Day 71 - Swift Run Gap to Big Meadows

Saturday, June 13th - Up at 5:15, with the intention of typing blog reports - unfortunately both my troop111.org and my mailsnare accounts refused to allow me access. Eventually I sent one report to Pete via Kim's email system, but that was it. Jim got up around 7:00 to make us breakfast (omelets, sausages, and biscuits, quite a meal), and Mark came in around 7:30 or so. We were pretty stuffed by the time we finished. It was a misty, sultry day outside, with the mountains barely visible. Once we were done eating, we quickly packed up, and Jim and Kim took us back up to Swift Run Gap, arriving about 9:25. Did our final goodbyes and thank yous, and got going immediately.

Right after we started, we began seeing signs for a Trail Magic at a Ranger Station, but being that we had just eaten a huge meal we passed on by. Pretty decent trail today, and extensive signs of trail maintenance along the way, including a couple of guys who were weed-whacking the brush. But also some significant climbs, and we were soon dripping wet again with the heat and humidity. Came into Lewis Mountain Camp, and we stopped briefly so Mark could snag a Pepsi at the camp store (I stuck with water). Just as we were leaving, Bob-Bon came by and also decided to hit the various facilities. We continued on to Bear Fence Hut, where Mark went in to check the Register and sign us in as passing by. He noted that Salty had written an acknowledgment that Thunderpants and Sis had left the trail, so I guess they must have called him. He confirmed that he was heading on alone; unfortunately, with our upcoming 3-day break coming up, we're quite unlikely to see him again (which is, of course, the way of things out here). Too bad; he's a good guy to hike with.

Continuing on, we were both struck by the groups of people on the trail and especially the number of vehicles on the Skyline Drive (including a large number of motorcycles). I guess I wasn't expecting this many people in the Park before the Virginia schools let out. Quite a difference from mid-week. We talked with several of the groups, and were suitably gratified by the oohs and aahs from everyone who were impressed that - yes - we had walked here from Georgia. The last 5 miles to Big Meadows seemed to pass by slowly - it was a long uphill for basically the entire day, and we were feeling it by this point. Arriving at the camp (5:45), we were unhappy to find various "Area Closed" signs on the trail, due to the local peregrine falcon nesting sites. That was fine, but there were no instructions for through-hikers, and so we ended up having to bushwhack into the camp - ridiculous!

Eventually we made our way to the Camp Office, where we were fortunate to get the last campsite left in the camp, E181, all the way on the east edge of the campground. Lucky for us, though we could have pushed on to the next shelter (about 3 more miles) had the campground been sold out. But another 5 - 10 minutes and we'd have had no choice. We set up quickly, chatted up a few of the neighbors a bit (they were also impressed that we were through hiking), and ate dinner. Then we started hearing distant thunder and the horizon turned dark rather quickly (7:00), so the long threatened thunderstorm had arrived. And moving fast too - we barely had time to get our stuff and ourselves under cover before heavy rain began falling. I took the opportunity to do a bandanna cleanup at the bath-house. Fortunately the heavy rain lasted less than half an hour, but more than enough to ensure a wet packup and heavier packs tomorrow. It did seem much cooler afterwards, so we stayed in our tents for the night (around 8:00 pm). Both our tents stayed dry throughout the downpour, so we're pretty happy with them. Unfortunately our nearest neighbors (the ones we had not talked to) decided to hold a singalong 'til just after midnight, plenty loud enough to keep both of us awake. They finally quit just as I was getting dressed to go do an aggravation dump. A good day otherwise, about 17 1/2 miles.