Stories

Day six at Shenandoah National Park was a family hike day which included my in-laws. Our itinerary included Dark Hallow Falls, a picnic lunch at Big Meadows and summit of Hawksbill Mountain. My mother-in-law was very excited for the waterfall, it was one of her must dos for the trip. Dark Hallow Falls is a

Old Rag Mountain is one of the most popular trails at Shenandoah National Park. It is also cited as the most dangerous with the highest number of search and rescue missions per year. Although Old Rag is a serious mountain, I think its danger is misleading. Based on some of the people we saw climbing the

We picked our lodging location specifically to be on the Shenandoah River mostly for swimming and fishing, but after doing our research one of the major activities is tubing. Our house was situated on the South Fork of the River. This section is a popular paddling and floating section. The South Fork offers 20 put-in and

Day 3 of our Shenandoah NP vacation’s highlight was the Luray Caverns. The caverns were impressive, but you can only spend a couple of hours there. We went to the caverns first thing in the morning and had the rest of the day. Me being me, I could not waste this opportunity to get in

One of the biggest tourist attractions in the area is the Luray Caverns. People come from far and wide to see the caverns, as evidenced the tour buses and large parking lots. The weather was predicted to be rainy, so the caverns provided an “inside” activity. The caverns open at 9am and we arrived a few

Day 2 at the park was designed to get a lay of the land, understand how busy the park is and baseline the trail ratings.  I did not want to overdue any individual hike, overload a particular day or worse ruin the week. We entered the park at the Thornton Gap Entrance. We were greeted

Two years ago, my wife came to me asking if we can visit all of the National Parks.  Seeing as there are 59 parks and most are out west, I did not think it was in the cards for us.  However, I wanted to indulge the idea. Why not, I love the outdoors and epic

Allegany State Park (ASP) is New York’s largest state park. It offers many activities from hiking, biking, fishing and paddling. It is a popular summer destination for families with 144 cabins and 130 campsites. There are two major areas to the park,  the Red House area and the Quaker area, each with a lake and

By: Justin Devendorf Living in Albany, NY provides one with the ability to be strategically located within driving distance of several distinct mountain ranges. Driving south on the New York State Thruway one could hike in the Catskills, driving east are the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts and to the north lies the Adirondack State Park.

By: Justin Devendorf I have been fortunate to have been able to visit California several times over the past few years. I always fly into Sacramento and stay with close friends, including my friend Ben. I’ve also been blessed to have been able to experience some of the natural beauty that California has to offer,