Week 52
Last week we explored Kentucky, West Virginia, and crossed over into our home state of Virginia that we love! This week and for the rest of our trip we are exploring our own backyard.
Day 360 Mon 04/02
This morning we drove from the Oronoco free campsite in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest campground to Buena Vista, VA to get the RV inspected. It expires in a couple of weeks and originally, we had planned to be back home by now, so we would not have to get it re inspected, but maybe that will be a good selling point. Everything was in working order except for the after-market flood lights on the back of the RV that for the last year we have not been able to find the switch for…apparently, per the law, if they are on the vehicle they have to work even if they are not a necessary safety feature…so, John convinced the inspector to let him cut them off…he will just reinstall them later even though we don’t know how to turn them on. They are for when you are at a campsite and need extra light or maybe when backing up in the dark? From there we stocked up on groceries in Lexington then drove to check out Natural Bridge State Park. Once we pulled into the parking lot and found a level spot to turn on the fridge all of the sudden the LPG detector would not turn on which does not open the propane valve to run the fridge…It seems like it is always something…John was able to temporarily fix it until we got to our next campsite so we could go hike and explore for the day without spoiling our full fridge of groceries. Cooper was allowed to hike with us on the trail and there were tons of dogs and families on spring break too. The natural bridge is actually a highway bridge above which is pretty amazing. The property was once owned by Thomas Jefferson. From Natural Bridge we drove to the North Creek Campground in the Jefferson National Forest for $10 with pit toilets. We got a great campsite next to the creek and John got to work reinstalling the flood lights. We met the camp hosts who have volunteered here before and will be here through the month…their sites have water and electricity. John chit chatted with them a bit and found out that this campsite is near one of the races (Promise Land 50k++) he has done in this area before.
Day 361 Tues 04/03
This morning before checking out we hiked the fire road that followed the creek from the campground to the Apple Orchard Falls Trailhead and turned around. Wildflowers and trees are just beginning to bud here now. John said he remembered bits and pieces of this trail as it was part of the Promise Land 50K run he has done a few times and loved. We drove from the North Creek Campground over the mountain and through the woods to the Cave Mountain Lake Recreation Area and Campground…this is the only option Google gave us although we found out later that there is a long way that takes the same amount of time. The route we took was a combination of fire roads and active logging roads, so we were lucky on this one lane / two-way gravel road with few turnoffs that we did not encounter any other cars much less logging trucks! The road to the campground was actually closed and Google lost connection so it just kept saying re-routing so luckily we were able to find another entrance via road signs. This was the first day the campground was open for season, so we were the 2nd campers of the season. We were there to take advantage of the hot showers! Our campsite was by the creek, so we enjoyed the sunny afternoon reading by the babbling brook. We took a short walk with Cooper to check out the lake, then started a fire for dinner. The camp host saw me foraging for fallen wood, so she drove me around in her golf cart to pick up some wood at a campsite that some campers chopped then left behind. We made yummy grilled veggies (sweet potatoes, beets, broccoli, onion) with beet greens and spiced chickpeas for dinner…we were supposed to have a tahini dressing but somehow, I did not realize we were out of tahini, so we improvised with lemon juice, olive oil, and hummus and it was perfect anyway. We did the fire dance to avoid the smoke until tea time and watched the embers go out from the warmth of the RV.
Day 362 Wed 04/04
Today was a rainy day in the RV, so this morning we did some maintenance inside. The rain cleared off by the afternoon, so we decided to hike the Wildcat Trail, which was made up of some steep tough climbing and descending with a ton of creek crossings and it was super windy, but the sun finally came out and turned out to be a beautiful day. When we got back to the campsite John made another fire for dinner. We heard a big tree come down, and shortly found out that the fallen tree took out the main power line for the campground, so we might not have hot showers in the morning if they have to close the bath house…
Day 363 Thurs 04/05
Luckily, they were able to get the power back up and running this morning at the campground, so we showered up before checking out. We drove south to Salem, VA for my book club call, caught up on laundry, then stayed at the Walmart for the night so we could be close to drive to the McAfee Knob trailhead in the morning for a sunrise hike. Apparently, this fairly long hike has been made more popular because of Instagram, and the parking lot gets full so hopefully we get a spot in the morning early.
Day 364 Fri 04/06
This morning we drove from Walmart to the McAfee Knob trail head for a semi sunrise hike. The parking lot fills up, so we had to get there early to even have a chance. There were already about 15 cars parked from either people overnighting on the trail or in the parking lot for the sunrise hike. We started just after sunrise because it was literally freezing, and we would have needed to start at like 5 am to be at the top for sunrise. The hike was 8.5 miles and fairly difficult but not terrible…the 1700 ft elevation gain was over 4.5 miles on the AT and we took the fire road back, so Cooper could have more space and not have to walk behind John the whole time and for different scenery. The views from the top were pretty spectacular, and John just couldn’t stand not to dangle his feet off the edge for the famous photo op. We met a few AT thru hikers at the top and took their photos of them at the ledge. They had started on March 1st and had all ready hiked 700 miles so far. We hiked past several AT shelters that were full with thru hikers too. By the time we were hiking back to the parking lot there were several big groups hiking up the fire road and the parking lot was definitely full. John was barely able to get out before we got blocked in, we literally threaded the needle between cars. We drove into Roanoke for the afternoon and stocked up on groceries at the Co-Op. It seemed like a neat town, but we were tired from the hike and didn’t feel like exploring. We stayed at the Walmart for the night in Rocky Mount as there was nothing available near Roanoke. 
Day 365 Sat 04/07
This morning we drove from the Walmart in Rocky Mount to Smith Mountain Lake State Park Campground for electricity since the low tonight is going to be 28. It was not cheap, but it was cold today too so when we hunkered down in the RV with the heater on it felt good and was worth it. I was cuddling with Cooper and found a HUGE tick on his face, and of course I freaked out so cool calm collective nurse John removed it and we found another small one too on his neck…hopefully he is ok…I have never seen a tick so big in my life! It was fully engorged. FYI…Cooper has always been treated with tick medicine, so not sure why the tick was able to attach for the feeding?!
Day 366 Sun 04/08
Today is one year on the road! This morning we hiked some trails in Smith Mountain Lake before checking out. It was a beautiful sunny day. One trail ended up being closed due to a logging operation but there were many to choose from that weaved through the forest and along the lake edge. There were several old abandoned tobacco barns on the trail too. The redbuds were budding and showing off. After our hike and showers, we checked out and drove to a park in Alta Vista to hang out for the afternoon. We even spotted a frisky groundhog munching on some grass on a sunny slope in the park…Spring is finally here??!!!! John walked Cooper for a bit to check out the park and found an old train bridge that apparently isn’t good to stand under while trains are above…We later moved on to the Walmart in Alta Vista for the night.
This week we enjoyed exploring our own back yard in Virginia and are looking forward to doing the same thing next week too.
This map below indicates the route we took last week from Amherst, Va to Alta Vista, VA.
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