Appalachian Trail - Day 059 - Hightop Hut to Big Meadows Lodge

Day: 059

Date: Thursday, 22 June 2023

Start:  Hightop Hut (AT Mile 906.4)

Finish:  Big Meadows Lodge (AT Mile 926.8)

Daily Kilometres:  36.0 (Ascent 4232', Descent 3894')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1561.9

Weather:  Cold, overcast, occasionally foggy with showers, some heavy.

Accommodation:  Room in a lodge.

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts 

  Lunch:  Ham & cheese sandwich/Turkey & cheese sandwich, chocolate muffins.

  Dinner:  Meatloaf & vegetables, homemade fudge.

Aches:  Dave - sore heels still; Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  Had to be the hot shower in our room at Big Meadows Lodge after another wet and wintry day on the trail.

Lowlight:  Maybe climbing successive mountains during the day knowing that there would be no views to be had because of the weather.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We very quietly packed up and left our crowded shelter before anyone else stirred at 6:30am.  It had rained most of the night and it was hard to tell whether it was still raining or just dripping from the trees as we set out along the wet trail through saturated vegetation on our continuing journey through Shenandoah National Park.  There was a lot of debris on the trail all day from yesterday's and last night's weather, ranging from leaf litter to whole trees down.  If the rain didn't get us wet, then the low overhanging vegetation did.

When we managed to get reception, we checked the weather forecast which confirmed yesterday's forecast that it was going to be another wet day.  Accordingly, our plan was to get to Big Meadows Lodge, 20 miles away, and get a room to dry out, despite their high prices.

We took our breakfast break after six miles at a wet and dismal picnic area near the trail, which had a toilet block, always a popular amenity with thru-hikers.  Despite the weather, there were a few people there setting out on some of the local walks.

After breakfast, our next goal was the Loft Mt Campground, another six miles on, where we hoped to buy some lunch.  We reached there soon after noon and bought some sandwiches which we ate on chairs outside under cover in the foggy drizzly weather.  It was very quiet, with little movement in the campground and few visitors to the store, not what they would have wanted on the second day of summer (though the girl in the shop wasn't complaining).

We saw very few hikers during the day, and only one or two identifiable thru-hikers.  We would guess that many have abandoned the trail for a few days, though three of the other thru-hikers from the shelter have also booked into the Big Meadows Lodge for tonight.

Knowing that the Lodge had an expensive dinner menu, our afternoon goal was to get to the Wayside diner, about a mile before the Lodge to buy an early dinner and some after dinner snacks before the diner/store closed at 5:00pm.  This meant another eight miles of hiking, without a break, during which there was one very heavy downpour and increasing amounts of light rain.

We reached the diner around 4:20pm only to find that their kitchen was not operating because of an earlier power failure (probably due to yesterday's weather).  Curses!  Fortunately, Plan B was the expensive restaurant at the Lodge, so we bought some after dinner snacks and walked the mile to the Lodge in a cold gloomy drizzle.  On check-in, we pleaded that we were poor hikers and they found us a twin room that was about US$80 cheaper than Julie has been able to book by phone (so that covered the cost of dinner).  The room is fine and we turned the heaters up full blast, put a fan on, and spread all of our gear out to dry.  Even with pack covers and dry bags, in the weather we have had things get damp.

We had a nice dinner downstairs in the dining room and will have an early night, aiming for an early departure in the morning (when it is forecast to still be raining).