I got up earlier than usual after not sleeping well the previous night. My campsite was picturesque, but there were a number of rocks digging into my spine all night. I packed up my gear and stumbled toward the shelter where I found Seth waiting for me. He told me that he and Freight Train had discussed the up coming section of trail and decided they would hike 20.8 miles to the Big Meadows Lodge and see if they could get a camp spot. Freight Train had left a little earlier to hike ahead and see if she could secure us a camp site before the weekend crowds arrived. Even though it was the first I was hearing about this plan, it seemed pretty solid. Freight Train was the fastest, and 20 miles seemed like a good goal for the day. It was a rare moment when I didn’t mind not being in control of the situation.
Seth and I hiked together all morning to the Lewis Mountain Campgrounds. All thru-hikers look forward to hiking through Shenandoah National Park, for two main reasons: the level terrain means you can cover big miles, and there is food everywhere! The Lewis Mountainn Campgrounds were no exception. We had a massive lunch and resupplied our food bags. I ate a huge bacon cheeseburger with fries. After lunch, we powered on to the Big Meadows campground. The hiking was mostly level and the weather was pleasant and warm. We joked with each other all day long and stayed pretty close together. The nice weather and the laughing, definitely helped pass the time. Every once in a while we would pass some day or weekend hikers and it was fun to look as unkempt and insane as possible.
Seth as we sat on a break and tried to upset the civilians.
Imagine trying to enjoy a nice walk in the woods and you happen upon this maniac.
At one point we rounded a corner to find a park ranger giving a guided tour to a group of about 15 people. When the ranger saw us, she stopped and said, “Oh my goodness, here come some thru-hikers right now!” It was funny that she didn’t even ask us if we were thru-hikers, the trail of slime and the visible stink lines must have given us away. When she told the tourists that we had hiked all the way from Georgia, everyone was surprised. We shook hands and posed for a number of pictures. Even though we were sufficiently scruffy and dirty for their photos with a “real live thru-hiker,” I wished I had known that moment was coming. If I had some advanced notice, I would have tattered the edges of my clothes, dyed some gray streaks in my hair and put in some white contact lenses to accurately reflect the toll the trail had taken on my body and soul.
With our celebrity moment behind us, we powered down through the last few miles and met Freight Train at the wayside near the campground. The waysides were little restaurants along the trail and were crawling with tourists. As we scarfed down our food she told us that all the spots were booked. Even though we knew there were no camp sites for us, we decided to all hike to the Big Meadows Lodge anyway. The plan was to see if we could find a good stealth site near the lodge and stick it to the man. On the way out of the wayside, I stopped and bought us each a beer at the camp store. When we got to the lodge and it was indeed completely packed. There was a parking lot full of cars and people were everywhere. About 50 yards from the lodge parking lot I spotted a grassy hill with a maintenance shack in the corner. We decided to make that patch of grass our home for the night. We were pretty much out in the open, but with the sun going down, it was a case of being hidden in plain sight. Since our bellies were full we didn’t have to worry about cooking dinner, so we set up camp and went down to a large rock to watch the sunset over the valley below. I passed out the beers and we all had a toast to celebrate making it to crossing the 900 mile mark. It was very peaceful sitting there watching the sun go down. Once it was dark, we all went to our tents and fell asleep quickly.
Our view of the sunset over the valley as we sipped our brews and celebrated hiking over 900 miles.
Smooth's Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike 