We tried a new campground for a few days during Spring Break. There were lots of great hiking opportunities that we took advantage of!We hiked to Humpback Rocks. It's only a mile from the parking lot but very steep! There was a 180-degree view at the top!
It was windy at the top!
Up high with the birds!
There was a wildfire nearby that we could see helicopters dumping water on. It was reminding us of Owen's favorite movie when he was little - Planes: Fire and Rescue. We were singing the theme song on the way back to the campground.
That rock at the peak of the mountain is where we climbed!
The campground was nice but didn't have much shade in the section we were in, even if there were leaves on the trees. The sites were also pretty close together. There was an upper section that we'd try if we go again, with some fun cabin options as well. They invested a lot of money to have their bouncy pillow be "rain or shine!" The kids enjoyed it when they had it to themselves the first day. 
We checked out Blue Ridge Tunnel, which was really cool! Some friends had done a bike ride through it with headlamps. We haven't figured out how to bring the bikes with us camping so we just walked through. It's 4,273 feet long (0.8 miles) and very dark! We dressed in layers, which was good, because the temperature dropped A LOT as you got to the middle! Ours hands, ears, and noses were very cold! It was a cool experience!
The light by Chris's head is literally the light at the end of the tunnel. It was perfectly straight from one end to the next. We just kept walking towards the light ;)
Don't worry, Owen had a stick ;)
Owen found a tangled fishing line with a hook that was tangled in a tree. He untangled it then used it to create his own fishing pole. He spent loooooots of time trying to fish with it, using a leaf as bait. Shockingly, nothing bit ;)
We tried a couple recipes from a camping book we have but neither of them worked out well enough to be repeated. I think Willow's face says it all. 
We drove into Shenandoah National Park a bit to hike to Dark Hollow Falls, which was 1.6 miles. There were plenty of people who had the same idea ;) but the falls were beautiful!
We were grateful for a guy who offered to take our picture...just didn't get much of the falls in with us ;)
Just us with a few of our friends ;) We ended up climbing up the falls a bit, then just continued to the top and across the water to jump back on the trail.
At the visitors center we ended up getting a National Parks book for each of the kids to start documenting their adventures. The only park they've visited but won't have documented is the Grand Canyon. With Owen's lack of enthusiasm about it when we visited, he might opt to visit it again someday with greater appreciation ;)
I loved the campground's logo and wished they had a sticker of it!
