9/02/2011

August 31, 2011 – CCC Building

We spent this morning and early afternoon doing things around the motorhome.  I cleaned, vacuumed, then did laundry.  The laundry facilities here are great – clean and cheap (Lynne, another great laundry place – :-))).  Andy emptied our gray tank and refilled our water tank – we want to be ready for the weekend and not have to move.

This afternoon, we went on a ranger led hike to one of the CCC outbuildings. We met at upper Hawksbill Trailhead and our ranger, Jennifer, took us across the road and on the horse trail towards Big Meadows:

 08-31-11 Shenandoah NP - CCC Ranger Hike 001

Along the way, she explained many things about the CCC and the history of Shenandoah National Park.  Apparently after the projects were completed, all the CCC houses and buildings were torn down – they were not meant to be permanent.  So we have lost much of the cultural history.

But a couple of years ago, the park service did find one building that was not destroyed.  Can you guess what its use was?  Hint: it was located half-way between the Skyland Camp and the Big Meadows Camp.

Our group trying to guess:

08-31-11 Shenandoah NP - CCC Ranger Hike 012

The building:

08-31-11 Shenandoah NP - CCC Ranger Hike 002

08-31-11 Shenandoah NP - CCC Ranger Hike 007

08-31-11 Shenandoah NP - CCC Ranger Hike 009

It was used to store dynamite – how about that.   It was 6.5 miles away from either camp. 

So how come it was not found earlier?  It is well off the paths and trails and very hard to see from those trails.   Right now there is no direct path to the building – we had to dodge trees and branches and the ranger took us out a different way as to not make a path.  Very interesting.

The date at the doorstep – it is either 1934 or 1936 – hard to tell.

08-31-11 Shenandoah NP - CCC Ranger Hike 010 

On our way back, we found this colorful mushroom – nature’s colors – WOW!  (It is a little blurry because of the low light conditions – sorry.)

08-31-11 Shenandoah NP - CCC Ranger Hike 014

Another wonderful campfire night.

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