After many years of talking about doing it, we finally rented one of the rustic cabins in Shenandoah National Park this week. The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, which we are members of, owns several dozen cabins spread throughout the Blue Ridge and into Pennsylvania. Most are rustic in nature, with no electricity or modern plumbing; most also require walking a short distance from the nearest road. For this trip, we settled on the Pocosin Cabin, a structure built in the 1930's and located near Swift Run Gap in Shenandoah. 
Shenandoah has long been one of our favorite outdoor places - partly because it's perhaps the only natural area that we both learned to love before we met. We have been there during nearly every season, from the bone-chilling cold of late March to the blazing colors of Autumn. We have done family camping, explored history and park geology, and lots of hiking - the ~100 miles of AT through the park, as well as numerous other backpacking trips.
The drive to the park was rainy and overcast, and for a few miles we could barely see a car-length ahead of us on Skyline Drive. We stopped at the visitor center in Big Meadows in hopes of some clearing in the weather, and indeed as we arrived at the trailhead the rain slowed to a stop. The hike to the cabin was only ~1/4 mile, and we needed two trips to bring in everything for two kids including a 1-year old. The cabin is small inside, though there is space for 8 people to sleep - it would be tight. We spent most of our time on the cozy front porch, which features a picnic table that is protected from the rain, There was a view east to the valley near Stanardsville. Our big adventure for the trip was a ~4.5 mile hike to South River Falls. We could have visited this waterfall via a ~10 mile hike from the cabin, but that was a bit much to attempt. So we drove a few miles down Skyline Drive to South Rive Picnic Area, where we have started/ended a couple of backpacking trips, and embarked on a a lovely hike past a tumbling mountain stream to the falls, 3rd-highest in the park. I think we probably dropped (and gained) at least 1000 feet, and between the distance and the elevation it was definitely a record hike for Calista. Linnea had a great time in the backpack and even fell asleep on the way down. 
Linnea had fun practicing her walking (she's getting close), including a stroll on the AT. Calista loved the little spring near the cabin, and enjoyed meeting a thru-hiker at the spring one evening.
On the way to the park the temperature dropped roughly 20 degrees. We wore jackets and warm hats in the evening - always a lovely feeling during the summer! All in all, a great little summer trip. Here are the rest of the photos.
