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Sabotaged by Waze
When long-time blogging friend Judy let me know she’d be in Virginia for vacation, I jumped at the chance to meet her in Shenandoah National Park for a hike. A quick search informed me that it would take about two hours to make the drive so I planned accordingly. On the morning of our hike I pulled up Waze, typed in the address of the lodge where Judy was staying, and left 30 minutes early so I wouldn’t be rushed.
Less than ten minutes out from my destination Waze crashed and each time I tried typing the address back in, Waze said, “Something went wrong.” I stopped at a service station and a local informed me that Waze regularly sends people to that destination which has no roads up the mountain for completing the drive.
Frustrated, but not willing to give up on being outside on such a beautiful day, I opened Google Maps and learned that I was 59 minutes from Judy’s lodge and would have to backtrack several miles and get on Skyline Drive, a lovely road following the ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
By the time I pulled onto Skyline Drive at Thornton Gap, I was running so far behind that I didn’t want to stop for a picture of the Shenandoah National Park sign so I snapped this on my way out of the park.
The Meet Up
Judy and Mr. Judy were kind enough to wait for me after I texted to let them know my GPS dilemma and that I would be an hour late in arriving. The wonderful thing I’ve observed when meeting blogger friends in person for the first time is the ease with picking right up in conversation like old friends seeing each other again.
The obligatory photo, courtesy of Mr. Judy…
And from a distance because the tree was so cool…
A Beautiful Day for a Hike
At 64° and sunny, the weather was perfect for a hike. The fall foliage was nearing the end of its run along the higher elevation on top of the Blue Ridge Mountains as compared to the valley below. Even though many leaves had already fallen, some trees were still showing yellows and reds. Hogcamp Branch had a descent flow giving the waterfalls plenty of show.
The hike down was easy enough even though I fell once; however, the climb back out is a bit strenuous. If you’re not used to regular cardiovascular exercise, be prepared to take a few rest breaks.
Hike Overview
- • Location: Dark Hollow Falls, Shenandoah National Park, Stanley, Virginia
• Start/Finish: Dark Hollow Falls trailhead
• Course Type: Out-and-back
• Course Surface: Packed dirt and rocks
• Distance: 1.8 miles
• Time: Not available
• Average Pace: 30:31*
• Elevation Gain: 710 feet
• Elevation Range: 2,818 to 3,431 feet
• Start time: 12:43 PM
• Weather: 64° and sunny
• Course Map:
Elevation chart from the climb back up (reverse it for the first half of the hike) …
* The above average pace is a guesstimate. I had auto-pause engaged on my Garmin (affiliate link) which often pauses unnecessarily during hikes due to my slower hiking pace. This little blip resulted in only recording .48 mile on the descent. At the turnaround point of our hike, I turned auto-pause off for our climb out and recorded .91 mile.
Hiking Dark Hollow Falls
The following pictures were taken with my iPhone (affiliate link)…
Dark Hollow Falls trailhead…
The first and only fall of the hike happened when I didn’t stay on the dirt trail and took a shortcut across a slippery rock. My feet went flying out from under me and I landed on my behind bouncing down the rock until finally landing on my feet. Luckily, nothing was hurt but my pride and I had muddy shorts to remind me of my klutziness.
Green line represents the trail, red line was my shortcut…
First picture of the waterfalls after brushing myself off…
While focused on the waterfalls, Judy shared that her photographer husband taught her that sometimes great pictures are right behind you so always look around, not just at the point of interest. Looking downstream from the waterfalls…
Judy capturing the perfect picture…
Judy had previously given me some tips on how to shoot waterfalls with an iPhone and get the smooth water effect associated with a DSLR camera – simply shoot in Live mode and choose long exposure in the Live dropdown on the photo to get the slow shutter effect.
Original photo…
With long exposure…
Another waterfalls farther down the trail…
At the bottom of the trail before turning around for our climb back out…
Rocks and tree trunks/branches have been used to form steps on the steeper sections of the trail…
Skyline Drive
After our hike, I dropped Judy back at the lodge and headed home. I took my time and stopped at a few overlooks. Looking northwest toward the Shenandoah Valley…
Looking southeast toward Syria…
Marys Rock Tunnel at mile marker 32.2…
Heading off of Skyline Drive toward Luray…
Questions
- • Have you visited Shenandoah National Park?
- • Have you been to a national park recently? If so, which and which is your favorite?
- • On hikes which do you prefer, waterfalls or views for miles?
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Oh this is so beautiful!!! When I was in my 20s I took a driving trip up the Blue Ridge Parkway and can’t remember if we were in Shenandoah (we were heading from Florida up to New Jersey.) But that was a long time ago. To answer your question, it would be hard to choose between waterfalls and views for miles… I want them both!
You could have either continued on to Skyline Drive which would have put you in Shenandoah National Park or exited off of the Blue Ridge Parkway onto I-81. We’ve done both when coming home from visiting my mom.
Waterfalls versus views for miles is a hard choice, right?
Never been but now I want to.
That was a long drive but it looked worth it. And great weather too.
I love all your pix. And I use that feature often but then I forget to turn off Live Photo. Lol.
You would love hiking in Shenandoah National Park!
Same here, I prefer to shoot in non-live mode, and hate when I forget to turn it off (or accidentally turn it on).
Awh, what a fun meet-up and adventure for you two ladies 😉 I agree with what you said about blogger meet-ups…they feel more like a reunion than a first time get-together. Fabulous pics!
Thanks, Kim! And yes, a reunion is the perfect way to describe it.
I think you got better photos than me, LOL! Thanks again for sticking it out — I really am not sure I would have, but I was happy to wait for you. 🙂
We stopped at the tunnel on our way out, and silly me, I didn’t think to actually walk over to the other side to take a photo through the tunnel. D’oh!
I’m very glad you didn’t tweak your back. Someday I’d love to go back because we truly only scratched the surface. Why aren’t there more national parks in the east? Seriously?!
About the photos… You’re an excellent teacher? I’m a quick learner?
I had to walk past two guys and their truck to get that picture; otherwise, I might not have gotten a through-the-tunnel picture.
Me, too! That would have been a bummer to hurt myself on a hike.
That’s so frustrating about Waze, but glad that you were able to find the right location and meet up with Judy and Mr. Judy 🙂
Yes, so frustrating!
What beautiful photos and what a great NP to visit! Now that I know that tip for waterfall photos, I’ll have to go back to my Grand Tetons and Yellowstone photos to try the long exposure mode.
It’s always so much fun to meet other bloggers!
Awesome, let me know how your pictures turn out.
I love blogger meet-ups and am bummed it didn’t work out for us to meet back when my son and d-i-l lived in Chicago.
How wonderful, Debbie!! It was well worth the Waze incident.
You and Judy must have had a lot to talk about.
I love all your photos and thanks for the waterfall photo tip (and thanks, Judy!)
I guess you don’t come to this area often as it’s quite far from your home, right?
Yes, Judy and I had a fantastic time and chatted non-stop. It was definitely worth the Waze incident.
Sometimes when my husband and I are coming home from visiting my mom or attending a football game at our university, both on the other side of Virginia, we’ll take the Blue Ridge Parkway or Skyline Drive instead if the interstate highway traffic is heavy. It’s a little out of the way, but runs parallel to the interstate. It’s much more scenic and less frustrating than dealing with the interstate. We usually don’t stop and hike, just stop to check out some of the overlooks.
How wonderful to meet up with Judy! Beautiful pictures too. I rarely use the Live option on my phone. Love the tip about the greatest pictures are behind you. Will need to remember that one.
Yes, those were both great tips from Judy.
I love this blog on so many levels! First, that you went hiking with Judy (even with all the GPS drama, you persisted in getting to her); then the actual hike with some photography lessons on top! That waterfall photo with the long exposure looks like it belongs on a postcard.
PS: Sorry about that fall and glad only the ego was bruised a bit, and nothing else.
Thanks, Shathiso! We had a great time and I was thrilled to practice those photography tips!
I have been working like crazy on a big renovation on my home in Richmond and it has been weighing like crazy on my mind. I looked out at my dumpster rental this morning and realized I needed to get out of this space and into nature if I’m ever actually going to finish this thing. I’m definitely going to take the hour and a half trip up to Shenandoah National Park! Can’t wait to get out on some hikes this afternoon.
The weather this time of year is so great for hiking and the leaves should be turning pretty soon!