Date: 2017-05-11
From: Hightop Hut, VA

To: Big Meadows Lodge, VA
Miles today: 20.4
Weather: broken clouds

5/11/17 Big Meadows Lodge VAMiles hiked: 604.8 Miles to go: 1593.3Today was an absolutely miserable day to be in the woods; but, I had a great hike! We had rain off and on all night. Luckily, we were in the shelter, so we stayed dry. I didn't sleep as well as I would've in my hammock, but I wasn't packing up wet gear this morning. So, it all balanced out. I awoke at 5:40 and saw that 1st Sgt was already up, so I got up and started packing. We were on the trail by 6:35 AM, our earliest start ever, hoping to take advantage of a break in the weather to cover as many miles as possible before the rain returned. It wasn't until we had been hiking for awhile that 1st Sgt told me that he was just getting up to use the bathroom and intending to lay back down and sleep more when he saw me start packing, so he started packing up too. Oops!Although the woods were wet and dripping, it was pleasant walking. 1st Sgt, who has contracted a terrible case of bear fever, just knew that early morning was the best time to see another bear. Unfortunately, no bears this morning. We made it 3.7 miles before the rain pummeled us. We were soaked to the skin in a matter of minutes. There's something liberating about being absolutely soaked. Since you can't get any wetter, you don't have to worry about jumping from rock to rock, trying to keep your feet dry. You can just walk right down the middle of the raging torrent where the trail used to be. Your feet aren't going to get any wetter! There was also no reason to worry about rain gear since we were already soaked. Of course, along with the rain came fog. Soon we could only see a few feet in any direction. My view was further diminished by the fact that, as always happens on rainy days, my glasses fogged up. If you are planning to hike the AT, wear glasses, and have expendable cash, I would recommend LASIK surgery before starting the hike!In the rain and fog, it is easy to sort of allow your world to diminish and become inwardly focused and brooding. That's the nice thing about hiking with someone else. There's someone to converse with and keep you from focusing on how miserable it is. And our conversations have evolved! We've gone from Ginger vs Marianne to such esoteric subjects as "do you like Spam better fried or straight from the package?"After several hours of hiking through intermittent showers, we arrived at Lewis Mt Campground, where we planned to stop at the camp store for lunch. The only problem was that the fog was so thick we couldn't find the store! We did eventually stumble upon the camp host trailer, where we knocked on the door and got directions to the store. After warming up in the store and eating lunch, we headed out for the last 8 miles of our adventure. The temperature was steadily dropping, so we donned our rain jackets for warmth. I was actually surprised at the number of hikers we encountered on the trail on such a cold, wet, miserable day. One such encounter was particularly cool. We were passing two southbound hikers when one stopped and said, "Hey - are you Beaker?" He then went on to say, "Wow. You've really cleaned up. And you've changed your outfit. By the way, how was the move to TN?"It turns out that Sugarfoot had been following me regularly on TrailJoirnals until he started his own hike. We stood and talked to him and his hiking partner Carry Less for several minutes. How cool was that!? After several more miles and showers, we finally arrived at Big Meadows Lodge. Once again, we had to ask directions to find the lodge because the fog was so thick. We eventually got checked in and were joined in short order by Ramsey Bolton. We had a slight dilemma when we first arrived and wanted to leave a key at the front desk for Ramsey - we didn't know his real name! I inquired whether either of the women working the desk were Game of Throne fans. Luckily, since they didn't know Ramsey Bolton was the name of a fictional character, they didn't bat an eye when I said I wanted to leave a key for Ramsey Bolton. After cleaning up, the three of us went to dinner in the lodge restaurant and washed our clothes at the laundromat. We are now back in our room, which is old, rustic (i.e., no TV, phone, or internet), and obscenely overpriced. But it is cold and very wet outside, and we are warm and dry inside. So, we are very happy. BTW, Ron and Sue M, you should be happy. I finally broke the 20 mile barrier!