Shenandoah National Park Vacation
Day 4 - Part 3
Big Meadows, our next Cabin, and South River Falls
Shenandoah National Park, VA
Tuesday, September 4th, 2012
After my hike to Dark Hollow Falls, Amy and I continued our drive on the Skyline Drive to our next stop at Big Meadows. This is one of the few spots in Shenandoah where you can find a wide open Canopy which offered an interesting change.
Amy at Big Meadows
Big Meadows
After a quick stop at Big Meadows, we continued on to the Swift Run Gap entrance to Skyline Drive. Our next cabin was located about halfway between there and Standardsville, VA.
Our cabin was a recently restored 100+ year old home which offered a nice blend of old. Here are a few shots:
Old Barn alongside the driveway to our cabin
Amy and Me at our Cabin
After an early dinner at our cabin, I decided to head back into Shenandoah for one more hike. I figured I had just enough daylight left for the 5-mile South River Falls Loop Hike.
The South River Falls Trailhead
The first part of the trail descends about 800-feet of elevation to the South River Falls overlook.
South River Falls from the Overlook
The view from the overlook is less than impressive, so I decided to continue on to the base. The additional 400-feet of elevation descent down to the base proved much easier than I was expecting thanks to a long sweeping switchback.
The view from the base was much more rewarding than the overlook, but again this one could have used a good bit more waterflow!
At the base of South River Falls
South River Falls
The 1200 feet of elevation climb back out was a great end of day workout and a quick rain shower helped cool things off a bit during the climb up.
There were quite a few people around the trailhead picnic area when I started my hike, but at the end I was the only human left in the picnic area. However, there were at least a dozen Deer wandering about. It was approaching dusk, and I don't like to use a flash with wildlife. So even with a high ISO setting, most of my Deer shots turned out blurry, but here are a couple that turned out OK.
The complete set of photos from Day 4 are posted here:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/583380027TnZthA
Coming Up
Day 5 - The Waterfalls of White Oak Canyon
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