Date: 2015-05-24
From: Hightower Hut

To: Big Meadows Campground 
Miles today: 20.4

Up early again. Didn't get much sleep last night. It was cold and there was a snoring competition going on between the guy tenting next to me and the guy tenting next to Sunny. Earplugs can only handle so much. Lol. It was going to be a long day.It was a nice cool morning and the hike wasn't too bad. We were moving a bit slow, sore from the last couple of days. I couldn't believe that I was sore...I've been out here for 2 months I should be used to this. I haven't been sore since I started...totally wierd. We stopped at a lovely picnic area for a break. We snacked and filled our water bottles with water we didn't have to filter. Awesome. The place was really beautiful. And it had toilets that flushed!! Papa and 61 stopped by too.A bit later we came across Fireman, Mighty Mouse and Heisenburg. We were all contemplating our plan for the night. Orginally we were all going to try for the next shelter for a 24 mile day. But at mile 20 there is a campground. We were debating weather or not we could get a site. It is memorial day weekend and it's probably booked solid. Or we could try to stealth camp around the campsite. I needed to stop in at the camp store for a quick resupply. I needed 1 lunch a a few snacks to get me to Front Royal. Plus I wanted to take a shower too. Stealth camping or cowboy camping is a bit difficult in the park. They really want you at the shelters. Water sources are far and few between. I personally hate camping without a water source near by. And since everything greened up you can't really find a place to put your tent. Or everything is rocky and steep. Anyways. We debated this back a forth and figured we would try for the campground and see what happens. We'll I turned my phone on and kept hiking. Once I heard a ding I knew I reached a spot with service. I called up the campground to see what's what. They don't take reservations unless it's 2 days in advance. They were full up but they had a few spots available for first come first serve. Sunny and I debated. We knew we would get in pretty late and all the spots would be full. So we decided to cheat a bit. We thought we'd hitch up to the next campground, grab a spot and set up our tent, then hitch back and slack pack to the campground. I still think slack packing is cheating but it is so much easier. Lol!!So thats what we did. We had an easy time getting a ride. We walked into a camp ground and a lovely couple happened to be leaving. They were kind enough to pick us up. They were really great. They drove us to Big Meadow Campground, then waited while we checked in then drove us to our campsite. They took pictures with us. They were sooooooooo nice!! Such a blessing. We got an awesome tent site in a central location . Right near the bathroom and the showers. We set up and ate lunch. Finished up our miles. We stopped at the camp store and we got a few things. I couldn't resist getting some blackberry ice cream!! So good!!We relaxed at camp, it was a nice quiet spot. The shower was pretty amazing too. It was a bit breezy so we ended up cooking in the bear box to block out the wind. Then we climbed in it to eat. It was awesome fooling around! We moseyed up to the lodge a bit later hoping to get some phone service. They had a gift store up there with amazing homemade chocolate chip cookies. I couldn't resist. It was a pretty great night!