I met Daryl at a secret undisclosed location this weekend to continue plotting the world domination we started several years ago. Not surprisingly, plotting world domination involves sitting around the campfire drinking beer. We also brought our oldest sons (in my case only son) to initiate them into the secret cabal. That initiation did not involve any beer for them though.
Saturday was a hike that took us by a bunch of waterfalls. It was 6.6 miles but the elevation gain of 1500 ft. added to the level of difficulty. Thousands of people visit the park every day. 98% of them never get more than 1/4 mile off the main road. Bad for them, but good for those of us willing to put in a little effort. We got to enjoy scenes like this in complete solitude.
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| From camping with Daryl |
Saturday evening we joined the NPS presentation at the ampitheater, where we were treated to this view.
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| From camping with Daryl |
The presentation was an interesting and informative history lesson on the forests in Shenandoah National park, all set around a Dr. Who theme, which we found hilarious. Apparently we were the only Dr. Who fans in attendance though. Interestingly, they seem to think to think the earth is millions of years old. Who knew?
Sunday we trekked north a bit to enjoy the vista from Stony Man Mountain. The drive there was an adventure. I had to stop the truck 3 different times to allow a doe, a family of wild turkey, and 4 or 5 ruffled grouse to cross the road. The hike was much less strenuous the the previous day, and we enjoyed views like this.
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| From camping with Daryl |
After the hike Daryl headed south to go home, and we headed North to Thornton Gap to head home. A running joke all weekend was that we wanted to see a bear. As I exited the park, turning left on Hwy 211, we saw a bear. It was standing on the side of the road, resting his paws on the guardrail.
Breck and I have decided that we need to get up to the mountains at least one more time this summer, even if all we can fit into the schedule is an overnight trip.
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The National Parks are without a doubt one of the best uses of my (and your) taxpaying dollars.
I’m jealous, and not because of the scenery.
I hear, Doc, that you get to go camping where there are real mtns!
The parks are wonderful, but having lived in a community adjacent to this one, it amazed me how fresh the hurt was that people were forced off their farms and homesteads in order to create the park. The portrayal of the self sufficient mountain folks as one dimensional illiterate and impoverished “hill billies” in order to justify giving them “a better life” — out of the way of park development — was quite a tragedy. Some more recent books and interpretations in visitors’ centers have begun to explore and reflect on the people who had to lose in order for others go gain a park. Breck would probably be fascinated with the stories. They and the Foxfire books (which he has no doubt already discovered) can combine to get you pretty fascinated.
And I miss the mountains!
How can they be truly initiated if there was no beer involved? Those old guys just won’t let go of the power!
Nance
http://www.nps.gov/shen/historyculture/index.htm
Interesting, Jeanne. The locals are still unhappy with Roosevelt? And the CCC? This link says 450 familes were relocated. Do you think that number is correct? How many of those families were employed by the CCC, I wonder? Maybe they had all left by then? Or refused to work for a Roosevelt program?
http://www.ohranger.com/shenandoah/history-shenandoah
That link mentions the native tribes that were killed or driven off earlier. Maybe they are still upset too?
Of course, this link also mentions how things were not going well for the half of the white population that had not already left by the Depression.
And it mentions absentee landowners and tenant farmers and corporations.
A lot of history there. Not all happy.
Nance
One of the visitor’s centers in the park does explore that a bit, Big Meadows maybe? That was last year’s trip. But it still takes a “few hundred were inconvenienced so that millions could benefit from the park” approach to the story. But it at least acknowledges that it wasn’t done in the best interests of the locals.
The Ranger mentioned in her talk on Saturday night that not all of the folks who were moved out were happy with the prospect.
One of the Walton’s episodes dealt with kinfolk getting kicked off the land. I think John Boy was shot. In retrospect though, parks make dwindling resources available to more people. Had the park not been formed, it probably would have been logged and stripped mined by 1950, and Daryl and Chris would have had to come visit me instead.
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