One Park at a Time: Park Unit 116: Shenandoah National Park Day 2

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Park Unit 116: Shenandoah National Park Day 2

The common room in Big Meadow Lodge

Front entry way to Big Meadow Lodge

We had breakfast in the beautiful Big Meadows Lodge, then went outside for our White Oak Basket-making Class. We thought this would be a quick class in weaving a basket, but instead, it ending up being a class in REALLY making baskets - starting from splitting the white oak into small thin pieces for weaving. The man who ran the class was Clyde Jenkins who is a famous basket maker - having a piece in the Smithsonian and having made a basket for Michelle Obama a few years ago. He was quite a character!

Clyde Jenkins teaching us how to split the wood along the growth lines

Trying to make an attempt at splitting the wood strips

Jason splitting the wood

John learning how to begin weaving the splits after building the base

Catherine weaving the splits and making sure to pull out the slats so the shape becomes round.

We started at 10:00 and after it started raining, we moved into the lodge. We took a break to have lunch, then went back to work. First we split the oak (which we did poorly so his apprentices cleaned them up). Next we wove the base of the basket with wide slats and next we wove the splits in between them. Finally we cut off the ends of the slats and tucked them in. At this point, I cut my thumb with the knife and needed some medical attention, but the rest of the gang finished off the handles on the baskets and wove the final split around the top edge. The total class took us almost 5 hours and we are impressed with how they came out! It was a great way to spend a very rainy day!

Jason's completed basket

After the basket class, Jason and Jill took advantage of a short break in the heavy rain and walked to the Rose River Falls trail and hiked down to the falls. They did a total of 5 miles, plus quite a steep grade coming back up. Here are some of their beautiful photos: