AT Day 65: SNP’s Big Meadows & Skyland Lodges

Daily Miles: 23.3, Total Miles: 937.4

Today had its ups and downs in more ways than one.

I needed water this morning so the first stop was a nice spring at Pocosin Cabin. Got up and over Hazeltop and set my sights on the restaurant at Big Meadows Lodge for lunch. Got there just as they opened up the dining room and had a good cheeseburger and fries.

Back on the trail and when I least expected it, my supposedly better left ankle rolled over. Heard a crack, painful, said a few choice words but slowly moved on. A repeat of what happened on the Colorado Trail last fall. The brace I had been wearing on that ankle had broken a strap so I wasn’t wearing it. A short time later, I broke the tip off my hiking pole between two rocks. Now a stubby end, I just extended the pole a bit and kept using it.

I figured if I timed it right, I had the option for dinner at Skyland Lodge, just a short distance off the trail. Again, I arrived just as they opened up for dinner. Enjoyed the great Shenandoah views while devouring a New York strip steak and a special, huge piece of blackberry ice cream pie. I waddled out of there and put in another three miles before pulling over at a good tent site.

Saw and heard a number of dark-eyed juncos today.