The First Three Scenic Wonders

Mt. Rogers Recreation Area Shenandoah Nat'l Park Hudson Valley-Bear Mountain State Park

First Stop... Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area

Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area is located just over the Tennessee border in southwest Virginia and offers some of the prettiest and most unique landscapes in the Eastern US.

Our first stop on this Adventure #1 to Mt. Rogers will only be 3 hours and 44 minutes away according to MapQuest. That should give us plenty of time on our first night to figure out how to put our tents up, get our beds comfy and cook our dinner. With any luck, we may also have time to do a little sightseeing...

Mount Rogers, elevation 5,729 feet, is the highest point in Virginia. The byway that provides access through the scenic forests and countryside surrounding Mount Rogers is divided into two parts. From Troutdale go southwest on Virginia Route 603 through the center of Mount Rogers National Recreation Area to the intersection with U. S. Highway 58. The other section of the byway is located on U. S. Highway 58. Attractions in the area include the Appalachian Trail, Little Wilson Creek Wilderness, Lewis Fork Wilderness, the Beartree Recreation Area, Grayson Highlands State Park and Whitetop Mountain.

Since the Appalachian Trail runs through here and I had wanted to hike the trail when I was young and athletic, this will give me the opportunity, at least, to hike a small portion of it.

Next Stop... Shenandoah National Park

The next stop on our adventure will be in the beautiful Shenandoah National Park located in Luray, Virginia. The travel time from Mt. Rogers to Shenandoah is only 4 hours and 24 minutes according to MapQuest. We may want to stay a couple of days here since there is so much to see, so much history. I had no idea.

George Washington took his family to Berkeley Springs to enjoy the waters. Thomas Jefferson pronounced the sight viewed from Jefferson Rock in Harpers Ferry as being "worth the voyage across the Atlantic".

My book, "Scenic Wonders Of America" describes the park: "The overwhelming view the visitor takes away with him from Shenandoah National Park is of the vast blue distances - the folds of the Appalachians succeeding each other to the far horizon beyond the pastoral patchwork of fields, farms and woods in the peaceful Shenandoah Valley."

Next Stop... Bear Mountain State Park, NY

It'll take us 6 hours and 22 minutes to make our way to Bear Mountain State Park overlooking the Hudson Valley (according to MapQuest, in case you didn't know).

Paraphrasing from my book... Three miles above Troy, the Mohawk River cuts into a trout stream and the stream becomes the mighty Hudson River - a river often compared to Germany's Rhine, a river whose surroundings sweep from ruggedly picturesque to depressingly industrial, a river once of strategic importance in war and in commerce. In the 19th century came the great transportation boom along the river. There were fishing boats and pleasure boats and industries sprang up along the banks. In 1825 the Erie Canal extended the Hudson's highway all the way to the Middle West by way of the Great Lakes.

But the era of the canals and steamboats is over now. The last steamboat, taking tourists on river excursions, sailed in 1971. But the river lives on. Much of the scenery remains magnificent and surprisingly unspoiled. No longer necessary as a highway of commerce, the Hudson has become a perhaps even more vital public resource as a place of recreation and beauty.

I'm so anxious to visit these magnificent places of recreation and beauty! I'm not sure if I want the next stop to be in Cape Cod or Mount Washington.... I'll have to be thinking about that... and get back to you...