Shenandoah National Park – Central District – Big Meadows
Time: 48 hours (camping + hike)
Length: Big Meadows hike is variable
Gear: your usual weekend gear
Difficulty Level: 1 paw
Scenery: 3 paws
Pack: You and your dog or a whole pack
This past weekend the OBH crew again headed west to the Shenandoah National Park for a weekend of camping at Big Meadows (mile 51.2).
Karma and I were able to leave a few hours ahead of Cannon and Katina who were stuck at their day jobs until the week’s official end. No matter, it gave Karma and I a chance to set up and open the wine before their arrival.
Karma has a broken toe and the vet’s instructions are to keep him resting – no agility class, no playing, no running, no hiking – so we altered our plan for the weekend and did not include our normal big, three-hour hike. Instead we mostly hung out at camp and had a delightful weekend.
We had stayed at the Big Meadows campground in July and again we scored one of the walk-up sites since we didn’t have a reservation. It seems it was a good thing I got there early because the campgrounds filled up. I also learned that you could leave a note for your friend on the message board at registration in case you have to communicate your campsite. (Not knowing this, I used the payphones to let Katina know where we were.)
When Katina and Cannon arrived, they set up their new, fabulous tent and then attention turned to dinner which was grilled chicken that had been marinating all day. Yum. We stayed up later than usual catching up while the dogs hung out (mostly) on their tie-outs.
The next morning we made breakfast burritos and hot chocolate as the weather definitely had a fall feeling to it. We then spent the morning telling stories and finally took the dogs to the Big Meadow after lunch. We could tell they were ready for their adventure!
The Big Meadow is actually on the east side of Skyline Drive or opposite the entrance to Big Meadows campgrounds. We loaded the dogs into my SUV and drove to the parking lot for the meadow only because of Karma’s toe. I imagine it would take about 15 minutes one-way to walk.
One at the meadow, it really is as the guidebook describes: there are multiple paths and you just wander until you are ready to go back. There are 134 acres of meadow and what struck me was how much the meadow changed throughout the walk. It was really beautiful in a really subtle way.
Because we had to do a more laid back weekend, Katina thought that we should make it a photo weekend and we did just that. We made a concerted effort to really notice everything around us –the monarch chrysalis hanging near the restrooms; the small moments with the dogs at camp; the variety of plants that inhabited the meadow.
After about 45 minutes we headed back to the car. Back at camp I iced Karma’s foot while Cannon snuggled up under a blanket as the day cooled off. Katina made an amazing Jambalaya and dessert was the classic s’mores with hot chocolate. Cannon elected to curl up in his warm car while Karma was thrilled with the fall-like air. Silly dogs.
In the morning we ate a leisurely breakfast and took our time breaking down camp, ever aware this may be our last overnight trip of the season.
