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Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park is a great place for camping and hiking. We camped at Loft Mountain; however, it is very busy on weekends with Virginia residents so you must get there earlier in the week or book online (25% can be reserved). Upon entering Skyline Drive, we drove through Mary's tunnel which was pretty amazing to see how they dug/blast through to complete the drive. The speed limit is 35 mph which is monitored by park police who will ticket you! The main reason is there is so many deer along the road, particularly at dusk and night. We were at 11:00 p.m. and saw quite a few. Luckily we have deer whistles on our car which did seem to help. There are many pullovers for very pretty views; however, I must admit after a while they all looked the same.... There are so many hiking trails, many which lead to waterfalls.

Stop by any ranger station and they will give you maps for trails in the area. There are also black bear in the area; we saw plenty of 'evidence' but only saw one while hiking.
The Appalacian Trail runs throughout the park and was pretty empty in early July. The best part was all the delicious raspberries along the trail!