Date: 2018-06-12
From: Swift Run Gap (Elkton)

To: Loft Mountain Campground
Miles today: 18.7
Weather: overcast clouds

We wake in the Country View Motel to a great day for hiking, cool weather and mostly cloudy. The fog is rolling through at 3000 feet most of the day and we often walk up and down through it.We're shuttled to Swift Run Gap by the friendly motel clerk along with two thruhikers who came in yesterday afternoon to escape the rain. They and other thruhikers tell us it was a particular difficult storm, that it rarely rains all day like that.A ranger stops us as we walk through the Swift Run Gap entrance station back to the trail and asks to see our passes. We point to our backcountry permits, but she insists we each need an individual park entry permit since we are walking in without a car. That'll be $15 a head please! We argue, especially for the thruhikers, that the AT access points at north and south don't require an entry permit and we are just returning, not entering fresh here. A more senior ranger out of uniform interjects and explains the entry fee is separate from the backcountry permit and it's required of everybody, but quickly decides it's not worth insisting and tells the other to let us through. But how ridiculous! A car full of tourists can get in for $25, get anywhere in the park in a few hours, leave trash lying around, heavily use the visitor centers and other expensive frontcountry services and consume nearly all the rangers' attention, but long distance hikers following Leave No Trace, unable to reach more than one developed area a day, and staying mostly in the backcountry bothering nobody are supposed to pay $15 each? Nevermind the AT was here before the national park existed, and was moved to allow Skyline Drive to bring all the tourists in. I'd write it off to a green ranger except that the more experienced one was ready to back her up. Fortunately the two times I started at Thornton Gap the rangers were extremely nice, even giving me a map and taking our trash, never saying a word about an entry fee. There ends my rant.After that unpleasantness we climb the 1300 feet to Hightop Mountain. We're fresh, rested, and well-fed so it goes surprisingly quickly. The trail is very well groomed in this area. The rest of the day consists of a half-dozen mostly 600-700 foot climbs, some fairly steep, followed by descents to gaps - Smith Roach, Powell, Simmons, Pinefield, Ivy Creek and more. Few summits have views. It feels like the Roller Coaster in northern Virginia only all the climbs are longer, higher, and/or steeper. We fuel up with multiple lunches and Snickers breaks. There's also a tricky crossing over Ivy Creek. Surprisingly the trail is not very muddy and there is almost no standing water or runoff from yesterday's storm. So the miles pass quickly despite the elevation changes. But around mile 14, climbing another 700 foot ascent to the Loft Mountain Wayside side trails, we hit a wall and it's time to bring out our secret weapon - the can of Coke I've carried all these miles from the motel. It gets us through to Loft Mountain Campground. In the afternoon we run into Philip, a thruhiker I last saw at Neel Gap's hostel in April headed north (naturally). That's surprising enough, but only minutes later I run into Chili, a section hiker I hiked with last year from the Hudson to Vermont. He's thruhiking now. Quite a coincidence to run into him on the trip I happened to do southbound.In the late afternoon and evening we have close encounters with at least a half dozen deer. They are not shy about standing in or next to the trail while browsing their dinner. I literally have to shoo a couple of them off the trail, getting within a few feet of them and wondering if they kick like a mule.My daughter got her trail name today: Snickers, after her favorite trail food! In fact, I named one of the unnamed mountains we climbed in today's roller coaster Mt Snickers in her honor.At Loft Mountain we stop in the camp store to get some snacks then grab a tent site in the primitive walk-in camping area. It's a luxury having a flat site, a picnic table, and bear box. Not to mention bathrooms, water, and trash bins nearby. While Snickers rests I go and hike the 1.3 miles of the AT that loops around the campground so we can exit on the south side in the morning and save some time.The fog has rolled in and the whole campground is shrouded in mist as we eat noodles for dinner and get ready for bed.