Date: 2015-05-05
From: Swift Run Gap

To: Big Meadows
Miles today: 16.1

Hmmm, I could be getting accustomed to this life of leisure. Lounging on the bed with my foot propped up instead of hiking 17 miles like Princess today. However, I did have to change venue today. We packed up all our gear and left the Tree Streets Inn in Waynesboro at 6:30 this morning. Cathy picked us up and drove north to Elkton, then turned up Rt. 33 to Skyline Drive and into the Shenandoah National Park (SNP). Princess climbed out at the Swift Run Gap AT trailhead and headed north up the trail. Then Cathy drove me and our backpacks farther north on Skyline Drive to Skyland where we had reservations. I got to the front desk by 8:30 and I was really lucky - our room was already available, the only one that was. So I hauled our gear straight to the room, flopped on the bed, and propped up my leg for the rest of the morning. Meanwhile, Princess was motoring along the AT on her way to Big Meadow. The day started out with great weather, not too hot and with a thin overcast. A good day for hiking and she said the trail was pretty busy. Since she was slack-packing NoBo, she didn't see as many thru-hikers, but there were a lot of day hikers enjoying the weather. She was surprised to meet Fresh Grounds who was hiking southbound. We've seen him several times over the past two months, but usually he is serving up trail magic under his tent somewhere along the trail. She learned that now he's one of us hikers and he started southbound recently from Harpers Ferry, but she didn't find out how far he plans to go. She also saw Silverback at one of the Skyline Drive parking areas where his wife and daughter joined him. His wife will be hiking with him for a while and his daughter will be providing support. Silverback has been talking about seeing them and we're glad that they have all hooked up. It's fun to have friends and family join you, even for a little while. And I t looks like his foot is doing better. She met a new face on the trail, Hip Hop. He's retired military and he picked up his trail name as a result of his artificial hip. He's doing a long section through the SNP. He has a friend who is shuttling him, but he's carrying a full pack. He's testing things out because he wants to do a thru-hike in the near future.She had several moderate climbs today: Saddleback, Baldface, Bearfence, and Hazeltop Mountains. Bearfence is interesting because of the rock outcropping at the top. While it started out cool this morning (around 50), the temp climbed quickly and topped out over 80 around midday. She thought she was behind schedule and tried to hurry near the end, and that made the heat even worse on the uphills. She actually made it to Big Meadows early, and she had time for a milkshake, chicken salad sandwich, Coke, and banana. The waysides that the park has in place at various points where the AT intersects Skyline Drive are really great. They have good hot food, snacks, drinks and hiker supplies. A hiker can traverse the length of SNP without carrying much food at all. Cathy met her at Big Meadows and shuttled her to join me at Skyland by mid-afternoon. She did comment on the trilliums she saw along the trail. She said there were huge concentrations of them at several separated points. She said it seemed like acres of them, all blooming pink flowers at the same time - a really dramatic effect. At one point she passed a local fellow who said it was really unusual, he hasn't seen them like this in quite a while. As I noted yesterday, Ranger and his wife Gay are coming up to join us for a couple of days here at Skyland. They planned to camp en route tonight, but ran into huge delays along the Blue Ridge. So they are staying at a motel tonight. It probably worked out for the best, since some huge rainstorms passed through this evening.We have decided to give my leg another day's rest tomorrow, so Princess plans to leave early in the morning. The AT passes very close to our room here at Skyland, so she's going to jump on and head south from here to Big Meadows. It's not a long hike, we wanted it short because I expected to start back tomorrow. So she hopes to be finished by noon. The grand plan is that Ranger and Gay will stop and pick her up as they go by Big Meadows on the way up here to Skyland. So we're really looking forward to the next couple of days and I hope to make it back to the trail.