Canoe Camping in Virginia - 4 Days on the Shenandoah River
Come along for 4 days of canoe camping on the Shenandoah River.
For this adventure, we did some old school canoe camping along the banks of the South Fork of the Shenandoah River, just outside of Bentonville, Virginia...
For easier reading, check out the full blog post on my website here:
Since none of us own a canoe, we dropped by the Downriver Canoe Company and picked up a couple of rentals. They got us all geared up, went over some maps and legal dispersed camping options on the George Washington National Forest side of the river, private property to avoid, and even some camping spots that they maintain and make available for reservation and rental. We decided to opt out of the designated pay sites, and instead find out what we could discover ourselves in the National Forest. A link to their website is below for those interested. Our experience with them was very positive. So much so that my wife and I actually went back a couple of month later for another trip to celebrate my birthday (I didn't film that trip, but it was a great time!)
As mentioned previously, when heading down river, a good portion of our route was flanked on the left side by George Washington National Forest. This gave is some solid options for free, legal camping without the need for any permits or advanced registration. For those of you interested in other options though, there are plenty of private pay campsites right along the river. Many of which you can even drive right up to. There's also a state forest that has camping available, but you have to reserve a designated spot in advance, instead of just pulling up on shore and setting up camp like we did in the GWNP. We preferred this for a more secluded feeling of having the woods to ourselves, scouting out a decent campsite, collecting wood etc.
We did around 25 lazy miles or so on this trip. A bit of fishing, a bit of lounging and wading, and a whole lot of good times. In fact, if you've ever been to Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, then you've probably seen the stretch of river that we did. It's the distinct, winding s-turn shaped river that you see looking down from may of the overlook areas along the scenic drive.
Oh, and speaking of fishing, just a quick note on that - While there's some good, fun fishing in the Shenandoah River, consuming any fish from it is not recommended, due to discharge of industrial mercury to this part of the Shenandoah Valley by some unscrupulous company's back in the 1930's to 1950 or so. So yeah, catch and release is the way to go.
On the upside, on of the cool things about canoe camping is all the cool food you can bring and cook. With the help of a cooler and a boat to carry the weight instead of our backs, we were able to bring all kinds of fun camp food like steaks, bratwurst, eggs and bacon for breakfast, etc. Oh, yeah, and a couple domestic beers.
Speaking of coolers and such, we found it easiest to not bother killing ice trying to keep our beverages cold. Instead, we just chilled each nights libations right in the river, submerged in an old duffle bag. We reserved cooler space primarily for perishable food items. This limited the amount of times that we had to go in and out of the coolers, as well as the amount of ice needed. For the main food cooler, containing items we didn't want to get wet, I simply froze a 2.5 gallon water jug. That's the brick shaped style with the spout. It fit perfectly in the bottom of my cheap igloo cooler, and lasted until the third day. By then our perishable items were consumed, and as an added bonus, we had 2.5 gallons of clean drinking water.
All in all, it was a great trip, with great friends. I couldn't have asked for more.
Link to where we chose to get our canoe rentals:
South Fork Shenandoah River - Bentonville, VA - 06-06-14 - Part 1 of 7
Joyce and I rented a couple of kayaks at the Downriver Canoe Company, Bentonville, VA. I highly recommend booking a trip through them. Love their jobs and gave us lots of fun advice and where to go on the river. Joyce paddled an Old Town Loon 111 and I had a Current Designs Kestral 12 footer. We were dropped off about 3 miles upstream from DRC and paddled upstream a little ways before heading downstream and letting the current take us. Joyce had a little trouble maintaining a strait course upstream due to the current and ended up zig-zagging her way along. A very enjoyable trip and Joyce's first in her own boat.
Shenandoah River Valley thanks Downriver Canoe Company 2012-08-27_15-04-26_476
Canoeing through the picturesque Shenandoah River Valley, thanks to the nice folks at Downriver Canoe Co. Sorry Marvin, but you missed a great day!
Shenandoah River Valley thanks Downriver Canoe Company 2012-08-27_13-56-59_776
Tiny red flowers, a small middle of the river island and delightful spot for a break.
Canoeing Shenandoah river
7 mile trip
Cows cooling off in the Shenandoah River
During our canoe ride down the Shenandoah River we ran across some cows getting a drink and coolng off in the river.
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South Fork Shenandoah River - Bentonville, VA - 06-06-14 - Part 6 of 7
More floating downstream. At (14:30) some Canada geese swim out from under some trees into the river in front of me. I follow them until they get annoyed with me and take off.
South Fork of the Shenandoah
A glimpse of the river at Shenandoah River State Park.
Compton rapids 2
Shenandoah river canoe trip 6/14
Troop 380 Mountain Man Canoe Trip: June 1978 South Fork Shenandoah River
June 1978 Mountain Man Canoe trip on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. Mike Johnson joined Boy Scout Troop 380 in 1957. It was a very active troop sponsored by St. Peter's Catholic Church that did a lot of camping and backpacking. Mike achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in 1960, and a year later, the Bronze, Gold, and Silver Eagle Palms with a total of 42 Merit Badges. He was also an Order of the Arrow member.
After returning from two Vietnam tours with the USS Constellation-CVA-64 in 1969 Mike spent time with an affiliate Troop and in 1976 returned to Troop 380 as an assistant Scoutmaster and Merit Badge Counselor. He and Scoutmaster Pete Ryan, also an avid outdoorsman, established the Mountain Man Primitive Camping outfit for advanced campers who liked to go. Mike retired from Scouting in 1981.
Mike had his Roughshod Records label-mate James Adelsberger [also an Eagle Scout] compose the score, Mountain Man for this presentation.
Mike Johnson & James Adelsberger Music & Biography:
South Fork Shenandoah River-Shenandoah River Park 06-04-15 - Part 1 of 4
First time at the town of Shenandoah's Shenandoah River Park. A dam backs up the water for a ways so upstream paddling can be done. Started out rainy, but stopped after getting out on the water. Lots of ducks and geese hanging out at the launch ramp. I headed towards the dam before turning around at the buoys and going upstream.
20130504 flyover of South Fork of Shenandoah River
Shenandoah River - South Fork - Lost footage
My buddy, Ryan and I, floated down 19 miles of the Shenandoah South fork during a warm spell in Mid-March of 2013. I thought I lost this video, but turns out it was still laying around. The warm spell snapped once we got there and temps got to 45 during the day and 30 at night. Muddy, cold, fast moving water equals a sucky fishing trip. But it was still fun floating and camping even if we had to wear everything we brought to keep from freezing.
7-25-12 Compton Rapids Shenandoah Kayak
Second time kayaking Compton Rapids Shenandoah
05-28-2012 SNP - RAPIDAN-HOOVER CAMP HIKE - CAMP BRIDGE
It was much easier hiking down the trail than hiking back up to the Milam Gap Parking area. The grade is not so harsh - it's quite gradual but there is elevation drop of 1320'. So take plenty of water on a hot day. There are also 3 rock walk fords on the trail and a few falls you can see along the Rapidan River headwaters.
More facts about the hike & even a printable/savable map. -
North Carolina | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
North Carolina
00:01:15 1 History
00:10:56 1.1 Native Americans, lost colonies, and permanent settlement
00:15:04 1.2 Colonial period and Revolutionary War
00:21:04 1.3 Antebellum period
00:24:39 1.4 American Civil War
00:28:14 2 Geography
00:31:02 2.1 Flora and fauna
00:31:10 2.2 Climate
00:33:14 3 Demographics
00:33:57 3.1 Ethnicity
00:34:48 3.2 Languages
00:35:52 3.3 Religion
00:38:29 3.4 Most populous counties
00:38:54 3.5 Major cities
00:39:21 3.6 Largest combined statistical areas
00:40:10 4 Economy
00:43:15 5 Transportation
00:44:09 6 Government and politics
00:46:53 7 Education
00:47:02 7.1 Primary and secondary education
00:48:16 7.2 Colleges and universities
00:50:09 8 Media
00:50:17 9 Sports
00:53:27 10 Tourism
00:56:11 11 Recreation
00:57:51 12 Arts and culture
00:59:04 12.1 Music
01:02:48 12.2 Shopping
01:03:48 12.3 Cuisine and agriculture
01:08:05 12.4 Ships named for the state
01:08:43 12.5 State parks
01:09:02 12.6 State symbols
01:11:23 12.7 Armed forces installations
01:12:34 13 See also
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SUMMARY
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North Carolina ( (listen)) is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west, Virginia to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 9th most populous of the U.S. states. The state is divided into 100 counties. The capital is Raleigh, which along with Durham and Chapel Hill is home to the largest research park in the United States (Research Triangle Park). The most populous municipality is Charlotte, which is the second largest banking center in the United States after New York City.The state has a wide range of elevations, from sea level on the coast to 6,684 feet (2,037 m) at Mount Mitchell, the highest point in North America east of the Mississippi River. The climate of the coastal plains is strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the state falls in the humid subtropical climate zone. More than 300 miles (500 km) from the coast, the western, mountainous part of the state has a subtropical highland climate.
In 2018, North Carolina was ranked number one on Forbes' Best States for Business ranking for a second year in a row.