Apri 5th 2010,
Ever since I started visiting places in US, I always wanted to experience a National Park in Midwest and North East regions of US.
One that looked feasible was Cuyahoga Valley NP in Ohio and Shenandoah NP in Virginia. I thought about this because Schumi (alias Vidyashankar), a close friend of mine and a avid like me is staying in Cleveland, Ohio. That makes planning easier.
I started looking for Tickets to nearby Airports. San Francisco to Pittsburgh worked out well!!!! Booked the ticket straight away and what followed is below.. :)
Who are going to be there?
Group 1
1) Fahad from California
2) Balaji from Wisconsin
3) Scud from Texas
4) Arun from Ohio
5) Jyothi from New Jersey
Group 2
1) Vidyashankar from Ohio
2) VidyaRaman from Connecticut
3) Kasthuri from Ohio
4) Sriram from Ohio
5) Atul from Ohio
Plan for May 1-2 2010
Saturday:
Weather:
Weather is expected to be moderately sunny (but you never know, it changes drastically). So be prepared for Rain & Shine during the trek.
Hike:
Its a 8 miles round trip which includes some rock scrambling. Expected to take 6 Hrs. We'll start around 8-9 AM in the morning, reach summit, finish lunch and return back by 3 PM. Please plan to carry a small bag for yourself to carry 1) Two Litres of Water 2) Snacks 3) Food
Route:
Plan:
08:00 PM - Schumi, Finish your dinner and start from Cleveland
10:10 PM - Pick Balaji at Pittsburgh and go to Rentals for car pickup and hang around till 11:10 PM.
11:10 PM - Come to Airport and pick rest of us
11:30 PM - Add additional drivers and start towards West entrance of Shenandoah Park, we have 5 and half hour journey
05:00 AM - Reach west entrance and refresh at Visitor center ( Finish breakfast on the way)
06:00 AM - Start driving towards Old Rag parking lot and visit all vista points enroute
08:00 AM - Reach Trail Head/Parking Lot and start hiking
03:00 PM - End of Trek
03:30 PM - Start driving to Cleveland, OH ( Home Sweet Home to Sleep) - 6 and half hours drive from here
10:00 PM - Reach Cleveland and sleep nicely
Sunday:
Weather:
Per forecast, its gonna be Showers. Take out your rain jackets & head to Cuyahoga Valley NP for some time pass
Plan:
10:00 AM - Vidya talked about Lake Erie, Visit in the morning spend some time and start to NP
01:00 PM - Reach Cuyahoga Valley NP, Finish Breakfast or Lunch depending on what time we reach
02:00 PM - Finish lunch and start driving towards Pittsburgh
04:30 PM - Reach Temple, Say Hi to Venkatesh
05:00 PM - Start from Temple and reach Airport by 6:00 PM
06:00 PM - Drop Fahad and proceed to Rentals for returning
07:00 PM - Rest of people reach Airport and fly to respective destinations.
Reference:
