Days 96-98: the shenendoahs

The rest of the Shenendoahs after leaving Thornys was really enjoyable. We had four great days in the park. The trails in the park are extremely well maintained and even on decent uphills it feels easier with the well made switchbacks. And the views and foliage were phenomenal. It feels good to be back in the mountains and the beautiful orange, red, and yellow leaves are just icing on the cake.
Now that the government decided to reopen the once empty, peaceful park is now chock full of tourists. The trail crosses skyline drive, the road all tourists drive, probably almost 50 times total, often at scenic overlooks with pullouts for people to pull over at. At one of these overlooks I took a 15 minute break and in that short amount of time I came up with an entertaining game: determining what category each car that pulls over will fall into. We have the Total Drive By: the car that pulls off skyline into the overlook area but drives ever so slowly by the overlook without ever stopping and then pulls back out onto skyline. Next we have the Hesitant Glancers: those that pull into the overlook area, stop for a second while still in their car but are apparently unimpressed and pull right back out. Following that is the Drive By Photographer: these more dedicated tourists take the time to not only pull off the road AND stop their cars but they also take out their phones/cameras and take a photo of the view from the comfort of their car!!! Wow. After them we have the even more enthused tourist: the Out the Window Photographer: these people are willing to take enough time out of their day to not just pull off the road, not just stop their car, and not just take a photo… They go the extra mile and ROLL DOWN THEIR WINDOW, extending their arms extending their camera outside of their car to get a photo. The final, and rare, type of tourist is the most adventurous: the Out of the Car Tourist. These daring types are willing to stop their cars and do more than just open their windows to get a photo: they will take the time to get out of their car to take a look and capture their photo. There are two subcategories: the car shutter offers and the car idlers which are pretty self explanatory. It is a fun game to try to guess what each car will be as they pull in. Obviously I’m being pretty judgmental but it made me a bit sad to see people so unwilling to even get out of their car and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. Oh well, to each his own.
I’ve been told by an embarrassing number of people that I write about food a lot in this blog. I was totally unaware I was doing this but I suppose it shows where my true allegiances lie. So, to avoid becoming an outright food blog, ill just quickly state that with the park now open I got to enjoy yummy snacks at the park waysides, including the Shenendoah special blackberry milkshake.
I saw a bunch of deer all throughout the park, nearly all of which were totally unafraid of humans. I turned the corner once and nearly ran straight into a deer. I think it scared me more than I scared it! It didn’t move even when I got within feet of it and only did when I started loudly talking to it. It allowed me to get a nice close up photo at least!
Ill miss the shenendoahs for their beautiful views but I’m glad to be getting into less touristy areas once we leave.