Well, while Akela is on the mend, I have time to do another blog. Like many YouTubers with a consistent channel on a consistent subject, I may take a 5 or 6 day trip and produced 2 or 3 videos out of it. This allows me to get a little ahead and not have to take a trip every weekend. It also allows me to visit more interesting places and produce a more quality video. So I did this when I took 4 days vacation and went to Shenandoah National Park. We did a video on the Big Meadows Campground and area. And we did one of Hiking the Areas Around the Big Meadows Campground. Coming home from Shenandoah National Park we stopped at the Jefferson National Forest and did a 3rd movie there that had a really nice stream with a number of free campsites along it, and a review of a closed national forest campground and some free campsites up the road from it (The North Creek Campground).  My usual procedure is to travel to a place and do a review of that place in one video, and then do another video of an activity like hiking, biking, boating or special attractions in the area. That allows me two videos, and originally I would post both

of them in the same week. And then maybe skip a week or pick a different subject matter for the between weeks. This was especially true when I was first training Akela. But these days we go someplace almost every week, so it’s just helping us stay a couple of weeks ahead on videos. Incase we do need down time for one reason or another.

So the intent of  the Shenandoah National Park videos is to give you a taste of what the park was like. Without disclosing every wonderful thing about the park. I don’t like to give a documentary that substitutes for visiting a place. I really want to try to just wet your appetite to visit. Shenandoah is one of those nice big national parks with all kinds of interesting things to do. The hiking is stupendous with so many mountaintop overlooks. The waterfalls are numerous almost everywhere. And of course the skyline drive through the National Park is full of history and scenery and wildlife. This year, during Covid -19, the park was crowded. But I don’t know if it would be less crowded on a normal year with good weather and a good economy. It is a very popular park within an hour and a half of Washington DC, Baltimore, Richmond, and a host of other pretty populous places.

Now one of the nice things about Shenandoah National Park is that it is surrounded by Jefferson and Washington National forests. And the National Park seems to attract most of the tourists. So we found a lot of places in the national forests to enjoy with very few other people.  Still  a lot od camping, hiking, and waterfalls in a slightly less developed manner. And again, remember that this is during the pandemic year,  but it seems most of the places I go seem to be more littered than my experience in the past, and Shenandoah and the National Forests were equally so. So if you see evidence of that in the videos, please understand it hopefully is just due to the situation of the year. Most of the time, except for occasional candy wrappers and water bottles, I find the national forest fairly clean, and the national parks are exceptionally clean. Thank a National Park employee for such a great job they do! Everyone likes to be appreciated.

I have to warn you that my videos may become boring in the future. Because, well I’ve fallen in love, and you know that can get in the way of a lot of things. I’ve traveled the Cherohala Skyway 3 times now and every time it is more fun than the last. There is so much around it that I love, I’m afraid I’m going to end up going back too many times. It could get boring! (For you). So this last time while visiting Skyway area and the Indian boundaries campground and Recreations Area, I figured I should scout out all the campsites and campgrounds that are around that general area. And boy are there a lot. We spent one day looking at the Campsites along the Tellico River Valley south of the Cherohala Skyway. And then the next day we camped and explored the area and campsites north of the Cherohala Skyway,  The Citico Creek Valley. It has some really nice hiking trails that aren’t really too long, They can be Flat or gently inclined, have a lot of historic findings, and can be done in a day.  Also, I guess if you were with another person you could leave a car at each end of the trail and hike from one car to the other. But one of the things I have found is that you tend to see a lot of different stuff walking back the same trail you just hiked out on. Of course that may be just me. Most people I see hiking today are just trying to cover a lot of ground in as short a time as possible. The Cherokee national Forest has a lot of everything I could want. If you watched the video, you saw there are all these campsites. Then there is the slightly developed  Indian boundary campground with electrical hookups and great hot showers. There are numerous forest service roads to explore on and test your  4wd and off-road driving skills. Especially after a rainstorm causes a few washouts. There are hiking trails going through all sorts of mountains, streams, and valleys. There are great scenic view areas in the comfort and resources of a small town nearby. The only downside that I experienced while there, is that I could hear the loud motorcycles driving the Skyway from almost everywhere. For most places they weren’t really distracting or obnoxious. But it just reminds you despite being deep in the woods, you still are really in civilization.

Well,  I guess that covers most of the newest videos.  I’ll try to get back on herre to discuss next weeks video, it has some great stuff (Secrets) and was a super hike!  Oh,  And don’t miss out on my previous videos on my first visit to the area!   They are discussed in this Blog Post -https://goingnowherefastrv.com/5000-subscribers/

Stay Safe, Be happy, Hope to see you on the trail!

Rick & Akela!
GoingNoWhereFast!