I awoke to a perfect morning, clear and high 60’s.  Ranger and I walked up past the horse stable area, seeing goldfinches and bluebirds along the way.

By the time we had breakfast and cleaned up and were ready to head out for a hike, it was heating up.  We took the River Trail again, an easy flat walk, and again found lots of birds, including yellow warblers in the trees along the river.  We walked beyond where we had left off on Monday afternoon and picked up the Culler Trail within sight of the park boundary.  Much of this was out in the sun, and it was hot.  Ranger managed to cool off in a large puddle/tiny pond resulting from a small brook running through the meadow to the river. 

 

 Actually the above photo was taken of him swimming in the Shenandoah River---a nice way to cool off.

After 2 ½ hours of walking we returned for lunch and some quiet reading time.  It got hotter and hotter, and we finally retreated to the RV and turned on the air-conditioning. (Ah, camping!)  It had gotten to 94 inside, and a thermometer set outside went up to 97. 

We met a couple from a few sites down who are from Midlothian, and they are avid bird-watchers.  They came up near our site to watch and photograph the Baltimore orioles on their nest.  They recommended that while in Maine, we stop in Ellsworth at the Stanwood Bird Sanctuary (“Bird’s Acre”) for some great birding.  They also commented that they had come to Shenandoah River last May and returned this year, just because the birding is unusually good. 

A warm shower to rinse off the day’s sweat sure felt good, and it finally cooled off nicely for sleeping.  

Ranger woke me before 6 am, hrumphing at the door to be let out.  We headed out into a cool morning (50’s) with heavy fog lying over the river.  We took the road beyond where we turned off into our site, heading toward the “cabin area”.  These turned out to be very nice, sitting on a hill above the meadow we walked through last night, some rather small (perhaps 2 bedrooms and a living space?) while another was more like a lodge for larger groups.  I’m not sure what they charge for them, but they would be a nice place to spend a quiet week’s vacation.  (Note: I can’t check any of this on the Internet, as sitting down here in the campground, there is no cell reception and thus no Internet.)

 After a leisurely breakfast, we went out to explore some of the hiking trails.  We first took the Campground Trail up the side of the hill, ending up at Culler’s Overlook which allowed a great view into the river valley.  Another half-mile took us to the large visitor’s center which---for its size---was fairly empty.  They did have quite a display of stuffed birds including a number of those we had seen but also many different owls.  Continuing on a loop, we reached the picnic area along the river and took the Bluebell Trail back to our RV.  This last trail was full of mosquitoes, the first we’d been bothered with, but we did add a new bird to our list: the Northern Waterthrush.

The afternoon was hot with a rain shower in mid afternoon. We read and napped, then took Ranger for one more walk along the River Trail.  The evening continued overcast with intermittent rain, so we had a quiet evening of reading and DVD’s and popcorn

 We left home at around noon and after a drive of about 3 hours arrived at Shenandoah River State Park.  It is about 15 miles south of Front Royal, off Route 340.  A light rain fell as we approached the park, but it stopped in time for us to set up.

The RV campground is new as of 2011, and the sites are good-sized and spread apart, though out in the open without much vegetation between.  We chose site 17, which turned out to be a good one, in that there is a Baltimore oriole nest just across the road and we’ve been able to watch those brilliant orange birds come and go. 

The campground host stopped in to greet us.  He is at this park through May and then going home.  Surprisingly, he said that the state parks have been having trouble finding people who want to be campground hosts, so no one is coming in behind him for either June or July.  He also mentioned that the place was totally packed over the Memorial Day weekend, all 32 sites taken.  (At this point, there are 7 in our loop and 4 or 5 in the other loop, so it’s relatively empty.)

 We donned raincoats and headed out to explore. We picked up the Bluebell/River Trail near the other loop and walked the flat path along the river, where we saw many birds and heard them all around.  In one short walk we noted about 15 types, including summer tanager, red-headed woodpecker, and cedar waxwings.  There are bird boxes everywhere for the many tree swallows that swoop and soar over the large meadow. 

After hamburgers for dinner, we had a nice campfire.  (Wood for sale at the campground host’s site.)