A quick 2hr drive from DC, getting to Shenandoah was a breeze – I can see how it would be an excellent weekend trip from the city were we to live in the capitol. The park itself is essentially a 70 mile road through the Appalachian mountains, spanning the entire western border of Virginia with stunning views of the lowland on either side.

The park is a great summary of all that makes Appalachia beautiful in the winter – wonderful trails, temperate climate and not a soul for miles… We wandered through quite a few areas, including a 2mi stretch of the Appalachia trail, but one of the most interesting aspects of the park was the hike down to Herbert Hoover’s summer home.

Apparently the contemporary governor of Virginia (Harry Byrd) really wanted Shenandoah to be a National Park, so once Hoover was elected, Byrd basically begged Hoover to establish a summer home in the park. Once Hoover was scheduled to visit, Byrd went so hard with the show-and-tell that they even seeded trout in a previously non-existent creek just so Hoover could fish here… Fun stuff!

The historical aspect of this camp was actually very interesting – it was interesting to see how philanthropic the Hoovers were and how much they cared about making sure that the wealth they built personally was applied to making people’s lives better… until he took office. A staunch anti-welfare President, his extreme aversion against government programs to stymie the worst effects of the Great Depression led him to leave office as one of the most hated Presidents of all time. Hindsight is 20-20 I guess.

We wrapped up Shenandoah pretty quickly though, as Rachel was quite ready to see the fur baby down in South Carolina – of course, not before we enjoyed a few nicely skunked beers from Cincinnati at our last camp dinner for a while!