Hiking and Wineries, VA

We have been putting a lot of miles on the jeep as it is a pleasure to hike in Shenandoah NP but it is also a 45 min drive every day....just to the entrance station.  So worth it though:)  One day we headed to the south end of Skyline Drive in Shenandoah NP and turned right on to the north end of the Blue Ridge Pkwy to do the Humpback Rocks Trail there.

Turns out that Virginia wineries put out a great Cab Franc and Mike and I love a good Cab Franc;) so we have been checking out all the beautiful wineries and keeping our wine stash full! (Like we need an excuse)

Nice wines and beautiful venues at
the Virginia vineyards we have
visited....

Kindred Pointe Winery

Cave Ridge is a favorite, we have been there a couple of times

yes, this is
a winery also;)

always time to check out a covered bridge

beautiful construction

Oh, do not forget
breweries!!!!

we've done a few breweries as well

this winery had lavender
infused wine....it was
fun!  Too sweet for
me though

so new they still don't have a permanent sign

Ah, time for a hike

and more
interesting
shrooms

South River Falls

Drove south to the
Blue Ridge Pkwy to
do the
Humpback Rocks
Trail

it was a steep ascent......

to great views from Humpback Rocks

you can see people climbing up on the rocks for scale

so many diff kinds of shrooms!

yep, we really enjoy
checking out the
wineries

 Last weekend we enjoyed live music at Cave Ridge Vineyard and met Jessica and Jim from MA

A lovely afternoon

Shenandoah National Park, VA

We have been here at Endless Caverns for a week now with 3 weeks to go and have already been up to Shenandoah NP 3 times.  As it is beautiful and cooler, I expect we will be up there a lot more!  It is a bit of a drive, 50 minutes from here near New Market to the nearest gate.  Then you drive either north or south along the  105 mile stretch to get to the hikes you want to enjoy.

view point across a meadow

 We took the Limberlost Trail from the Henry F Byrd Visitor Center.  Probably the only easy trail in the park;)

saw 9 deer on this trail

 This is the Rose River Loop Hike.  Two small waterfalls with many smaller cascading ones along the river. Very scenic.  Takes you through the few remains of an old copper mine.

remains of copper mine

as we left the park that day this buck was happily munching away near the road

from a view point

This is the Marys Rock hike.  A 2.8 mile roundtrip to a awesome view.  This trail can easily be made longer as it connects  with the Appalachian Trail.  We made it a 4+ mile trail.

up we go! Look, shrooms on the right already!

yes, purple!!!!!!!!!

and what about these interesting shrooms?

Up on Marys Rock

looking down on the park entrance

lots of butterflies
and blooming
flora!

a great shroom day!