Camping at Loft Mountain in Shenandoah National Park for our Anniversary

Trip:46
Nights: 154-155

Several weeks ago I asked my wife what she wanted to do for our anniversary. She answered with "go camping." If you had predicted that conversation 5 years ago I would have taken it to mean something terrible happened and I was married to somebody else 5 years in the future.

Anyway, it's been 33 years and she still is not tired of my shit. So I got that going for me.

Loft Mountain is a quick 2:15 drive from home. It's the southern most campground in Shenandoah National Park. The south end of the Park is the least developed section of the park. Other than the camp store, and a wayside with a snack bar and gift shop just outside the campground, there isn't anything but wilderness between the two most southern entrances to the park.

We got in Friday after work, and after setting up camp we had the classic camping meal of hot dogs for dinner. Then that evening we did the campfire and chill thing before heading in to the camper for Gin Rummy and Yahtzee. Do I know how to treat a girl or what?

On Saturday we did a short 3.2 mile hike to check out the Doyle River Falls. There has been a lot of rain the last couple of weeks so they were flowing nicely. The hike is 1.6 miles down then 1.6 miles back up, with a total elevation gain of 1000 feet. So not a challenging hike at all, but it wiped us both out. We both had our 3rd round of COVID a couple of weeks ago, so I guess that was the issue. Anyway, it was a beautiful 75F day so back at the campground I settled into a chair to read/nap. I accomplished both before a passing thunderstorm chased us into the camper, where I both napped and read again. I managed to finish my book, Treasure Island, before dinner.

That night we were too tired to mess around with a campfire, so it was more Gin Rummy and Yahtzee before going to bed rather early. You may think this sounds like a boring anniversary weekend, but really, it was kind of perfect.