Date: 2009-06-14
From: Big Meadow

To: Big Meadow
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Reflections at Big MeadowIt continued to rain, as in every day so far in Shenandoah and according to the forecast will for the next 10 days. But we took advantage of some breaks in the weather to do some hiking around the meadow and check out5 some nearby waterfalls.On Saturday morning we walked down to the Byrd Visitor Center, which was about a mile from the camp0ground. The recently upgraded and remodeled it and have a great interactive exhibit on the history of Shenandoah National Park. Unfortunately, much of the history is about the shady research done about the mountain folk living here that erroneously painted them as backward, uneducated and poor land squatters that would benefit from relocation. Much of the surveys of the area were also shady, portraying the area as largely uninhabited and/or blighted. Both were done to justify the large-scale evictions and relocations that were inevitable in order to create the park and skyline drive. It gave me much more depth and appreciation for the park knowing what some sacrificed in order for it to exist.There was also a display about Lewis Mountain, a black only section of the park created to accommodate ¢separate but equal¢ access for blacks, which was the law of the land at the time. But most of the park maps and literature were forbidden to mention the segregation of the park. So it¢s somewhat ironic that desegregation of the park came about more from whites who were put out or offended to find they were not allowed to use Lewis Mountain.The sad parts of the park¢s history aside, there were also many great displays about the restoration of wildlife into the area, especially the bear and deer, both of which were extinct from the park area at the time of the Great Depression. There were also great displays about the creation of the Appalachian Trail and all of the work performed by the CCC during the Great Depression and the conscientious objectors during World War II. Especially reading about the CCC, it made me wonder why we aren¢t doing projects like this now when our National Parks have gotten so dilapidated from under funding and so many people need work. It seems a few billion dollars to fund projects like the CCC and WPA would so much farther than the trillions we¢re spending to subsidize banks, the auto industry and big oil. There¢s plenty of work that needs to be done fixing our parks and rebuilding our cities for future generations to live and enjoy. I am thankful, when reading of the founding of the park and our park system that people then were more concerned about what they were leaving for future generations than we are today.Aside from our hikes and historical forays, we took the opportunity to hang out for a while at the lodge, enjoying the view of the valley below. There is wildlife in abundance here, especially chipmunks, hawks and deer. I awoke Saturday morning to find a deer and her fawn grazing just a couple of feet from my tent. They seemed quite unfazed by my presence. We haven¢t seen any bear yet in the park, but we¢ve seen signs in the form of scat and overturned rocks. We have heard of sightings all over the park, including a mama and two cubs that morning by the lodge, but none have crossed our path.While we were at the Byrd Visitor Center we stopped to attend a presentation on bear by one of the Park¢s rangers. While watching I couldn¢t¢ help but think of what a perfect kid¢s show host she would make. After the presentation she came over to talk to us, drawn by our bear story and, of course, by Einstein. It turned out that her degree from college was in theater and early child development. Seemed to fit. Before she became a ranger she had spent 2 years in Africa working for the Peace Corps. We enjoyed talking with her about that.Sunday afternoon the sun came out, finally, and we had a nice relaxing afternoon sitting on the terrace overlooking the valley right outside of the lodge¢s taproom. While there, Wrongfoot, a former AT thru-hiker and author that was doing presentations at the lodge, came by to chat with us. We had been discussing a crisis we were having about finishing the trail. We assumed he would probably give us a motivational pep-talk on sucking it up and hiking. We were a bit surprised when he told us he had some regrets about missing so much of the trail because he was focused on hiking. He told us his father comes back each year, doing a section of the trail and taking his time to explore the whole area, play golf, see the local town, etc¢¦ In the end, he told us, we would have to hike our own hike and was confident we would do what was best for us. A few minutes later, the taproom server walked over with a couple of beers for us compliments of Wrongfoot.While relaxing, Tapeworm called us to say he had seen our names in the register and wasn¢t too far behind. He said he¢d try to catch up with us the next day at Big Meadow. We were very excited about that.