Birding and hiking Shenandoah

When we get the chance, hubby and I like to spend a day driving on the Skyline Drive and hiking on the trails in Shenandoah Nat'l Park.  So, yesterday we left early in the morning and returned after the sunset. The skyline drive is a great place to see the black bear, we lucked out and saw a medium size bear crossing the road in front of us. I love seeing any kind of wildlife and seeing a bear is really exciting to me.

After a 2 1/2 hour drive we were happy to get out of the car and take a hike. Our first hike was on one of my favorite trails called the Limberlost trail. It is an easy 1.3 mile hike consists of  a gravel pathway and some boardwalk. It is lined with beautiful mountain laurels, they were blooming beautifully with white and pink blossoms. The deer practically walked right up to us, which was great for photos. The area was once known for the beautiful Hemlock trees mostly gone now due to an imported insect called the hemlock wooly adelgid. Limberlost trail seems to be an appropiate name for this trail. There are still lots of trees and the mountain laurels and wildflowers are plentiful.


                               I think these are wild pink azaleas

The wildlife is a big attraction for me, not only seeing bears is exciting but the deer, birds and butterflies are wonderful. After the hiking the Limberlost trail we drove down to the Big Meadow area. which has a nice camp store and restaurant for a quick bite before we went on our next hike.


Some of the birds seen, id and pictured in my mosaic are the Cedar Waxwings, Eastern Phoebe, Scarlet Tanger. The deer is one that walked up to us on the Limberlost trail. I am not sure of the Butterflies and the tiny blue moth was beautiful.

After our lunch we decided to do the hike called the Stony Man nature trail, which 1.6 miles and a gradual climb to the second highest peak in the park. This trail leads to a wonderful vista of the Shenandoah Valley. Along the trail we heard many Eastern Towhees, Vireos and was able to catch some glimpses of the beautiful Scarlet Tanager.

If you click on this photo you can see some of the Skyline Drive way in the distance.

Part of the scenic view from the Stony Man Peak

I am combining memes with this post and will be joining Mary's Mosaic Monday and That's My World
Thanks to Mary for hosting the fun meme Mosaic Monday and thanks to the hosting team of That's My World. Also, thank you for stopping by to see my blog and post.