June  15, 2015 Nice …. I may be getting spoiled by all of our travels, but I’m going to call this a very nice, pretty drive, park and campground. Today we drove from Thornton Gap to Dickey Ridge. Tomorrow we’ll go from Mathews Arm Campground to the Harry F. Byrd Visitor Center in our car. This will cover about 1/2 of Skyline Drive. I’ve already told David that I would like to drive the entire 105 miles from Front Royal to Rock Fish Gap, in a CAR. This is a rough go in an RV.  Not because of the roads, but the elevations.  The roads so far have been excellent. After driving the switchbacks of the Great Smokies these roads are a piece of cake. Once again, kudos to the National Park Service.
We are in BEAR country. We’ve already seen the biggest black bear that either of us has ever seen. David has hunted bear in Alaska and this one WOW-ed him. Sorry, no photo 🙂 It happened so quick that we both just gaped in amazement. He crossed the road in front of us in a matter of seconds.
The campground is pet friendly, but E T is not allowed on many of the trails we hope to hike. Since our rattlesnake encounter we’ve decided to stick with more popular and populated trails. She is having an awesome time driving with her nose out the window and seeing the views from the overlooks on Skyline Drive.
There are 75 overlooks along the drive. The views are gorgeous, but when you add a little history it makes them sparkle. Signal Knob is a location the Confederates used, during the Civil War, to send messages.  Pretty cool, when you think about the time and logistics. I can’t imagine what it would be like to climb these mountains on foot or horseback. We’re talking STEEP here!
There are four campgrounds in the park. Amenities are VERY limited. Mathews Arm, where we are camped boasts FLUSH TOILETS. The majority of campers here are serious tenters and backpackers. We’ll see what tomorrow brings but right now my impression is there’s a fine line of things to do here between the driving tour and backcountry hiking. David made me laugh today when he asked if I wanted him to take my bike off the RV. My answer was only if he wants to pick me up at the bottom of the mountain.