Rose River Trail
5 Jul 2018 21:03![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
karmicdragonflyI had off work again today for the holiday, so I got up early and drove to Shenandoah this morning! I had originally planned to do Dark Hollow again (I did that a few years ago with a friend), but on the way decided to try Rose River -- which is just next to it about a 1/4 mile.
I chose to do the trail counter-clockwise, it seems that there are pros and cons for going in each direction -- you can search and read about it. Counter-clockwise makes the hike much more steep at the end of the trail, but given that my right knee can go "up" better than "down", that sounded like it would be a good thing for me.
I followed directions I found online -- to park at Fisher's Gap, cross the Skyline Drive and use the fire road for about a mile. When I got to the first waterfall, then left would take me onto Rose River trail, and right would take me up (steeply) to Dark Hollow.
First thing of note -- omg, the price of getting onto Skyline is so unreasonable! I mean, 30 bucks is fine as a price for a 7 day ticket, but I only needed 1 day...so yep, even for 1 day, it was 30 buckaroos!
After I parked and was walking the fire road, the next thing I noticed were the BUGS! Every time I stopped, to admire the scenery, to take a photo, anything...and a cloud of bugs surrounded me! I had on bug repellent, but it seemed to not matter!
There's a cemetery on the way. It used to be used by people who lived in the area before this was turned into a national park --
And lots of ferns!
Then I arrived at the choice of Rose River or Dark Hollow. There's a bridge and a waterfall there --
While I was hiking along the Rose "River" (I put it in quotes because it's small like a creek), I concentrated on some longer exposures to get the water to come out silky. The settings for this one were: f/20, ISO 100, 2.5 seconds
Settings for this one: f/25, ISO 200, 0.6 seconds
There were many bears out! I did not take any pictures, because when I see a mama and cubs I keep going right on by! But some of the other hikers, some with young kids, were going off trail with cell phones to get better pics...it seemed risky.
I'm really glad I did this hike. I have been hibernating way too much lately, so I'm glad I got my ass up and out the door this morning! It was also nice -- I arrived at the parking area around 9AM, and it was pretty empty. By the time I left around Noon, it was pretty packed!
I chose to do the trail counter-clockwise, it seems that there are pros and cons for going in each direction -- you can search and read about it. Counter-clockwise makes the hike much more steep at the end of the trail, but given that my right knee can go "up" better than "down", that sounded like it would be a good thing for me.
I followed directions I found online -- to park at Fisher's Gap, cross the Skyline Drive and use the fire road for about a mile. When I got to the first waterfall, then left would take me onto Rose River trail, and right would take me up (steeply) to Dark Hollow.
First thing of note -- omg, the price of getting onto Skyline is so unreasonable! I mean, 30 bucks is fine as a price for a 7 day ticket, but I only needed 1 day...so yep, even for 1 day, it was 30 buckaroos!
After I parked and was walking the fire road, the next thing I noticed were the BUGS! Every time I stopped, to admire the scenery, to take a photo, anything...and a cloud of bugs surrounded me! I had on bug repellent, but it seemed to not matter!
There's a cemetery on the way. It used to be used by people who lived in the area before this was turned into a national park --
And lots of ferns!
Then I arrived at the choice of Rose River or Dark Hollow. There's a bridge and a waterfall there --
While I was hiking along the Rose "River" (I put it in quotes because it's small like a creek), I concentrated on some longer exposures to get the water to come out silky. The settings for this one were: f/20, ISO 100, 2.5 seconds
Settings for this one: f/25, ISO 200, 0.6 seconds
There were many bears out! I did not take any pictures, because when I see a mama and cubs I keep going right on by! But some of the other hikers, some with young kids, were going off trail with cell phones to get better pics...it seemed risky.
I'm really glad I did this hike. I have been hibernating way too much lately, so I'm glad I got my ass up and out the door this morning! It was also nice -- I arrived at the parking area around 9AM, and it was pretty empty. By the time I left around Noon, it was pretty packed!