Skyline Ranch Resort & Hiking With Phil

Heading out of Maryland into Virginia, Oct 28, to Skyline Ranch Resort, Front Royal, VA. Some may know Front Royal as the town in which you can pick up the Skyline Drive, part of the Shenandoah National Park. Interesting tidbit, Front Royal is the only incorporated town in Warren County, Va., as such it is also the county seat, founded in 1788. Quaint old town gone commercial.

Skyline Ranch Resort is one of those that make me shake my head over the use of Resort, come on folks it's a campground. Granted one with several amenities but still it's an older well used campground. Speaking of amenities I have a bit of a problem with places advertising amenities and then not have it available or all but unusable. Case in point, one of the big draws at Skyline is the offering of Horseback Trail Rides right there on the premises. Ummm, except for when it's not available like the whole week we were there. The horses were there but the person who leads the rides works on her own schedule and is there well, whenever she feels like turning up, I guess. That was a big disappointment for me. The pool not being available, okay that I understand it is the end of October. They did have other offering but most of the areas were pretty run down. The miniature golf course hadn't been re-carpeted in much to long, the horseshoe pits were not tended to and there were only 5 shoes and 4 lanes. Fortunately, we were the only ones playing so it worked out okay.

All in all though it was a decent place that just needs some TLC. The staff were all friendly, the bathhouses clean with hot water, had a gym, laundry, arcade room, farm animals (goats, pigs, alpacas, horses and a donkey), even a darling little Chapel. There was a cafe on premises were the food was decent and inexpensive but only drawback was because it was off season had a very limited menu. (actually the menu was extensive but little was available.) And it was cold, well, I guess that's not the campground's fault, LOL

We had the pleasure of Phil's company for several days. Drove out to Skyline Drive with the hope of getting in some hiking. Did we pick a bad day for that. We knew it was going to be cloudy with the possibility of a bit of rain but did not expect it to be so foggy one could hardly see the road in front of us. Just a wee bit on the scary side with all those curves! 

We did manage to get about a ¼ mile on the A.T. before it started to rain. I think I must hold the record for one of the shortest section hikers, LOL. 

Check out those clouds!

Anthodites

We got off the drive at the first available place and was going to call it a day when we came upon Skyline Caverns. Huh, okay, why not. Went in and was so glad we did. Being a very slow day we got a personal tour of the caverns. The guide was very informative with a great sense of humor. The caverns were fascinating and home to beautiful white crystal formations called Anthodites. Skyline Caverns being one of the few commercial caverns in the US to have them and claims to have the longest “flower.” That was cool to see.

We went out again the next day to the Shenandoah River State Park. This time we got a good hike in despite a shower or two. Beautiful views of the mountains and the Shenandoah River and the park had a really nice nature center. If you're in that area you should check it out. 

Friday came to soon and Phil had to leave. Can only hope he can get out to us where ever we are again in the future.

Quiet weekend with walks, talks and hanging out. Monday came and was time to hit the road. On to Fairy Stone State Park, Stuart, Va.

Good Night All

Til Then, Safe Travels!

Didn't stop this time but did pass through

More of that great fog!

Cool Fungi

Cunningham Falls State Park

  Headed out of PA on October 24, Cunningham Falls State Park, Thurmont, Maryland being our destination. Cunningham Falls is located in the Cotoctin Mountains and home to the largest cascading waterfall in Maryland.. I again have to gush over the beauty of the trees on our route, This has been a spectacular Autumn in my view. 

On our way we stopped off at Catoctin Mountain Orchards Farm Market and what goodies we did find. A luscious light apple cider made from Honey Crisp Apples; Elk, Cheddar, Burgundy Sausage, oh was that good and went perfect with the Beer Cheddar Cheese we picked up; Pumpkin Butter; Golden Cauliflower, several homemade goodies, tasty plums and crisp local apples. Oh My!!

Our yummy finds at the Farm Market

Heading up the mountain to our campsite was a bit white knuckling, up, up, up with lots of curving roadway. Finally, made it, Phew, yeah we have to go back down come Monday! Oh Boy. The William Houck Area Campground was well-maintained typical state park, lots of trees with well spaced sites. The sites in our section have electric but no individual water hookups. Fortunately for us, the spigot was reachable by our hose making it easy to fill our fresh water tank when needed. The park has several sections, some more primitive, none with full hookups. Clean tiled bathhouse with lots of hot water, yeah I like that. The camp-hosts Hugh and Susan were a great couple and made a point of greeting each new arrival, helping where ever needed. The during the high season the park is host to many activities and nature talks, has a large lake for swimming, fishing, just plain enjoying; as well as a campstore.

There is another campground just down the road, The Manor Area, that has an aviary and is home to the historic Catoctin Iron Furnace. We didn't get to either of those on this trip, perhaps next time. 

We did get in some great mountain hiking, oh it felt so good to be out there. The trail to the Falls was rocky with both ankle twisters and giant outcrops. While we enjoyed to view of the falls, we understand that to see it in the Spring after the winter thaw can be breathtaking.

From there we hiked over to the lake and just sat to take in the beauty.

 Down the road to the Cactoctin Trail brought us back up the mountain and to our campsite for a muscle building, spirit filling day, then a well deserved rest!  

While hiking up to the higher campground section one day, we were gifted with the close up flight of a Red Tailed Hawk, couldn't have been but 10 - 15 feet away and would drop into the trees awaiting us getting closer just to take flight again. Did this several times before we couldn't follow further. 

I'll just fill the rest of this post with some photos of the beautiful scenery but believe me the camera does not do it justice.

Next stop into Virginia.

A Beautiful Disappointment

We left New York, October 22, for a quick two night stay in Hickory Run State Park, White Haven, PA. Once again the ride was scenic, the mountains of trees all in Autumnal beauty. The weather not so nice as we hit many pockets of rain showers, to take a break we decided to get off the road for a short spell and grab a bit to eat. We usually just pull into a rest area and make a sandwich, eating either in the RV or if possible outside. This time we found a restaurant and treated ourselves to lunch.

  Once we got to the campground we found a lot of construction going on. Now, mind you, we knew going in, the upper areas were closed and there would be limited amenities due to the building of a new Visitor Center. What we didn't know was there were to be no amenities and very limited facilities. Fortunately we are self-contained and did have electric and water hookups. Bathhouses were closed; dump stations, closed; three quarters of the park, closed. The only thing open was the section of campground we were in, which held maybe 15 – 25 RV sites, several tenting sites and 4 cabins. There were pit toilets in our section and that was it!      Fortunately, it was only a two night stay and the surroundings were beautiful. We wouldn't have minded as much if we knew just how much was to be closed ahead of time. Well if this is the worst we deal we are still so ahead of the game! C'est LeVie.

  We did manage to get in several nice walks through a very quiet, might I say deserted, state park. I think even all the animals left LOL Peaceful, definitely. There were about 8 other RVs there but didn't see many of the occupants out and about, I have a feeling several of them were part of the construction crew. We did meet an amateur astronomer there to take photos of the dark sky. His new hobby since retiring, that was interesting.

Not much else to say except this is all part of the adventure and they can't all be winners. I will add that I'd like to come back when all the construction is done as it is a beautiful park and would love to explore it more.

Onward to Cunningham Falls State Park in Maryland.

So no decided to do this another day!