A Cool Shenandoah Welcome

October 29th

Anyone who knows me is aware that I believe in plain speaking and suffer fools with little patience. Anyone from my side of the 49th parallel who paid attention at all in civics class will remember that the US Constitution makes it a federal state with all powers not granted to the states reserved by the Federal Government and that in Canada the opposite is true, all powers not granted to Ottawa devolving to the provinces. So much for theory for in practise the opposite happens on both sides of the border. Why do I mention this, because this parochial approach to all matters extends to tourist bureaus? Were I to go into any major tourist information centre in Canada I would expect to find guides and maps for all ten provinces and even some of the northern territories. Indeed tourist associations exchange brochures as a matter of course. Imagine my surprise then when I innocently walked into the West Virginia Welcome Centre and asked about the Blue Ridge Parkway and Shenandoah Park and was informed, "That's in Virginia, you'll have to go into the centre 20 miles down the road." I also find it instructive that although they are extensions of the same mountain ridge the Skyline Dr is treated in Shenandoah National Park as a separate entity from the Blue Ridge Parkway with which it is contiguous. So far none of the park stores or info centres has offered a single bit of information on the Blue Ridge Parkway though to my eyes they comprise a single trail.

October 30th

Ran out of time before I finished the above entry. I'd just spent the coldest night yet at Big Meadows Campground, elev. 3535 ft, among the Oak Savannah. Unfortunately for the second day in a row nature seemed determined to attempt to blow all intruders off the mountain and that wind was cold. Got a few pictures, some from the window of my RV but otherwise continued a slow but relentless path to the south end of the park. I'd settled on Misty Mountain Campground near Greenville and received a warm welcome. After I'd finished setting up and catching up online I even went to take advantage of the showers in their bunkhouse. Spent a quiet if cool evening. The next morning made the climb back up to the Parkway and headed south on the Blue Ridge.

On the Blue Ridge Parkway there are subtle differences. Like the farm I passed on the way to the picnic area where I'm writing this entry. They seem to call every pull-off an overlook even if it doesn't afford a vista overlooking anything.

I'll now wax philosophical. I have the distinct feeling that we owe the existence of this parkway to the fact that the land was occupied by hillbillies who lacked the financial resources or connections to mount opposition to the expropriation of their lands. Had the land been owned by the wealthy and powerful the result may have been entirely different. By contrast in Ontario we seem to have to fight for every square inch of protected land against developers, the wealthy, the lumbering and mining interests, and hunters.

The last entry was made at the junction of the Otter Creek and the James River elev 670 ft. In the last 10 miles I've gained nearly 3000 ft and the temperature has dropped 10 degrees from the 55 it was in the valley. Had that been an appropriate point in my journey it would have been preferable to camp at that lower elevation. As it is I'm headed for Roanoke at the campground there. Shall I say that fuel economy is not the objective of this trip.

At a certain point in one's day finding the next campsite becomes a priority and I'd planned to stay on the ridge tonight at Roanoke Mountain Campground. It proved to be further down ther road than I'd expected at milepost 120 along a roadway into the woods. The city of Roanoke gets right up to within feet of the Parkway at this point. When I arrived at last discovered that I needed exact change and I didn't have a 10 spot. So began the hunt to break a 20. Found a group of parents/teachers from Roanoke Catholic High School out with a cross country team training in the park and I'm forever grateful to one of the adults for supplying the change. Now I'm settled in with a beer and catching up as well as I can without Wi-Fi.

I wouldn't want to be here when the place is busy. Some of the sites are nothing but a pull off from the roadway through the campground with a campfire ring and picnic table under or up the hill.

I just finished downloading the pictures I took today and on one of the last overlooks I stopped at a kettle of Turkey Vultures were soaring looking for carrion. When I've more time and an internet connection I'll add some pictures.