Date: 2006-04-22
From: Milam Gap SD 52.8 

To: Hawksbill Gap SD 45.6
Miles today: 7.4

Milam Gap SD 52.8 to Big Meadows Amphitheatre S 2.6 MilesBig Meadows Amphitheatre to  Fishers Gap SD 49.3 N 1.6 MilesFishers Gap SD 49.3 to Hawksbill Gap SD 45.6 S 3.2 MilesWell you know last night we stayed at Big Meadows, and camped there and went to the lodge to eat. Very nice, came back and slept really good all night. It was cloudy but never rained, and then the alarm went off at seven, we slept in till like twenty after seven . We went to the bathroom, got back and it started raining, got harder and harder. So we lay around, we sat around, we read, and then finally went back and lay down because we were getting cold. And fell back asleep and finally ten thirty, we said we got to get up, and 11 o'clock we got to be outta here. So get ready get up and we went to the Big Meadows visitor's center. It was so foggy, couldn't hardly find a visitor center, so bad Terry could have got hit really easy. But he didn't, and so we spent some time in the visitor center talking to ranger about some hiking, got some details from him. And then Terry brought a couple maps so finally we decided we were going to just hike, right here, near the campground. We started at 12:35, From the Amphitheater at campground, and hiked over to Millum Gap, a total of 2.6 miles. You walk below the lodge and see it up there. At 1:10 pm we crossed a cemetery road. Came to a nice overlook, there was a rock outcropping, and a couple guys there and we went out, the clouds just opened up enough to see. Had a pretty good view of a valley. So we stood there a few minutes and then we headed on. then a little while later we came by a guy with this little Sherpy dog. Come walking the other way, and we start talking for a minute, and about that time the two women came along, and it turns out he was just walking in to meet them, that he was the husband. I was able to talk to them as we were hiking and found out that they were trying to do something very similar to what we do on the Appalachian Trail. Their nicknames, the older one was Zigzag and the other was Purple Rose, her name was Rose lavender and they say they call her husband the Purple Sherpa because he carries things around and shuttles and does things. Well you know that whole trail was very nice, very gentle, just very overcast cloudy and foggy day. And we hiked all way to Milam Gap with them at 2:00 pm. And will probably be seeing them again, they¢re going south and we¢re going north. Except we've got twenty miles or so south of here to do yet. So we might see them again. And then we came back, had a little lunch, and decided what we're going to hike next. So at 2:40 we started on our next Hike, and that was from the amphitheater down to Fishers Gap only 1.6 miles. 3:00pm we were at the campground which is 0.6 miles. When we were hiking along the trail around by Big Meadows Campground, there was this couple coming towards us with this bird dog, a black and white Springer spaniel, and I could tell the dog was going to do something, and sure enough he ran right by me, I was surprised, and went for Terry. Terry said the dog tried to bite him in the side of the hip but ended up just hitting Terry. And the people acted like no big deal, they just kept on going, never tried to restrain their dog, or reprimanded or anything. And 3:25 we came out to the car. We came back and checked out the camp store, picked up the car, and decided to hike the next section north. So we dropped the car off back at the fire road just down from Fishers gap. And then we headed up to Hawksbill Mountain Gap. And so we got on the trail there at 4:10pm. And 4:35 we were at the trail intersection going back up to the top of Mt Hawksbill. And then finally at 5:40, we came to the car again for 3.2 miles. What can we say about these? I think both of those hikes were very similar, they did nothing that was too hard. Yeah the last one got really foggy, where you start to wonder if we're going to be able to see in front of you. And drizzle and stuff, we had put are rain coats on. we did go through a talus slope there on this last hike. And it really reminded me of a hike that Terry and I had done twenty years ago here in Shenandoah. We came back to the Big Meadows campground, we are camping here again tonight, going to the camp store. Bought some food for supper, we got hot dogs and canned chili with beans. Put it in the pot and it hit the spot. Went up and took showers. Paid for tonight¢s camping and now we're just enjoying our car camping again. Anything else? Lots of deer out all day, because its overcast and they hang out right next to the road.