MY TRAVELS WITH DAD: SHENANDOAH

I often credit my love of travel and ability to easily plan road trips to my Dad, Tim. The original adventurer. When my sister Claire and I were kids, he took us on amazing trips to cities across the country, and as an adult I was lucky to share so many experiences with him as we traveled together from 2016-2019. On October 2nd, less than 36 hours from my planned departure for my three week road trip, my Dad lost his 20 month battle with pancreatic cancer at age 69.

Although we knew his diagnosis, it was very sudden and unexpected. But I was thankful to be here with him instead of on the road, and am grateful for the day we spent together, even in a hospital. It was so important to him that I go on my trip, but he was more important than any plan I could ever have -- and that’s what I told him that day. My Dad was so courageous in his fight, and I will never let him be defined by the disease that took his life much too soon. I want to concentrate on celebrating his life and the wonderful memories we shared, but I hope that by sharing his story, my family can help raise awareness about pancreatic cancer, even in some very small way.

Throughout my Dad’s battle, I never looked up the facts and figures about survival expectancy. I knew pancreatic cancer was especially tough to treat because it is so difficult to detect early, with vague symptoms, and my Dad was already in Stage 4. I accompanied him to his first and early chemotherapy and clinical trial treatments and appointments with his doctor for months before my work schedule changed, and his attitude was always positive. Instead of choosing to focus on a scary diagnosis, we focused on living and continuing to create memories as a family. In his off weeks, we fit in small adventures and celebrations. During COVID, we protected him fiercely, and lost quality time, but also found creative ways to spend time together. My Dad was extremely independent, and remained so up until the very end. Last week, I finally looked up an infographic of information about pancreatic cancer. The median survival time is just 2-6 months, and pancreatic cancer is the only type of cancer with a five year survival rate under ten percent (6%). To learn more about pancreatic cancer, visit the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network’s (PanCAN) website.

Following my Dad’s retirement in 2016, we visited 17 National Parks together. There are countless memories I’ll never forget: trying on hats in a western wear shop in Santa Fe; seeing wolves in Mesa Verde; the night we seemed to follow the full moon for hours on our drive from Utah to Boulder, CO through the Rocky Mountains; Sedona, where we playing a marimba on the street, looked for energy vortexes and got a flat tire when we went to look at stars.

My Dad had a bit of a crazy travel style, he was able to stretch time and fit a lot into a day. I saw a great example of this in the back of my 2018 travel journal, and it made me laugh:

In Cornelius, NC after a long day of hiking and driving:

Me: (from my bed in our hotel) So, what should we do now?

Dad: (laying on his bed) We should rest until 6pm.

Me: But it’s 5:54pm.

Dad: Yes.

...And of course, at 6pm we were up and ready to go!

He told me recently that 2018 was a very happy year. That was the year we stayed closer to home and visited the Appalachian mountains on two trips. Shenandoah in June and Great Smoky Mountains in October. He suggested that I write a blog story about our two day agenda for visiting Shenandoah, and so I'll share those memories today in his honor. Sections of this article, I've taken directly from my vacation journal, like the mini story above. I hope you enjoy it. Perhaps this story might even help inspire your next short getaway...to the mountains of Shenandoah!

Two Days in Shenandoah with Dad

Oh, Shenandoah! Less than five hours drive from our home in Pittsburgh, I never suspected Shenandoah National Park to be so grand and beautiful. Our two day trip with just a one night stay had the feeling of one of our larger trips to a wild and far off destination, much different than our own backyard. Shenandoah is a gem for National Parks lovers and east coast adventure seekers. We were able to see so much in a short amount of time, on a two day escape for Father’s Day.

My first time hiking on the Appalachian Trail (AT) was on our first day, after stopping for lunch at a cute deli in Luray, VA, we arrived in Shenandoah via the Thornton Gap entrance and stopped first at the Little Stoney Man Trailhead along Skyline Drive. It was about 90 degrees as we put on our hiking shoes and long pants, then beginning to climb the rocky trail. The summit and exposed rock is named Stoney Man for the face of a man you can make out in the rock, looking up towards the sky. We had to go back and look for this from the viewpoint after our hike.

The trail was hot, especially on the rocky outcroppings exposed to direct sun, and there were many wildflowers in the forest and along the trail, mountain laurel and fancy orange and yellow columbines that seemed too elaborate for their surroundings. Off the AT, and near the top of our climb, we followed the interpretive Nature Trail to Stoney Man Summit, second highest point in the park at 4,011 feet. Buzzards buzzed as they cut through the high mountain air, and there was a great view to stop and enjoy for a while. Dad would never get too close to an edge, saying that he wasn’t afraid of heights, but of falling off!

On our way down, almost immediately after rejoining the AT, Dad stopped in his tracks and gestured to his left. I looked to see a mama black bear maybe 30 feet away, and her three cubs on a fallen tree, starting to bug out in retreat. “What do we do?” I asked without moving, and simultaneously pulled my Nikon to my eye and snapped two pictures. Once the cubs were gone, we started walking away, quickly and cautiously, talking loudly, adrenaline pumping as we looked over our shoulder. Later, we saw another bear and her cubs crossing the road and learned that Shenandoah has one of the highest populations of black bears in the US. My first bear sighting in the wild and quite the memory with Dad.

That was a moment of going against what I’d been taught. Everything in my research would have said to start yelling, but in that moment, I didn’t. I held it in my throat and we stood in a kind of timeless peaceful moment of awe and terror with the bear and my Dad.

After returning from our hike, and walking awhile with a hiker that knew some history of the area and the old clay pipe enclosed telegraph cables that still run along the trail, we headed toward Big Meadows and the visitor center. We planned to hike Bearfence Mountain after that, but the parking lot was overflowing so we continued further south on Skyline Drive to Blackrock Summit, where a short hike through a wooded trail leads out to a big flow area of tumbled quartzite rocks.

This reminded me of the obsidean flows out in Oregon, it is actually not volcanic, but an ancient sea floor that just hasn’t been ground down to become forested like so much of the park. After the hike, we continued south on Skyline Drive toward the Rockfish Gap entrance to the park. On our way, we saw the second family of bears and a pair of does with their brand new fawns that scampered and skittered as if trying to escape us but never really going anywhere in their spastic movement. Then we realized they were playing games with each other! They were so tiny and fascinating. Not much bigger (certainly skinnier) than my dog, Portland.

Outside of the south entrance to the park, across a bridge, the Blue Ridge Parkway begins. I would love to do a bike trip or something similar on these two scenic mountain parkways one day. We checked in to our hotel in Waynesboro, less than 15 minutes from the south entrance to the park, before heading for victory beers and dinner at Seven Arrows Brewing Company, one of the few breweries in the area open on a Monday! They had an in house kitchen that was similar to a food truck, and our pretzel appetizer and sandwiches for dinner were tasty and just the right amount of food.

The best treat to end the evening was our stop at Blue Mountain Brewery on the “back side” of the mountains we’d been hiking in all day. There, a big open terrace with a lot of seating options looked out over the mountains and the sunset. We relaxed and sipped our beers in adirondack chairs with twinkle lights strung up above our heads. It was the perfect end to a perfect adventure day with Dad.

At breakfast in the hotel the next morning, early around 7:30am, the animals of Shenandoah seemed to be the popular topic of conversation. We heard families discussing the turkey and bear they had seen, but we didn’t chime in with our story. Then we headed back to the park, expecting a peaceful morning drive, but instead getting caught up in some construction that was going on. We made light of it by pulling into certain overlook areas that we liked the names of, like Bacon Hollow. Dad’s sense of humor was wonderful.

Our first hike of the day was Bearfence Mountain, the rock scramble hike, and at the trailhead parking area we heard other hikers’ warning, “if y’all are headed up Bearfence, there’s a big rattlesnake sitting on a rock...it’ll be on your right!” Dad had made an Indiana Jones-esque comment yesterday about NOT wanting to see snakes. We watched, but never saw the snake.

Not far into the hike, the big rocky wall of Bearfence emerged as if from nowhere, and we began to follow blue blazes up the rocky terrain. We climbed through unique passageways, rocks that looked like dinosaur spikes, and rocks overlooking a vast mountain landscape -- certainly the best views we’d seen in the park so far. Above the tree line, the wind picked up and there was a peak with a 360 degree view that was incredible. We continued through the rock maze, and I found a snake skin on a rock. After the scramble ended, we returned to the trailhead along an easy but rocky wooded trail that followed the “fence” of rocks that we’d just climbed on.

Our final hike of the trip, and most populated of them all was Dark Hollow Falls, an easy walk through the woods alongside cascading pools of water that were popular with families and children to swim and play in. When we got to the falls at the bottom, there was a large group of people gathered, taking pictures, and Dad lead the way past, cutting across the rocks in the stream down below so that we had the whole far side of the falls to ourselves. The falls here were 70 feet high, and just a short distance downstream the water shot down a narrow rock slide. We hiked around and then headed back, the route was mostly uphill but not too challenging.

We debated about doing another hike, but decided to head out of the park and find lunch in Front Royal instead. We ate at a restaurant called Elements and then started toward home. Just 36 hours of travel and it felt like so much longer. When we got back, we headed to our neighborhood favorite, D’s Dogs to properly end the trip with pizza dinner and a beer.

Later in the year, we’d take a fall trip to Asheville and the Great Smoky Mountains, where, instead of 90 degree hiking in the heat, we’d try and dodge raindrops from Hurricane Michael and stay warm in cooler weather. But, my Dad did it all, and we hiked in the rain, adjusted our plan when we needed to, even if it meant visiting one less National Park together. There was humor in our travels, and, when possible, pulled pork sandwiches, and finding a restaurant named “Butts on the Creek” was a must stop. But, that’s a story for another day. As Dad said, 2018 was a very happy year.

At the hospital, he was so worried that I would not go on my cross country road trip. I told him, don’t worry I’ll still go, even if my plan has to change. You are more important. This weekend, I’ll set out on my three week journey. A solo adventure (with Portland) for myself, but also now in honor of my Dad. I know he’ll be with me - providing little snips of humor and helping me make decisions along the way.

More trip prep updates to come later this week, but for now, I’ll leave this simple note.

I love you, Dad. Always and Forever.

If you haven’t read about my upcoming trip, I invite you to read the story in my self titled article, Wildly Sarah. Exciting things are ahead, I can’t wait to share the journey with you. Until next time, Live Wildly.

Looking for more adventure? Join me on social media through Instagram and Facebook.