Day 81-An Open Wayside, and the Highest Peak

June 7-11.9 AT miles + 1.5 non AT miles-Bearfence Hut to Hawksbill Peak-AT mile 930.6

Dusty said since we didn’t have very many miles today, she would maybe not get such an early start. Yeah...we were still on the trail by 6:45. That was fine though because the weather was perfect for hiking up a long climb. We also did a little side trail up some rocks to check out the view. 



Photos by Dusty, of course. 

After the climb, the trail was a walk in the park (oh wait...that’s right...we are in a park!). It was smooth and wide. 

I caught up to Dusty, and we came to the turn to go to Big Meadows Wayside where we would get the next 2 1/2 days of food, and also eat while we were there. Unfortunately, the campground is not open, so we couldn’t stay. I asked Dusty if she had seen Sure Foot. I hadn’t passed him. She said no...curious... I was pretty sure he wasn’t behind us. There was a trail to a waterfall that we had talked about maybe going to, but we decided not to (most said it wasn’t worth the 1.2 round trip down and back up). Dusty and I continued up the gravel road to Skyline Drive and Big Meadows Wayside. Sure Foot was not there when we got there. Captain Hook and Bean were there. They had arrived in time for breakfast. No Rush showed up, but still no Sure Foot. I was pretty sure he had missed the turn. Dusty said he’d figure it out when he got to the campground. We went in and got food and resupply. I had a sandwich and some hummus. It wasn’t the best sandwich, but I still ate it. Also, the best part of all was washing my hands and face in the restroom!

Sure Foot finally showed up. As I thought, he had missed the turn, but he had also gone to the waterfall. So he did even more miles than we did! He came up through the lodge. He got stopped by a couple of rangers. They questioned him, but when he said he was thru-hiking they said it was okay. 

Since Dusty and I had to go back to where we got off, but Sure Foot didn’t, we headed back. 

The Big Meadow?

Heading back to the trail. 

We didn’t have too much farther to go, just about 5 miles. We climbed that which we had gone down. There were lots of day hikers. We made it to Rock Spring Hut, but we weren’t going to stay there. No, we were going another 1.1 miles-.4 up the AT, then .7 up the Salamander Trail to Hawksbill Summit. Hawksbill is the highest point in Shenandoah National Park. 

From the summit. 

Flat Will due north. 

Byrd’s Nest #2 Shelter (day use).

So, we were hanging out, waiting for the sunset when a PATC volunteer showed up. His name was Bob. He was very informative and friendly. It kept getting later and later. The three of us cooked our dinners. We were planning to stealth camp up here. I thought to myself...that’s not gonna happen. I pretty much packed up my pack. The sun sank lower, and we all went to the summit to get photos. 










Bob asked us if we were going to camp up here (you are not supposed to). Hmmm...then he said he didn’t care if we did. I told him my vision wasn’t so great for night hiking. He said we would probably get a nice sunrise too. So, we are camping on the summit of the highest peak in Shenandoah National Park. Dusty and Sure Foot are cowboy camping. I’m mostly in the shelter because I didn’t want to trip on the rocks in the middle of the night, but I can see the stars too, so it’s fine by me. There’s a breeze, and it feels great!







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