An epic winter road trip!
This winter on the tail end of a 32 day, 9,000 mile road trip, we made our way into one of my favorite national parks, Shenandoah National Park! I've visited the park 3 times, always with my dog, River, and always have had a great time. This trip would be no different.
We're from Massachusetts originally and often travel back to visit family for the holidays. Last Christmas we decided to make a big trip of it. From Arizona we set off southeast toward the world's largest Pistachio in Alamogordo New Mexico. Then to Waco Texas where we explored a small but beautiful collection of dinosaur fossils. From there we made our way to an incredible trailhead camp in Louisiana among plants bigger and more vibrant than anything we'd ever seen. Onto Florida we met up with some friends for a night and enjoyed the salty air. Through Georgia we met up with more friends and family before making our way through the Smokies, americas most diverse national park. We started to feel the time crunch as we closed in on 4,000 miles in 7 days and were ready for a few days rest with family for Christmas. I was able to get out for a day of fishing on the river that sparked my love for fly fishing over a decade ago, The Swift. A crystal clear tailwater that sees multiple fisherman every single day of the year no matter the weather.
A huge goal of this trip was to enjoy one of our favorite winter activities, snowshoeing. With the lack of snow hitting New England before Christmas, we reserved a backcountry cabin near Mont-Blanc Quebec. This would be the coldest we've experienced together with a shocking 18º below! I think the highest temp we saw for the 3 days was still under 5º, but with the woodburning stove roaring and several blankets on top of our sleeping bags, we were comfy as can be! We even packed in a stove top oven to make cinnamon rolls one morning, very much worth the weight and bulk.
From Canada we went back to family for a bit before officially hitting the road home. With our sights set on laying down miles and seeing a few National Parks, we made our way to Shenandoah. We arrived to torrential downpours and considered just driving through the park along Skyline Dr, an absolutely beautiful drive, but after psyching ourselves up and gathering some proper gear from the backseat, we were off on the Mill Prong Trail. Though we stopped a bit short, this trail eventually winds its way to Rapidan Camp, a small cabin frequented by President Hoover in the late 20's, he visited so much in fact that this cabin was dubbed "The Summer White House".
I can see why this place was so special to him and many others, I'm always left in aw, although that may be largely due to the fact I live in Arizona where water is scarce but in Shenandoah it's quite plentiful. While River was running around having the time of her life, Smokey was appreciating all the incredible plant life and in particular, the moss. And I was taking in the endless fishing opportunities with a bunch of successful takes from naive brookies, mainly on my favorite Balloon Caddis in a size 16. Even with temps hovering in the low 50's and a consistent downpour, this was one of the most enjoyable times I've had fishing. 
With our massive soaking wet smiles we continued driving late into the night to a camp spot out in rural Kentucky where, we would wake up to find our truck covered in snow. We love a snowy camp, and the go fast camper has been pretty well suited to these condition making for a very comfortable nights sleep. From there we continued our way home, stopping at a few great camp spots including; Land Between the Lakes TN, Hot Springs AR, Alibates Quarry national monument TX, etc.
The take away, weather and season don't dictate the level of fun a trip can be. On paper this would look like a terrible trip, but it was one of our favorites!