Loft Mountain Camping for Father's Day

Trips: 24
Nights: 78

When we pulled out of Richmond at 5 PM on Friday it was 98F. When we pulled into Loft Mountain campground in Shenandoah National Park 2 hours later it was 65F with 20 mph winds gusting to 35 mph+. The wind would not let up all weekend. The campground is about 3000 feet above sea level and that is good for about 9-12 degrees. Not sure where the 30 degree drop came from but I was not complaining.

On Saturday we did a 9-mile hike that took us past a bunch of waterfalls. We spent almost exactly 4 hours on the trail, then spent the afternoon lounging at the campground. After dinner we headed to a spot on the Appalachian trail about a 10 minute walk from the campground for sunset. A park ranger told me about the spot. Always chat with the park rangers, they are a wealth of info. Sunset was spectacular, as you can see below in the photos.

On Sunday we packed up and headed out about 9:30 AM, stopping at a trail head to do a 5.5 mile hike on the Appalachian trail to a mountain summit. On the trail we ran into a couple of guys with eastern European accents that asked if we had a map. They had apparently parked at a trail head and starting walking with the belief that they were doing a short circuit hike that would return them to the car. I explained to then that the AT ran 2000 miles from Georgia to Maine and their only option for returning to their car was to go back the way they had come. Later on we passed a couple that asked about the falls (Jones Run falls). I told then they were really pretty but if that was their destination they were going the wrong way. They had just missed the turn. The bears must love holiday weekends in the park, so many lost tourists.

That was a joke. Black bears don't eat people. They will steal your picnic basket though.

After the hike we proceeded to Blue Mountain Brewery, which it turns out has no RV friendly parking, despite being out in the mountains at a spot where probably 100s of RVs pass daily Spring through Fall. So we went to Midnight Brewing 10 minutes from home instead. Midnight makes one of favorite beers (Not My Job Brown Ale) but I thought the brewery was much father from home. Now that I know it's only 10 minutes from the house, I expect I'll be there on a regular basis.

We wrapped up Father's Day with dinner at our local Mexican Joint, where I had too many chips and a mango margarita.

I hope you (whoever you are that might be reading this) had a pleasant weekend celebrating your dad, being a dad, Juneteeth, or nothing at all.