A photograph of a painting. An almost abstract painting by nature on the Big Meadow of Shenandoah National Park. It was a wonderful fall scene on the wide open land with colors and patterns everywhere. It was wild, it was chaotic, yet, there seemed to be an order to it. And that was a challenge I enjoyed - finding the camouflaged order of things.

It was very windy, with the grasses and shrubs swaying in the gusts. It was also fairly cold with that wind. And it was a very different experience from the rest of the national park. Aside for the Big Meadow, Shenandoah is one big forrest. And that gave the meadow a special feel too.

Shenandoah National Park was established in December 1935. It's main and unique feature is a 105-miles long Skyline Drive along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia offering views of the Shenandoah Valley to the west and Piedmont Plain to the east. Along the drive, one can enjoy approximately 500 miles of hiking trails. The park also offers many picturesque waterfalls made even more beautiful by heaving to hike to them, many requiring a descend of several hundred feet to see them, followed by the same ascend back to the trail head. Many of these hikes take you along creeks where many small cascades offer great views as a prelude to the grand finale at the trails' end.