to meet Bryce and his wife Julie for lunch at Cafe 309. I had an incredible Beer Cheese Chicken sandwich, and we indulged in sweet potato fries dipped in a donut type glaze. Wonderful! After a walk around town with Bryce and Julie, Carolyn and I got back in the car and drove up to Harpers Ferry, WV. There I was able to register at the newly reopened Appalachian Trail Conservancy and get my “official” thru hiker tag. We hike some of the AT through and surrounding the town, including Jefferson Rock and across the rail Bryan’s into Maryland. We ate dinner at the Rabbit Hole and then headed back to Front Royal.
On Sunday, we went to church at Dynamic Praise and Worship church before heading to the Shenandoah National Park via the north entrance of Skyline Drive. We parked at Compton Gap and hiked a portion of the trail I’d covered a few weeks earlier. It was cold and wet, but not really raining. Although the conditions weren’t ideal, Carolyn enjoyed seeing part of the park, and getting a feel for the trail. After about an hour of hiking, we headed to a Wayside, and treated ourselves to their famous blackberry shakes. Best shake I’ve ever had, echoed by Carolyn. We had bread, sausage, and cheese we’d brought with us for a late lunch and then headed out of the park and north to Maryland. We visited the Washington Monument state park, where the original Washington Monument was erected in 1827. Great views and an impressive tribute to the father of our country. Not far from there is the Old South Mountain Inn, where we had dinner. Then back to Front Royal or the night.
Monday broke clear and warmer, as we headed to Waynesboro VA to the southern entrance of the Shenandoah National Park. We drove through Waynesboro where I pointed out places I had been, and we were soon in the park. We stopped at several overlooks, each with a clear and different view of the surrounding mountains and valleys. Working our way to Blackrock trailhead, we parked and did a loop hike over the Blackrock boulders and rock falls. After that adventure we headed to the Big Meadows Lodge for lunch, then a hike down to the Lewis Falls. That round trip gave Carolyn a real feel for the altitude and terrain changes faced along the trail, with steep climbs, lots of rocks, and tricky spots to negotiate. It had really warmed up by that afternoon, so we were sweating by the time we made it back to the lodge. We decided that we’d earned another blackberry shake and stopped at a Wayside to indulge. The day before was no fluke, as these were as good or better than the earlier ones. After driving the length of the SNP (and Skyline drive) from the south entrance to the north one, stopping at several more overlooks, we headed back to Front Royal. There we did a food resupply for the resumption of my hike, getting food for several days of hiking. We then had dinner (Mexican) before retuning to the hotel to watch another episode of The Chosen from the recently released 2nd season. This show really gives some great insight into what the day to day lives of Jesus and his disciples could have been like.
Tuesday we checked out of the hotel and had breakfast at Cracker Barrel before we headed toward Woodstock VA, to hike up to the Woodstock tower. Winding our way up through George Washington State Forest, we arrived at the “short” trail, and hiked a couple of local trails, including one to a hang glider launch site (no gliders today). Then we went up to the tower for great views of the surrounding area. After spending some time up there, we headed into Woodstock for lunch and a little shopping. Then it was time for Carolyn to head home, so we drove to Dulles airport and she winged her way home. I drove back to Harrisburg, dropped the rental car, and took an Uber back to Lisa’s Hostel for the night. Tomorrow it’s back to the trail with a 15 mile day planned.
Until next time…
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