US East Coast 2018: O Shenandoah How I Love You

Shenandoah National Park spans almost 200,000 acres (or 800 square kilometres) of land, and it occupies much of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In our short visit of three days, we had fallen in love with this beautiful natural paradise, which is home to many beautiful animals and plants. Besides the Appalachian Trail (which was detailed in the previous post), we also got to enjoy a number of other experiences in the National Park.

Big Meadows

We first encountered Shenandoah as we enjoyed a picnic at the Big Meadows Campground, which is located just opposite Big Meadows. Apparently Big Meadows is home to the largest number of species of flora and fauna; some of which are not found anywhere else in the park!

We spend many moments wandering in the luscious wilderness wonderland, with both boys looking for creatures big and small.

The Big Meadows Campground was the location for another spectacular encounter. Gentle and docile, wild deer roam freely in the park, and we were blessed to spot a pair of the graceful creatures as we drove through the meadows close to twilight.

These graceful deer are just one of the 50 mammals that make their home in Shenandoah National Park.

It was a surreal experience to be up close and personal with these gentle meadow creatures.

And to complete the Shenandoah experience, we decided to end one of the evenings with a traditional National Park tradition - listening to a ranger talk as the sun went down. This was on bears - we learnt that even though bears may mate in the summer and an embryo develop as a result, the embryo stops growing for a couple of months, until the winter when it grows again. This allows the female bear (the sow) to give birth during the winter month and her cubs nurse while she returns to hibernation. The boys still remember the talk fondly, and will not hesitate to describe what to do if they happen to meet a bear in the wild!

Limberlost Trail

The Limberlost Trail is dubbed one of the Shenandoah Kids’ Trails, and the boys got to learn about interesting forest facts such as why the moss feels soft to the touch as compared to the lichen. They also got a kick smelling the different trees and learning the scent of each tree.

We were truly in awe at each aspect of nature; how the animals and plants have their own rhythms, and how when nature is allowed to flourish untouched by human activity, or allowed to thrive alongside humans, that it will sing its own tune of beauty and harmony.

Parting is such sweet sorrow; and we left Shenandoah National Park with sadness in our hearts, for we had become very fond of the place. It was really like the song O Shenandoah, which expresses a longing to return to the place.

The Previous Page - Of Resilience & Fortitude. Read here.
What's Next? Smithsonian. Read here.

From the Beginning - Start reading the record pages of our US East Coast Travel Adventure here.

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