I left home in the early afternoon on Friday, October 18, headed for my gig at DuCard Vineyards (Etlan, VA) that was scheduled for that evening. It was a beautiful blue sky day, and a pleasure to drive through the countryside with a great winery as my destination. I had an appreciative audience, too -- including a couple who mentioned two of my original songs by name when they spoke with me!
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| DuCard Vineyards. I played in the section on the left, with the garage-style windows open on the side. |
I wrapped things up at 8 pm and was out of there around 9. Of course by then it was dark and the evening chill had already crept in, and I had an hour's drive to the campground, which I had never been to. I got there to find that my one reserved parking spot had been stolen. Grrr.
Since it was a walk-in site, I had to tromp past several other campers, flashlight flashing and leaves crunching loudly underfoot; not stealthy. Once I found my spot, I realized that it was right next to the campground entrance road, so I parked up there, illegally. I had no other legit place to park, so don't judge! It did make it easier to get my gear down to my picnic table.
This was a far cry from my last camping experience. While I appreciated the conveniences of a picnic table, fire ring, and bear-proof food locker, I did not love how closely packed the sites were. There was no privacy whatsoever. But there were trees suitable for hanging my hammock, and that's all that really mattered. I made a quick dinner, had a beer by the fire, and crawled into my my swinging "bed".
The temperature dropped to 37 degrees that night, but I had two sleeping bags and was fine. I loved watching the sun rise from my cocoon the next morning.
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| Snuggled in my hammock at Big Meadows Campground |
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| View of my campsite (right, background) and my neighbors' tents (left, foreground). |
After packing up my gear, I parked up at the lodge and went hiking to Dark Hollow Falls from there. It was a gorgeous fall Saturday, and unfortunately that meant that the trails were packed. It was out of control. I enjoyed the hike but I did not get the solitude I was craving.
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| View from Big Meadows Lodge |
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| Dark Hollow Falls (with hordes of humans out of frame) |
After my hike, I took a little hammock nap near the lodge, then cleaned up a little and tried to fix my hair in the communal bathroom before heading to the Dark Horse Irish Pub (Flint Hill, VA) for my Saturday night gig.
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| Setup at the Dark Horse |
An interesting twist to the evening is that I got talking to a woman at the bar who somehow convinced me to play "House of the Rising Sun" and let her sing it, though I had never heard her sing before. I don't generally do this kind of thing, but for whatever reason (maybe that rum & coke) I was feeling more loose than usual. It went okay, no major train wreck. The crowd went wild, so there ya go.
No camping that night; I had a gracious hostess putting me up in her home -- thanks LG! On Sunday, I thought about going back to Shenandoah, but couldn't bear the idea of the crowds, so I went to Caledon State Park (King George, VA) instead. Good choice! I walked over 6 miles on the easy gravel trails, checked out the hike-in/bike-in/paddle-in campground, and saw maybe ten people total. I'll be back soon with my bike and my camping gear!
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