Shenandoah 2023

March 16-19, 2023

We travelled to Virginia's Shenandoah River State Park, arriving in the early evening. The drive took longer than we expected because we took a few wrong turns and we had to find an alternate route that did not have tunnels that prohibit propane tanks.

On this trip, we decided to keep our bed out the whole trip which works best when you can use the outside for eating/living. The bathrooms and showers at the campground were very clean. We did not hook up water because the nights were too cold and we couldn’t dewinterize, which was a bit disappointing, but ultimately worked out okay.

The weather was warm enough on the first two days allowing us to bike the River Trail to Cullers Trail and then over to Bluebell Trail. We also hiked the Campground Trail to the Overlook Trail to the Visitor’s Center;  the Bluebell Trail which is a very pretty; and the River Trail to Cullers Trail, to Big Oak Loop, to Redtail Ridge Trail, to Tulip Poplar Trail, back to Cullers Trail. There were lots of really nice views. We saw two deer in the woods. Thankfully we did not see any bears, although they told us at the Visitor’s Center that someone spotted a bear earlier that week.

The last day of the trip was very cold (35 degrees felt like 15). Washing the dishes outside was challenging because it was so cold that the water on the dishes froze immediately. We drove over to the Skyline Caverns and then drove into Shenandoah National Park along the Skyline Drive to Dickey Ridge Visitor Center. It was super cold and windy so we didn’t stay long. We did see a bald eagle flying as we were driving. The drive home went smoother than on the way as we used RV Life GPS which avoided tunnels, and we only hit minimal traffic.