Date: 2006-04-23
From: High top Mt Parking SD 66.7

To: South River Picnic SD
Miles today: 9.7

Smith Roach Gap SD68.6 to  High top Mt Parking SD 66.7  S 3.3 MilesSwift Run Gap US 33 to South River Picnic SD   S 3.0 MilesSouth River Picnic SD to Pocosin Cabin Fire road SD   S 3.4 MilesLast night we spent at that Big Meadows campground again. It was very foggy last night. And then five o'clock this morning, I got up to go the bathroom. Clear sky, all the stars, it was beautiful and owls Hootin and actually quite noisy in the woods. So we finally get up and got out of there at seven thirty five AM. Drove all the way down to High Top Mountain parking lot, we dropped a car off there and then we went on up to Smith Roach Gap and got on the Trail at 9:10. At nine thirty five we got to the Hightop hut trail, went to the hut. 9:40 were at the Hightop hut just enjoying it, the sun kind of poked out. Nice privy, we both used it for our duty. Terry wrote in The Journal, read a journal and before you know it, forty minutes had passed. 10:20 we got back on a trail. And about ten thirty five up on Hightop Mt, fantastic view, off to the left into Shenandoah Valley. So we sat there about ten min. The trail up, I mean it took a while, but it wasn't that hard, we just kept at it. Nine hundred fifty feet up but it didn¢t seem be too bad. so we're up on top for ten minutes and then 10:45 we started down. Seemed a little bit rockier and trail didn't seem quite as nice. We're getting close to the end and it drizzled on us, so we hurried up. Came out to our car at 11:40, and now we're on to our next adventure, which is the South River picnic grounds. Trying to find the trail head there, find a trail and then hike back down to Smith Roach Gap where we have the other car. The sun's out and it's just a beautiful day, in the fifty's and we're having a good time. We started from the South River trailhead picnic grounds at 12:12pm, then when we got down to the Appalachian Trail it was 12:15. And we took off, it was very pleasant, and finally it started going up. All in all it was just a nice wide trail. Hit a couple more Side trails. Finally made up on top of Saddleback Mountain at 1:00 and we took like eight minute break for a snack bar. And then the trail started going down and just very pleasant, finally got on an old road and stayed on the old road for a long time, almost to the end. Weather is just beautiful, sun finally came out. We got white fluffy clouds. At 1:40 we were back at our car, for a total of three miles. And now we are having a little picnic at the picnic grounds and Terry's trying to cook a couple hot dogs, ruin some hot dogs, over our little propane stove and we're sitting out on the tarp. On a beautiful day. And now our last hike of today. W e parked one car at the Pocosin Cabin fire road.  And we get on a beautiful road to walk to the trail. And then the A-T was also pretty nice. One thing we noticed throughout this section, and a lot of the park, is downed wood, all the dead trees and downed trees. It was especially noticeable on this section of the hike. So we had to go up, and then finally it got to a rocky section, and they had a few switchbacks and they got kind of the steep, it was kind of the warm part of the day. Sun was out. Finally, we get up on top of Baldface Mt and there are a couple of rocky sections that could be views, but the trees have grown up further out, where you can't really see a whole lot.  And I think we said we did that in just under one hour. We started the hike at 3:32 and I actually got on AT at 3:35. So that would have been about 4:35. And then it started down and the trail had lot of erosion problems which makes it not quite that nice to walk. Well finally we crossed the fire road and we're getting close. We had like half a mile to go, and we see a hiker coming the other way. And I stopped him and start talking to him, turns out he's a through hiker. He started February twenty fifth at Springer. He had to just take off three days because of shin splits in Waynesboro. I asked his trail name, he said its Mark, and he says my real name is Mark, my trail name is Mark. And you know we had a good time talking to him, about ten minutes. He¢s from Houston, and he worked on the seismic Instruments on Ships out at sea, trying to find oil. But we didn't ask how you got all this time off to do the AT trail. Said he sold all his stock before it went up. I we know that feeling. Like I said, about ten minutes talking to him then we went on and finally came to The South River Falls picnic area. And that's three point four mile hike. We came out of the woods at 5:30 making it an hour and fifty five minutes hike. Now we drove both cars back down into Elkton, to Elkton Motel. Yeah and we're getting ready to enjoy the evening and West Wing , eating and grocery shopping and all that good stuff.