Monthly Archives: April 2026

Road trip, 2026

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Spring is when a lot of birds decide to get on the move. Some say that’s just instinct at work, but I doubt that. In some species, particularly Blue Jays, a given individual might decide to migrate north, or south, or both one year and do something different the next year, like just go north, or go south and stay there, or not go anywhere at all. That seems to indicate something more than just instinct in play.

I’m no exception, although I seem to be making a habit of a trip north in the spring. But my human side keeps causing me to come back (that’s probably instinct) and return to work, bills, taxes, HOAs, and whatnot.

This year I set out for Douthat State Park, VA for an intermediate stop. You can read all about that here. I stopped there last year and I think Douthat will become a regular stopover point for this bird.

I’m not sure if there’s something about North Carolina, but it seems that on every trip, either coming or going, I’m going to run into rain issues there. This time there were intermittent rain showers “going”. That probably had something to do with the tractor-trailer parked across all three travel lanes on I-85 just before getting into North Carolina. Everyone had to squeeze by on the shoulder lane. Once in NC there was one area of heavy rain, and then another towards the northern end of the state on I-77. I was thinking that the clouds were looking really dark and heavy, but looked lighter ahead. Then I remembered all the times I saw really dark clouds that lightened up just before the deluge. That’s exactly what I ran into there: the skies opened up and drained out in a literally blinding rain storm. It was all I could do to track my lane and avoid running up on the semi-tractor (no trailer) in front of me. You know those little tail lights those tractors have between the wheels? Completely inadequate in those conditions. Pulling over wasn’t a good option either because if someone was already on the shoulder I wouldn’t be able to see them in time. Once clear of that, the rest of the way to Douthat was unremarkable.

From Douthat, I continued northward to visit geographically-distant family in northeastern Pennsylvania. I was looking to make a fuel stop when Google chimed in and said there was a wreck ahead with an 11 minute delay. I figured then that would be a good time to make that fuel stop. After I got back underway, about 20 miles up I-81 I saw what appeared to be an epic litter pickup in progress and at least one vehicle up on a flatbed. Traffic was moving smoothly, so I didn’t get a chance to look around much. Later, near Harrisburg, there were intermittent bouts of traffic slowing down to a crawl and then speeding up again for no apparent reason.

Arriving at my destination, I found my Sister’s yard covered in flowers everywhere to the point where it was almost hard to walk anywhere without stepping on something. She’s an amazing gardener and grows just about anything.

Even in the rocks.

I like that some of her neighbors mix Halloween and Easter. That actually seems kind of appropriate, as Halloween is about death and things macabre, while Easter is about life.


There’s a township park nearby with a little bit of trail. I found a back way to it without having to walk along the busy route 715.

And, of course, what trip could be complete without a visit to The World’s Largest ShopRite Supermarket?

Eventually those human instincts took hold and I headed back south. The first part of that was without incident, except for those mysterious traffic slowdowns along I-81 by Harrisburg. I ended up at Natural Bridge State Park, VA, which again has its separate post here.

And finally, back to my home range in South Carolina. There was one wreck at exit 92 on I-81 in Virginia. A semi trailer was bent and smoking, and oddly, sitting on the ground on the exit ramp. What happened to the wheels? That area isn’t a major trucking hub, so did the driver notice something going wrong and try to exit the highway there? I couldn’t find any news stories about it. Getting around Charlotte involved slow and heavy traffic. It took almost 15 minutes to make the course change from I-485 to I-85. After that, though, it was just busy traffic until it thinned out a bit on I-26.

I’m already thinking ahead to next year’s trip. Douthat State Park, VA will definitely be on the itinerary. I’m not sure of the other stop, maybe Shenandoah River State Park, VA. It’s a bit north of half-way, but I hadn’t been there yet.

The trip by the numbers:
Statute miles driven: 1402.8
Fuel used: 34.704 gallons
Elapsed trip time: 28 hours, 6 minutes
Most expensive gas: $4.299/gal in Kutztown, PA
Cheapest gas: $3.799/gal in Martinsburg, WV
States traversed: 6: SC NC VA WV MD PA
Statute miles hiked or walked: 43.91 (that I recorded)
Unread work Emails upon return: 6,581

It is a bit curious that the cheapest gas wasn’t in SC like usual; SC has really low gas taxes. I suspect that has to do with the prices rising during the trip, making SC look more expensive than earlier purchases to the north.

Natural Bridge, VA

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On the way back from that 2026 “epic” road trip that started with a visit to Douthat State Park, VA, I stopped for a day at Natural Bridge State Park, VA. This area felt a bit more commercialized than other state parks I’ve visited, which is just an observation, not a criticism. Still, at that there were some good trails to get out into the woods.

The signature attraction is The Natural Bridge, a rock formation left when an underground river cut away the rock, leaving a bridge. Getting to the bridge required going down (and back up) a lot of steps, 137 according to the park web site.

The path is mostly paved, so you don’t need your hiking shoes. Pretty quickly you come to The Bridge, which from here is more of a “natural underpass”.

It’s actually pretty awesome, I couldn’t help being in awe of that rock overhead.
The trail contines past there and ends at Lace Falls.

I was advised at the extensive visitor center that it was best to drive to the other trails in the park, which I concurred with because getting there involved some stretches of busy highway. So it was off to the Blue Ridge Trail.

Nothing to this point indicated that the hotel had a connection to the trail, had I known I’d have just walked from there.
As at Douthat, flowers were blooming everywhere:

I kept trying to get a picture of the numerous butterflies, but they wouldn’t stay put and a cell phone makes a lousy wildlife camera. I did catch one, sort of:

The trail led up to a ridge with a view:

There is an adjacent Thistle Ridge Trail and disc golf course:

This is one course where you’ll probably want your hiking shoes:

I didn’t try to play the course as I was only there for one day. Many of the goals looked tricky to this novice, and just a little overshoot would have you diving down a hill into the woods (hopefully not head first).
From there is was over to the Buck Hill trail and more up and down:

Finally, I wrapped up the day at the short Skyline Trail. There’s a discovery area at the trailhead:

And, as you might expect from the name, there is a view of the skyline:

This park was a bit of an exception in that I was able to cover all the published trails in one day and then followed up with a late lunch from the Natty B Cafe just up road to the east. The salad and Turkey Reuben sandwich were quite good.

There were very limited camping opportunities here, so I opted to stay at the Natural Bridge Hotel right by the Natural Bridge itself. The accommodations there weren’t as nice as I had at Douthat, but were adequate for the purpose, if a bit expensive compared to a campsite.

Douthat 2026

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Once again it was time for my spring “epic” road trip. Last year I stopped along the way to spend a day at Douthat State Park in Virginia. I decided that one day there just wasn’t enough so this year I planned two days to try and take in more of the park.

This narrow bridge leading to the campsites always gives me pause:

As usual the campsite accommodations were excellent. My “room” had a river (or creek) view (watch that first step though):

And there were flowers in the room:

In fact, there were flowers Everywhere! I saw lots of butterflies taking advantage of them.

But I came here to hike, so after a night in my hammock tent, it was off to see some sights.

Again, as usual, I found well-marked trails. Yes, I was heading for the Mountain Top Trail:

And what a supertastical view from the top of that mountain! The picture doesn’t do it justice, it just reminds me of what I saw:

Coming around to the Mountain Side Trail gives a view of Lake Douthat:

Ya know, they always give some very good reasons to stay on the trails when hiking: don’t trample the plants, don’t cause erosion, and you’re Far less likely to get lost if you stick to the trails. Some of the trails here add another reason: if you go off the trail, it could be a long time before you can come to a stop.

When I’ve gone even farther north earlier in the season, I’ve been a bit disappointed at not seeing any snow. This time I found some snow, in a corner of the mountain the trail was following:

After I completed that hike I was sprawled out at the table at my campsite when a Chipping Sparrow came poking around. He went right under the table where I was sitting. I didn’t want to scare him off, so I just aimed the phone blindly to snap this picture of him:

The next morning, let’s do it all again!

This day took me up the Blue Suck Falls Trail (I’ll have to ask how it got that name), which felt a bit like rock climbing in some areas:

And there we have the Blue Suck Falls itself!

Continuing up to the Middle Mountain Trail (which is actually a bit higher than the Mountain Top Trail) again provided some amazing views, including from Lookout Rock:

As they say, what goes up must come down (unless you’re NASA), so down the mountain to the lake:

The lake flows out into Wilson Creek, which is a convenient handrail back to the campsite.

I think Douthat State Park is going to be a regular stopover on my northeast trips from now on. The facilities are excellent (well, the wifi at the park office could be a bit more reliable, but really the point is to disconnect), there’s lots of nature and trails, and there’s no cell phone coverage (I suggest taking a PLB or satellite communicator in case of emergency, and tell the boss to not even bother trying to call).