All Day National Park Riding..... Yes!!

It was out of Natural Bridge and onto Buena Vista to enter the northern part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and then onto the Skyline Drive which runs the entire length of the Shenandoah National Park. The speed limit for both parks is 35 mph, at times less, so this lead to a free ride for us on a tight twisty road which was an absolute pleasure even on a Harley, for us but for some it led to a couple of near misses with the local wild life; deer and a bear!

The first part of the ride was casual, visual and done in a nice temp. There wasn't too much traffic on the road which was good, but a lot of bikes, it was a great day so why not? We went through to the ranger station at the start of the Skyline Drive where we parked up and waited for the others to arrive, and when they did we got to hear the first near miss story with three deer.

Jo arranged the park entry tickets for the Shenandoah National Park, gave us instructions to stop at Big Meadows Campground for lunch,  and off we went again at a leisurely pace. The Skyline Drive is pretty much the same as the Blue Ridge Parkway so it was very pleasant; it has great vista's and the traffic behaved itself which made the ride even easier. On the first half of the ride we even managed to see a deer with its fawn on the side of the road, which was cute, and Sandy saw a bear before stopping for lunch. After lunch it was again a free ride to the ranger station at the other end. On this part of the ride we again saw a deer and its fawn while Jody had a black bear run out in front of her.

Black bears are the smallest and most common of the three bear species found in North America; they are about 1.2 - 2 mtrs from nose to tail and weigh anywhere from 68 - 158 kilos though some as high as 270 kilos (male) have been found so you can imagine why we were reluctant to have them come across our paths, much to Judy's disgust as she wants to see a bear!

Everyone arrived at the ranger station safe and sound; had a drink and a chat (moan) about those cars which wouldn't pull over, especially the one towing the Airstream caravan, then it was off to our hotel in Front Royal, where temps of 39C were waiting for us.

I feel satisfied. Judy and I really enjoyed the ride today, especially its mundane pace, though it was really hard to keep the bike to the 30-35mph speed limit within the park: we will go to bed happy.

Tomorrow a very short ride to Washington DC where we will have a whole day to explore; we are there two nights.

A mother and its fawn.

A black bear on a tree....