Date: 2004-06-12
From: Skyland

To: Lewis Mountain Campground
Miles today: 16.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Hawk was up and gone by the time we stirred this morning, and Lonesome Dove wasn't far behind him. Hawk had reserved a cabin at Big Meadows, less than ten miles up the trail, so he was planning to take a "nearo" day. A nearo is a day when you hike less than ten miles (a "near zero" day). LD thought she would hike on past Big Meadows, but didn't know how far. Hawk said he'd try to leave word for us where his cabin was, so that we could all get together again this evening.We have reserved a campsite at Big Meadows for tonight. We got the last campsite, so I'm glad we made a reservation. We left a car at Lewis Mountain and drove up to Skyland, with the plan to hike back to Lewis Mountain and then drive up to Big Meadows. The weather is cool and clear today, perfect for hiking.We were moving at a pretty good clip, covering the trail quickly, when Hoover started to experience some tendon pain in his right ankle. This was a new location, not where he'd had pain last year and earlier this year. We found that slowing our pace helped considerably, as it allowed him to "place" his foot more carefully and avoid strains to the tendon. We ran into Roberto just before lunch, and he generously offered up some of his Ibuprofen (Vitamin I in hiker parlance) to Hoover. By slowing down and with the Vitamin I in his system, Hoover managed the rest of the hike.At about the halfway we encountered Catdog and Wags. They were headed to Big Meadows and we told her that she could set up a tent next to ours, since the campground was full. I told her I'd leave a note at the trailhead to tell her which campsite is ours, and that we'd keep our eyes open for her. Hopefully the gang will all reunite for a beer at the Taproom tonight!We checked in and got a nice campsite next to a man with three young boys. The campground is packed, but we have a hot shower, and laundromat to clean our clothes, and a place to rest our heads after dinner. What more do we need?After we set up camp, got ourselves and clothes clean, then we headed over to the campstore. Catdog needed a few supplies, and she wasn't sure she'd get in before the store closes at 5:30, so we did shopping duty. Then we went back to camp, whipped up a pot of the chili I had dehydrated and ate.After dinner I went looking for Catdog and, amazingly, found her among the thousands of campers at Big Meadow. She'd just gotten off the trail and was looking for our tentsite. I ran her over to the shower and laundromat and took Wags to "Uncle Hoover" while Catdog got cleaned up. We also ran into a hiker I'd heard of but never before met, Mama's Boy. We decided to head over to the Taproom at 7:30, after Catdog had polished off the rest of our chili and set up her tent.At the Taproom we found Hawk, LD, Quest, and Krispy Kritter. The gang is reunited! We enjoyed the brews and musical entertainment, and then headed back to our tent at 10:00 for a little shut-eye. Very little shut-eye, as it turned out. The three angelic boys we'd seen playing next to our tent this afternoon were hooping it up until 12:30 (this despite the 11:00 quiet time curfew) and were being far less than angelic! But at least their dad is trying to introduce them to the great outdoors, so I can ignore a little noise since they seemed to be having such a great time!