Bear Creek Lake State Park, VA - Base Camp

ABOUT THE PARK AND CABINS:
Bear Creek Lake State Park - Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
Bear Creek Lake State Park Overnight Facilities - Virginia DCR

DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates to Park Office:  37.53173, -78.27308
Car passes issued at the time of registration for cabins or camping are valid for parking at all other Virginia State Parks, otherwise there is a $4 parking fee.

HIKES:
Bear Creek Lake State Park, VA - 7.5 miles
High Bridge Trail State Park, VA - 3.25 miles
Cumberland State Forest, VA - 7.25 miles
Twin Lakes State Park, VA - 4.1 miles
Bear Creek Lake State Park, VA Lake Loop - 3.35 miles

Shawnee did three of the hikes over three days for a total of almost 15 miles.  I see no difference in her compared to her regular weekend hikes.  Pretty amazing for a 16-year-old!  (That would be 93 human years!)

BASE CAMP:
Virginia State Park cabins are the best and they are dog-friendly also.  As an added bonus, our cabin, cabin #5, which was the only one available, is handicapped accessible.  For a 16-year-old dog with mobility issues, this was wonderful!  I got a break from having to help her up and down steps which is the only way to get her out at home.

I had a hike planned to break up the drive to Virginia but it rained.  And rained.  And rained.

Somebody was complaining and wanted to get out to stretch her legs.

We got off of I-95 in Fredericksburg, VA, where I lived as a teenager many, many, many years ago. The rain stopped so we went to the Fredericksburg Battlefield National Military Park which is right around the corner from where I used to live.

We did a short hike up to Lee's Hill.

On a clear day there is probably a view.  This day, just fog.

Back to the car for a little nostalgic driving tour since I had an hour to kill before check in time at our cabin.

It was right along in here driving through the battlefield park where, at about 17 years of age, I was pulled over for speeding for the first time.  I saw the park police behind me and was making darned sure the speedometer was smack on the speed limit yet I was pulled over.  Turns out my dad's car was showing 10 mph less than what I was driving.  I got a warning, no ticket :)

The house we lived in.  My parents had it built and the top two windows on the left is where my bedroom was.  Those big trees certainly weren't there back in the day.

Where I worked during high school.

That little hike calmed her down some (or she was bored with the nostalgic tour) and it started raining again so back on I-95.

And here we are at our cabin at Bear Creek Lake State Park.  How nice is that handicapped ramp?

The cabins have wrap around porches with rocking chairs where we were definitely going to be spending some evenings.

Walking in the main door, the kitchen and living room.

The master bedroom.

The second bedroom.

The bathroom.

We like the Virginia State Park cabins!

To keep Shawnee from falling on the floors, had to bring along all of our rugs from home.

We sure know how to give a place that lived-in look really fast.

For Shawnee, an Aerobed, which took up much less room in the car than her dog bed.

Our cabin was lake view and since the rain had stopped, we took a quick walk down to the lake on the trail that started right outside our cabin door.

This is how close our cabin is to the trail.  Literally right outside the door.

Enough for now.  Tomorrow we hike!

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