Occoneechee State Park

This past weekend Mark and I marked another State Park off of "our list".  We visited Occoneechee State Park in Clarksville Virginia.  We left the kids at home with family and headed off on our own private adventure.  We soaked up the time alone with just each other as well as the laid back feel of staying on the lake.   

The park is named after the Native American people that lived in the area hundreds of years ago.  The visitor center does a good job describing the history of the tribe and then what became of them. 

The location is literally minutes from the town of Clarksville.   Even though we had been planning for the trip for a few weeks we really didn't do very much to prepare so it was a good thing the town of Clasksville had everything we needed.  We bought a few groceries so that we didn't have to eat in town for every meal.  But had we wanted to there were enough places open to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in town. 

The Buggs Island Overlook

On the second day of the stay we decided to hike part of the 20 miles worth of trails.  We hiked out of the cabin area to the Buggs Island Overlook (we took the loop).  The hike took us at least four hours, and that was with minimal breaks.  Mark was a little disappointed that the overlook wasn't more spectacular, I was just glad we had reached the end and could start the journey back.  We think that from the cabins to the end of the PMT (with the loop) was around 13 miles.  We did find a couple old foundations along the way.  There were no markers or indication in the park what the foundations were for. 

In the spring, summer and fall there is tent camping available.  They have the road closed in the winter so I couldn't really scope out the lots.  There is not a designated swimming area in the park despite being on the lake.  There are boat ramps and plenty of places for fishing though.  The cabins are pretty standard to the State Parks...no TV and no phone ;-)  We thought cabin #3 might have the best view of the lake. 

 

We really enjoyed the trip here.  Hard to say if it was the park, the lake or the fact that we were alone and enjoying each other so much....I'm sure it was a combination of all of those things.