Natural Tunnel

Today we woke up early and headed off to Duffield, VA to see the Natural Tunnel. The tunnel amphitheater is 400′ high, the stream ran very deep through this once ledge and carved a natural tunnel through the caverns. In the 1800’s railroad tracks were laid through the tunnel to save time transporting minerals. The railroad was and is still used to carry coal and natural materials from the mines. We road down the steep hill on a chair lift which carried us to the foot of the hill and the entrance of the natural tunnel, after looking into the tunnel we hiked up the trail that took us up the winding ledge until we reach the top, a point where you can step out on and look down the 400′. The weather was close to 100; needless to say we were very warm. We took an alternate path down that took us through a more wooded area.

After the hike we had a picnic mom and made for us, the food was refreshing, I always enjoy a good picnic. Duffield is not too far away from Tennessee so we decided to stop and pickup a magnet of the State. We all collect the State magnets of where we have visited.

The Appalachian Trail is very beautiful in southern Virginia; all you can see are the rolling mountains in a blue haze for miles and miles. On the hillsides there are hundreds of Black Angus cows just roaming the fields looking for grass to eat. The mountains look massive as you’re driving through the valleys winding around sharp corners.

I am now sitting on the swing on the front porch waiting for the fireworks in the surrounding towns to be fired off. Sharp Top is starting to fade away into the night; the lightning bugs are coming out to perform their own little fireworks.

I’m taking in the scenery, noises from the birds chirping, cows mooing and thinking about how mom as always tries so hard to make vacations fun and worth while- I must say that she always succeeds, I’m very thankful for such a loving mother.