Greenstone & Thimbleberry's Blog: Natural Bridge VA...Olivia's First Tent Camping Night

Olivia set up the bedding inside the tent. This is her first night tent camping.

We arrived at the Natural Bridge in Virginia shortly after 2 and the afternoon temps were in the low 90's. We were able to get a tour of the caverns about 20 minutes after we arrived. This felt good as the temps in the caves remain 54 degrees year around. The tour of the caverns was fun for Olivia's first time, lasting 45 minutes. We descended 350' below the surface all together.

After the cavern tour we went over to the butterfly gardens over by the Natural Bridge visitor center. By that time it was after 4 so we headed to find campsite at Cave Mountain Lake a NF campground about 10 miles away. We found a nice wooded site, made supper (hot dogs and macaroni & cheese) and played in the stream behind our site. Around 8 we headed back to tour the Natural Bridge itself and enjoy the night show where they light up the bridge.

We returned to camp before 10, when they lock the gates, and enjoyed a nice night of sleep. It was so warm we kept the rain fly off the tent and could see the stars and moonlight. In the morning we ate breakfast, showered and packed up. We were headed to Shenandoah NP about 2 or 3 hours north up the Blue Ridge Parkway. More about this next time.