Hello, this past week I spent four days in Shenandoah with my family during which I explored and photographed mountain tops to waterfalls to sunsets. Our family headed out on Tuesday to the park. When we arrived at the lodge there was this nice spider web which I spent some time photographing.

Soon after getting settled, I decided to hike the nearby trail – Stony Man. Stony Man, while fairly short, rewards with breathtaking views. Though far from empty, I expected the summit to be much more busier than it was so I hopped around taking some photos before sitting on a rock watching the shadows of the distant trees.

While it was late enough that if I desired I could stay til sunset, I decided to return before then despite wanting to enjoy the Shenandoah sunset as I didn’t want to miss dinner. Speaking of which, my Dad brought a portable grill and we managed to make an amazing Tuscan scallop dish that night. I put a picture in the bottom gallery to either make you hungry or jealous :)

The next day after breakfast, I went on a hike to Robertson Mountain, a lesser known peak in the park. I actually discovered this on my way to Old Rag earlier this summer when its path intersected with the one I was travailing. I later searched it up and saw people liked it so decided I would try it on a future date. When coming from Skyland Lodge where we were staying, I took the White Oak Canyon path to the Old Rag fire road then the path to Robertson’s summit. In and out it was a modest 7 or so miles with a moderate though never overly steep elevation change. Before reaching the summit itself I passed a man who struck up a conversation with me, apparently he was not expecting to see anyone as he had the summit to himself the past few hours. During the conversation, he mentioned that this hike has become his go to in Shenandoah instead of his previous Old Rag hike because of its seclusion and yet similar views. After parting, I soon reached a trail which intersected to the right; this trail the man told me would lead to the summit.

The views at the summit were amazing. While I struggled to photograph the gorgeous views as the sun was directly above so the lighting was quite harsh, I think the pictures are still beautiful. After walking back to the lodge, I decided that I had not had enough adventures that day, so after a bit, I went to Stony Man (again) to see the sunset.

And well sunsets in Shenandoah don’t disappoint! Magnificent colors, cascading blues in the distance, birds dancing in the trees, everything. To think the sun rises and sets twice a day and yet in our lives how many do we see? Too few is the only answer. That night was windy and cold yet I stayed a fair bit after the sunset watching the mountains in the distance. During this time I managed to get the photograph of the silhouettes of the mountains post sunset and the result still astounds me. I placed it as the header image because of how much I liked it, scroll up to the top to see it again. All I did to attain that shot was to focus on the mountains in the distance with my 58mm vintage lens. A little about the lens as I never mentioned it nor used it in my past day trips. It is the Helios 44-2, made in the Soviet Union, it’s known for its distinctive swirling bokeh and the quantity produced so they’re quite inexpensive. I have had alot of fun playing with it in the past few months and its likely the best $35 I’ve spent. One of the other interesting things is exploring its focal length as my normal, at least normal as in non-vintage, is a wide angled lens versus this being something closer to a light telephoto with sensor crop included. At some point, I may make a post on vintage lens' as it really has been one of the more fun aspects of photography that I’ve explored. After lingering there until twilight fell and the last colors left the sky, I decided to head back.

The next morning, our family went on a little walk at Limberlost which at times can be a struggle because my sister is special needs so walks can be quite dramatic, but to all of our surprises, she did great and we managed to journey through the path with her! Later that day, my mom & I went out to part of White Oak Canyon. The trail seemed even more fall-like than the day before making a beautiful trail only more lovely.

I stopped many times along the path taking photos like the one above by the trickling stream, many more are in the gallery at the bottom of the page. Eventually we managed to reach the upper falls and I took some photos from the cliff that overlooked the falls and cascades. However the the view from the cliff wasn’t the best so we followed the trail downwards to see if we could get to the base of the falls. At first we weren’t sure if we could actually get there but following a small makeshift trail we got to its base. I found a spot to set up my tripod which gave the following result with a longer shutter speed.

After taking a few more shots from different angles I packed up and we made the long return. After returning, I decided that I still hadn’t had enough that day and decided to go again to Stony Man to see the sunset. Like I said earlier, you can’t see too many sunsets. The sunset was again beautiful though I took less photos and more enjoyed the view. The next day, we made the return drive back from the great time in Shenandoah. Thanks for reading!

Bonus Photos