Occoneechee State Park

On St. Patty's Day weekend, hubby and I went camping with some dear friends of our who we hadn't seen in over a year. They are located over on the North Carolina coast, and since we are just outside of D.C., we wanted to find a place to go camping that was in between the both of us. Four hours away from both of us was Occoneechee State Park in Southern Virginia. This park is located near the John H. Kerr Reservoir, and the campsite we reserved was right near the water. I have to say, this was one of the nicest state parks I've visited. The facilities include a bath house with showers that were always clean. And the campsites themselves were very well maintained and had a picnic table and a fire ring. Some pictures from are weekend are below.

The bath house.

View of the reservoir from our campsite.

View of our campsite.

Flowers near our campsite.

They have several short trails that you combine together to hike the distance that you want.

The park is named for the Native Americans that once lived in the area.

There also used to be a plantation on the property. Unfortunately, it's not there anymore due to a fire.

Overall, we had a great time. A lot of people camping also had their boats with them so they could go fishing in the lake. We saw a wonderful variety of birds, including some beautiful eastern bluebirds, red-headed woodpeckers, and tufted titmice. This is a great state park, and I highly suggest you go if you get the chance. You can reserve camping sites online, but if tents aren't your thing, you can rent a cabin.

Dog Owners Vs. The Parks

I recently read this article on NPR  http://www.npr.org/2012/02/25/147349447/whos-a-park-for-dog-owners-fight-park-service?sc=fb&cc=fp. The gist of the article, dog owners are upset that they are having to leash their pets at the Rancho Corral de Tierra, a new addition to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Also, they are nervous after an incident where someone walking their dogs off leash got tasered. It should be noted that this individual did not stop when the ranger tried to give them a ticket and then proceeded to give the officer a false name. Anyway, rangers are trying to save an endangered plant in this area, and don't want the potential of them being trampled on by a dog.

So, what do you think about all of this? Here are my two cents. While dogs are beloved companions, we have to respectful of the fact that these parks are trying to preserve natural wildlife areas. Many parks do have dog friendly areas, and so owners can be mindful of that and take their furry friends there. I live right near Rock Creek Park where dogs are supposed to be leashed, but they usually never are. I'm greeted by many a puppy on my weekend hikes. Often, their owners are not far behind, however, there have been instances where the owner was nowhere in sight. Some people are not comfortable around dogs, so I would hope that as an owner, you would be nearby in that case.

And while I love dogs, they can sometimes do horrible things. I won't recount the full story, but a lady walking her dog in our neighborhood lost control of her two large dogs and they cornered and injured our neighbors cat so badly it had to be put down. This sort of thing would happen in a wildlife area where protected wildlife could be injured instead.

So, let's remember, National Parks are for both dog owners and non-dog owners. The parks try to make accommodations for dog owners by providing areas where dogs can be taken along. I would hope dog owners would apply the same respect and understanding as to why some areas are just off limits to dogs, or ask that dogs be leashed.

In memorial: Margaret Anderson

On New Year's Day, park ranger Margaret Anderson was shot and killed doing her job in Mount Rainier National Park. A vehicle sped past a check point where rangers were stopping cars to make sure they had chains on their tires. Ranger Anderson had set up a road block to stop the vehicle, however, the suspect stepped out of the vehicle and opened fire on Anderson, fatally wounding her.

Anderson had served the National Park Service and our nation for four years. She is survived by her husband, a fellow park ranger, and two young daughters.

The person of interest in this case, Benjamin Colton Barnes, is still at large, resulting in the park being shut down.

Many people forget that there are park rangers trained for law enforcement and risk their lives daily so that you can enjoy the parks. Please keep this in mind the next time you are enjoying one of our nation's treasured outdoor places.

Remembering Pearl Harbor

Today is the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. For this generation today, September 11 is the day we know as our country being attacked. However, for our grandparents, December 7 was this day. The National Park Service as a site dedicated to remembering this date at Pearl Harbor, the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. You can also visit the resting place of the U.S.S. Arizona.

As a result of Pearl Harbor, the United States launched a campaign for control in the Pacific. A second National Park site, the War in the Pacific National Historical Park, in Guam commemorates these efforts.

Lastly, the National Park service has pictures form the attack on Pearl Harbor that you can look at. It's hard to imagine the destruction witnessed that day, but these images help show you what happened on December 7, 1941.
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/npswapa/gallery/album13.htm

Hunt Responsibly Near National Parks

Growing up in the south, I grew up with a dad who was gone almost every weekend during deer hunting season. Once I was old enough to wield a gun, I went into the woods with him and killed a few deer myself. I remember my dad being a very responsible hunter, making sure deer were large enough to be taken or not killing a male since he would help with the breeding population. So, it absolutely kills me when I hear of hunters being irresponsible. A hunter was recently charged for killing a bison within Grand Teton National Park boundaries. The hunter was cooperative with rangers and lead them to the location where he killed the bison. Though there are no lines drawn on the ground showing the boundaries of the park, it is the hunter's responsibility to know where he is based on GPS coordinates.

I think this really bugs me because of the long journey bison have faced as far as getting their numbers back up. There used to be millions of bison who roamed the plains of western America, up to Canada and down to Mexico. When settlers started moving west, the bison were slaughtered pretty relentlessly, to the point of near extinction. And this slaughter mostly happened for their skins, with the rest of the bison left to rot. This is depicted in the movie Dances With Wolves. Today, approximately 30,000 bison still roam freely on the range. Another 500,000 are actually captive bred for commercial purposes. 

These animals are some of my favorite to see in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. One actually lounged around our campsite when we visited Yellowstone a few years back, and one took the time to block the roadway while we were driving in the park on the same trip. If you ever have the chance to see them, you should definitely do it. It really is quite something to see a field full of them. I don't care if you think I'm sort of liberal conservationist, I think it would really suck if I can't show my kids these awesome creatures one day. 

If you want to read the story about this (click here). Below I have pics I have taken of these amazing creatures on my trip to Yellowstone.

A herd of bison

Our bison friend who blocked the road.

Bison lounging at our campsite

Shenandoah National Park-Old Rag Mountain

Hubby and I had a big camping weekend planned. We left work early Friday (but not as early as we had hoped) and headed out towards Shenandoah National Park. It's fall over here, and the color was peaking in the park. The closer and closer we got to the park, the more beautiful the leaves became. We entered at the Thornton Gap Entrance Station and where they had posted that two campgrounds still had sites available, Matthew's Arm, and Loft Mountain, about 50 miles away. We decided to drive to Matthew's Arm, since we had stayed there once before. But, alas, by the time we got there there were no sites left :(  We didn't have the patience to drive 50+ miles on Skyline Drive, which has a speed limit of about 45 miles per hours. We were disappointed, but didn't want it to ruin our weekend. We decided to head north to Front Royal and get a hotel room for the night. As we drove, I snapped a few pictures along the way. Those pics are below. It was also close to dusk, saw we saw quite a few deer, and a black bear and two cubs.

The hubby and I got up the next morning and decided to head to Old Rag Mountain, a popular hiking destination (more popular than we would have thought, but more on that later). Before we headed to the trailhead, we stopped by the visitor's center briefly. There were these amazing trees with fall colors.

We stopped at a few overlooks on our way through the park to see the fall colors.

We finally made our way to the Old Rag parking area around 10 am, and it was packed!!! The lady who lived on the farm next to the area had opened up one of her fields and was charging $10 a car to park there. Luckily, we got a spot where we didn't have to pay. The hubby and I were in disbelief as to the number of people there. We knew this was not going to be a quiet, secluded hike.

We headed up the Weakly Hollow Trail towards the summit of Old Rag

Looking into the surrounding forest

Most of the trees had golden fall colors

Lots of neat large boulders

Pretty red leaves

Only a few trees had red and orange leaves

I think these leaves were my favorite. I love the pink/orange.

Going along the trail

Leaves in the process of changing color

Flowers growing on a boulder

Loved all the lichen that was covering this boulder

Hubby taking a short rest

Looking down into a valley filled with yellow leaved trees

Loved the amazing views

My hubby :)

And me

So, this is the part of the trail where it started to get crowded. As you get closer towards the summit, there are more boulders to scramble over, under, and in between.  In some spots there is only room for one person at a time. Multiply that situation by the 100+ people on the trail, and you get a back up. A major back up. We seriously had to wait in line for at least an hour to reach the summit. Never in my life have I had to wait to hike a trail!! I guess that is what we get for going when it is peak color in the park.

It's hard to see, but there are people on those boulders

The views made the waiting in line worth it

Finally, the summit!!

The hike after the summit winds back down the mountain to a nice long trek on a fire road, which is needed after the strenuous hike up.

Walking on the fire road

Stream that runs near the fire road

Another colorful red tree

Besides a crow, this is the only other animal we saw all day

So, let me warn you, this is an 8.8 mile strenuous hike. There were several people on the trail who looked completely unprepared for the endeavor they undertook. This is a very popular trail in the park, so don't expect to be alone on your hike. Also, as it gets closer to winter, ice and snow can form at the higher elevations, making this hike dangerous, so be prepared. If you want more information on Old Rag, the National Park Service has a couple of pages dedicated to it, including a safety video (click here and here). Prepare to do this hike early. It took hubby and I five and half hours to hike the sucker, with wait time. If you are interested in finding out more about Shenandoah National Park, you can get to it from the Old Rag sites, or you can click here. It's great park to visit, and I'm fortunate to have it only a couple of hours away.