Shenandoah National Park

July 20 to 23, 2009

I made it to Shenandoah National Park. I've heard from many people "it is pretty over there" and I wonder...really? How is it any different than Colorado or other mountains I've seen. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. This park is really nice, which is kind of weird because it is basically a really long North South running road but some how it works. There are several overlooks and you can see for miles. One way it is different from Colorado because these mountains are all covered with trees. The highest point in Shenandoah (Skyline Drive) is 3680 feet....I guess that explains the tree cover. We are only about 75 miles West of Washington DC (who knew) and I must say I've seen a lot of places and this area is a place I wouldn't mind living.

We stayed in the park at the Big Meadows Lodge which was a different experience. Typically we stay outside of the park in a city so we are in civilization (Internet, phone, TV, food, etc...). This time I thought we should stay in the park so we wouldn't have to drive so long to the hotel. It was nice and felt like we were really experiencing the park. There was no Internet so that took a little adjustment but it was worth it. Although, it seems to be consensus that the reservation agency for the lodge (who are based in Phoenix, AZ) and the on-site lodge workers don't communicate very well. My reservation and deposit wasn't the only one to be messed up and it took quite some time getting it right, actually I'm still not sure it is right, so be aware of that if you ever come here call the lodge directly and bypass Phoenix :).

I have seen several animals here: black bears, deer, rabbits, black snakes (one I almost stepped on), a skunk, and the usual birds and bugs. None of the animals seem afraid of humans and they will stand around and eat and ignore you. Usually animals will run when they hear the diesel truck but not at this park. I was able to get some really close photos of the bears and the skunk...don't worry my camera has a zoom and for the bears I was in the truck!

It has rained a lot here but we have been very lucky that it didn't really delay our work. We had some routes to collect that only needed video, not pavement data, so we can collect those when the road are wet. That kept us busy since they were very spread out around the park and we did get to see some remote areas while collecting those routes. Other than that I'm pretty worn out. I worked 34 hours by the end of the day on Wednesday...this will be a nice overtime week, but very draining.