Skyline Drive

Skyline Drive runs along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park (in Virginia).  Mom and I entered the park at the North Entrance (from Front Royal) and exited via Route 33 towards Harrisonburg. We covered 65.5 miles of the 105-mile scenic roadway. It was an incredible drive, aptly named, as it seems as if you are driving along the sky, looking down at the mountains. Pictures can't do it justice. I want to return in a few weeks to see the park in peak fall colors. The leaves were only starting to change at the higher elevations of the park.

Established 1935

Jewell Hollow 

Crescent Rock Overlook

Blue Ridge Mountains

Rocky overlook

Mom enjoying the park

Established in 1935, Shenandoah National Park encompasses over 200,000 acres. It is mostly forested and has over 60 mountain peaks that rise above 3,000 feet. In Scotland, they would be called Munros. Elevation ranges from 535 feet near the North Entrance of the park, to 4,051 feet at Hawksbill Mountain. The park features 75 scenic overlooks. Mom probably thought I stopped at all of them. While there is much to explore deeper into the park, the scenic drive is something everyone can enjoy, including Mom.

Buck Hollow Overlook

Nature's Masterpiece

Pinnacles

73 scenic overlooks

The Point

Shenandoah National Park is known for its wildlife. It is home to more than 50 mammal species, including hundreds of black bears. Bird species number about 200, and there are many species of reptiles, amphibians, and fish that inhabit the park. I saw deer grazing alongside the road twice. There were a couple of turkeys that insisted on loitering in the middle of the road. One of the dead trees at one of the overlooks looked like a pig. Does that count? I'm sure you need to explore deeper into the park to see much wildlife, though random spottings do occur.

Wildlife in the visitor's center

The Pig

Crescent Rock Overlook

Franklin Cliffs

Grandeur

Tree covered

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) played a foundational role in building the physical infrastructure of Shenandoah National Park (1933-1942). Over 6,500 young men lived in 10 to 12 CCC camps across the park. They constructed the famous 105-mile Skyline drive, built the stone walls and overlooks, and planted over 100,000 trees and shrubs. There wouldn't be a park without the CCC. The CCC was part of FDR's "New Deal" to provide jobs to unemployed young men during the Depression.

About the CCC camps

If the walls could talk

The Iron Mike stature honors the young men in the CCC.

600 million year old rocks

Hammonds Rocks is located in Michaux State Forest on South Mountain (in Pennsylvania). The drive was a little over an hour. The last ~3 miles were on a forest (gravel) road. Ty and I spent the afternoon there. We didn't get to hike, since the parking area was so close to the rocks, but it was fun to meander around the rocks and take pictures. Ty found many places to pee. We were there about 45 minutes, had the place to ourselves. No need to scratch anyone from the photos. I'd like to go back when the leaves have changed colors; they were just starting to.

Ridge Road (forest road)

Interpretive signs

Parking area

My companion

According to AI "Hammonds Rocks formed a very long time ago when sand and small pebbles on an ancient beach were crushed and hardened into solid stone. Over millions of years, earth movements pushed these rocks up, and weather washed away the surrounding dirt to leave the giant boulders we see today."

Leaves just starting to change color

One of the taller rock formations

All the rocks

Overlook

Crevice

Ty, the explorer

Puffball (L) and bracket fungi

Overview of Hammonds Rocks

There is no human history, including Native American, tied to Hammonds Rocks. Even the origin of the name is unknown, though Hammond was probably a local landowner or tradesman. The area was known for iron works and timber.

Not sure what this one looks like

Rocky path

Gigantic boulders

Rocks up close

So big

Green moss

Colorful trees along Ridge Road

Third Winchester Battlefield

Mom and I have been visiting Civil War Battlefields of late. I was looking for another one, not too far away. It needed to have a visitor's center. I googled. The Third Winchester Battlefield came up. It was less than an hour away, so we went. The relatively new visitor's center was very nice, quite accommodating for a wheel chair. There was a diorama of the battle and several movies. We learned a lot, as we always do.

Winchester Battlefield Visitor Center

Winchester was the most contested town in the American Civil War, changing hands dozens of times and serving as the site of three major battles, along with other nearby engagements. The first (May 25, 1862) and second battles (June 13-15, 1863) were won by the Confederates (Jackson and Ewell, respectively). The third battle (September 19, 1964) was won by the Union and was part of Sherman's successful campaign against Jubal Early. 

Replica cannon

Sketch showing the anguish of war

The Third Winchester was one of the largest, bloodiest, and most important battles in the Shenandoah Valley. Two Confederate generals were killed and four were wounded. Participants in the battle included George Armstrong Custer, two future presidents, a former vice president, and the grandfather  (KIA) of General George S. Patton. Thomas Laws was an enslaved man who delivered secret messages between Sherman and a Unionist civilian. He is honored at the battlefield for his courage.

Well-known participants in Winchester battles.

Statue honoring Thomas Laws

Mom learning about the Third Winchester

In 2020, they decided to remove Confederate statues from Richmond's Capitol Square (finally). Two of the last to leave were Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire and Governor William “Extra Billy” Smith. Both were recently relocated to the Winchester Battlefield. In fact, all of the Richmond statues have been given to the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation. Instead of using taxpayer dollars to erect them on national battlefields, I think they should have been given to their families to do with what they want.

Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire

William “Extra Billy” Smith

Dr. McGuire was a surgeon in the Confederate Army attached to Stonewall Jackson's command. I read about him. While he did some good things (medically), he was a life-long white supremacist and perpetrator of the "Lost Cause" myth. Smith was a Major General in the Confederate Army, the oldest to serve in the field. This guy was pretty damned racist, too. Neither should be celebrated publicly. 

Two locks

It was a picture-perfect, early fall day. Ty and I went to Dam 5 of the C&O Canal for a hike (walk). Dam 5 is currently under construction and was fenced off. There was a detour around the lockhouse, to get to the towpath. We headed in the direction of Locks 45 and 46. We walked farther than we had before, past the cliff. After awhile, the path opened up to Lock 46 and Lockhouse 46. There was also construction at Lock 46. The lockhouse was boarded up. While it appears well-preserved, it's not one you can stay at. 

Two Locks

Detour at Dam 5 Lockhouse 45 (such vivid colors!)

Blue waters of the Potomac

My hiking buddy Ty

Cliff ledge

Member of the Aster family

Lock 45

Steep limestone cliffs

Locks 45 and 46 were collectively known as "Two Locks." The pair is situated in an area where steep limestone cliffs along the Potomac River made digging a canal channel nearly impossible and definitely too expensive. Instead engineers used Dam 5 to back up the Potomac River and create a calm channel (called the slackwater) where the boats could safety travel. Lock 46 served as a transition point where mules switched from the river towpath back onto the canal towpath. There are structural remains of the historic mule bridge at Lock 46.

Lockhouse 46

Arched culvert at Lock 46

Lock 46

A scenic path along the cliffs

Honeysuckle (invasive) berries

Danger Dam!

Ty hanging out at Lock 46

Shelf fungi growing on a dead log

Gray rock -- no more graffiti

Dead logs

Peace

River access for Ty