Douthat State Park is one of Virginia's jewels. Voted among the nation’s 10 best state parks, it has more than 43 miles of trails. Beards Mountain has just as many beautiful vistas as the Blue Suck Falls Hike, which is the other circuit hike in the park. Both hikes feature lots of Mountain laurel, which blooms in early June.

We were last at Douthat at this same time last year. It was even more beautiful than we remembered. The trails are in fantastic condition with good blazing and signage throughout.

We'll have to make it back again next spring to hike Beards Mountain and make it to the two overlooks that we missed this time out. But we don’t really need a reason :). We could visit this park again and again, just for the beauty of the valley.

Cacapon Resort State Park is a beautiful area of over 6,000 acres. There is something for everyone here. A virtual labyrinth of over 20 miles of hiking trails, a trap shooting range, horseback riding, swimming and boating, as well as fishing in the large lake and reservoir. The park also has accommodations of 24 cabins and a main inn for weekend getaways.

Cacapon is a derivative of a Shawnee Indian word meaning "medicine waters". West Virginia is renowned for its fabulous state park system, and Cacapon is a perfect example. However what we did notice, is that although there were quite a few people enjoying the parks other facilities, we didn’t see another hiker on the trails.

We plan to make it back in the fall to explore some of the other trails and possibly do some horseback riding. If you are looking to find an out of the way place that is still close to the DC area with plenty to do, this is it!

Little Schloss is just one of the many beautiful circuit hikes possible in the Great North Mountain area. Little Stoney Creek is also a favorite with backpackers, with many camping sites along its banks. The vista from Little Schloss is spectacular. This area also experiences an explosion of Mountain Laurel in early to mid June.

I also got an early start, getting on the trail at 8 am on Saturday because of the strong line of storms that were forecast to go through the area in the afternoon. Sure enough, you could hear the thunder in the distance during the last mile of the hike. Just made it back to the parking area before the clouds opened up :)

The Three Falls hike is a circuit that passes Rose River Falls, Dark Hollow Falls, and Lewis Spring Falls. These are three of the most beautiful falls in the SNP. There is also an option of shortening the distance, and vertical gain, by opting out of the Lewis Spring Falls section for a total of 6.1 mls and 1530ft gain.

The three falls are at their peak in the in the spring, but don’t overlook the small things, like this Hooked Buttercup (Ranunculus recurvatus), that are blooming all over the park in April.

We had a picture perfect day on Friday. The views along on the AT at Fishers Gap, as well as from the Lewis Spring Falls overlook, were spectacular. Weekday hikes are some of the best days to enjoy the Shenandoah National Park, as you can enjoy the solitude of some of these more popular hikes that are much busier on the weekends.

At 14.7 miles the Jeremy's Run loop is one of the longest in the SNP. There are several beautiful views on the Neighbor Mountain Trail of Kennedy Peak, Duncan Knob, and the Three Sisters Ridge just to the south. Also with 14 crossings of Jeremy's Run this hike can be a challenge in the spring when the water is at its highest level.

Again we were lucky with the weather on Saturday. With showers forecast for much of the day, it turned out to be sunny with no rain at all. The Jeremy’s Run hike also has a great campsite above the falls near the lower section of the run. Late spring will be a great time to make it back and camp above the falls.

Whether you do make this a two day backpack, or just a long day hike, this is still one of the most scenic circuit hikes in the park.