Seeing as this might well be my last free weekend for a while, I took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed to the mountains. I was also itching to take out my new Aliner Sportliner popup camper and a fall weekend in the mountains seemed like the perfect way to break it in.

Thumbing through “Hiking Virginia” by Bill and Mary Burnham, I found what looked like an interesting hike called “Roaring Run/Hoop Hole” near Clifton Forge, Virginia.  Douthat State Park was nearby and from all indications, was a very nice facility. I called the park office to determine if they recommended making a reservation. Only one section of the campground remained open past November 1st and there were only 5 spots available for Friday and Saturday.  I made the reservation online, packed up, and hit the road Friday morning.

Douthat Park did not disappoint.  It’s a beautiful campground with large sites and plenty of privacy.  I set up at the very end of the Whiteoak section on site 28.  A pretty little stream runs nearby and its burbling sound was a relaxing addition to the site. We grilled a couple of steaks for dinner, played backgammon for a few hours and called it a night.

Saturday morning dawned clear and cold but with an expected high of 70 degrees later in the day.  After breakfast we headed off to find the trailhead at the Roaring Run National Recreation Area.  Although the original plan was to combine the Iron Ore Trail with the Hoop Hole Trail for a 10 mile loop, 3 miles of continuous climbing had only put us at the junction of the two trails.  Fearing we may not have enough daylight to complete the Hoop Hole loop, we turned around and descended back to the trailhead.  After checking out the ruins of a pre-Civil War iron ore furnace, we headed back to the park.

With no particular plans on Sunday, we enjoyed a nice breakfast, broke camp, and drove into the park to do a bit of exploring around Douthat Lake.  It’s a lovely little mountain lake with canoe rentals, a camp store, and a nice restaurant overlooking the lake.  With parks like this, it’s easy to see why Virginia State Parks are voted “America’s Best” by The Sports Foundation and the National Recreation and Park Association.

Sometimes the best of plans just don’t come together.  I found myself with a relatively free weekend and the urge to head down to the Outer Banks for a little paddling.  The forecast was perfect with highs in the mid 70’s and mid 50’s at night.  I was also in the mood for a bit a ocean paddling so I hit the road Friday morning and headed down to Ocracoke Island.  The plan was to launch at the public ramp at Silver lake, paddle south to the inlet and, catching the slack tide, head north on the ocean side and land at the beach near the campground.  A quick bike ride back to the launch ramp and the loop would be complete.

But it was not to be.  Either Wednesday or Thursday I had apparently injured my right elbow while exercising and by Friday evening it was starting to become clear that a 14 mile paddle was probably not in my future.  I went ahead and set up camp and heading down to the village to catch the sunset and a dinner at Howard’s Pub.  Hoping for a miracle cure during the night, I took some Advil and retired under a beautiful starlit sky.  As suspected, Saturday morning brought perfect paddling conditions but no improvement in the elbow. I guess this little adventure will have to wait for another time.

Although I’ve seen worse, the mosquitoes were still pretty thick at the campground so I wasn’t in much of a mood to hang out there.  I decided to break camp and just take a leisurely trip up the coast and head on home.  Oh well, there’ll be other chances.

All good things must come to an end and it looks like today will be the beginning of the end for this little trip.  Still not being in too big a hurry to get home, I decided to check out the Rhode Island coast and head south from Providence down to Newport.  I continued east on 138 and then south on Scenic 1A down to Point Judith where I arrived just in time for a nice sunset at the Fishermen’s Memorial and Point Judith Lighthouse.  Continuing a bit further on Route 1, I finally called it a day and spent the night in Mystic, Connecticut.

By now I’m pretty much ready to get home, so Tuesday morning I hit I-95 and made a beeline for Virginia Beach.  As with any trip like this, the last 100 miles seem to take forever. I didn’t think I’d ever get to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel but, alas, by 6PM I was home and by 7PM all my gear unloaded putting an end to a great 7 day road trip.

There’s no doubt that a return to Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park is going to be in my near future.  Although there’s something refreshing about spur-of-the-moment trips such as this, you can’t help but think that you missed something.  There’s no doubt that a second visit will be even better.