Day 22 - 2025 East Coast Adventure - A beautiful final night on the road

 8/8 - Little Buffalo state park, PA to Shenandoah national Park, VA

After a FULL day at Hershey Park yesterday, we were all a bit slow to get started today.  This was probably especially true because we had a long drive day in front of us as we got closer and closer to home.  As we got ready and walked through camp, one of our fellow campers said that they were concerned about us since we left camp early and were still gone when they slept. Great to know that there are fellow campers will look out for you!  

Our drive started out on the back roads through rural Pennsylvania before we got onto I-81 which would be the majority of the miles today. While interstate travel is largely boring, it does get you from place to place fast.  We headed south and entered Maryland followed quickly by a bonus state that we didn't expect to visit on this trip - West Virginia. Since it was almost lunch time anyway, we stopped at the welcome rest area for a picnic lunch

We made it to camp in Shenandoah National Park in the early afternoon.  We had a site that was not terribly flat and had a narrow pull through so it took us a while to get set up, but we made it work.  Up here in the mountains, there were still cool temperatures and thankfully only a mild haze left from the fires. 

We discovered that the Appalachian Trail encircled the campsite and, since I have a mild obsession with it, I took the opportunity to do my very first mile on the AT with Amy while the boys hung at camp in their hammocks.  We found a few deer and learned that they are VERY relaxed around people. As we finished the hike, we mad a stop at camp store for some surprisingly cheap local beer and firewood. In the store were even a few through hikers in their natural environment!  How cool!



Back at camp, we made our final camp dinner while a deer strolled through the campsite seemingly without a care in the world.  We reflected back on the trip realizing that this may be the last big trip we make together.  

To round out the evening, Sebastian and I went back to the Trail and sat on a rock to watch sunset over the mountains while Amy and Robinson walked around camp petting dogs.  It's sad it was the last night on the road, but it sure left with a great memory.





Trip mileage - 3,816
# states - 14
# provinces - 3

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