Tuesday Hightop Mt. in SNP

Amazingly Tuesday was an even more beautiful day than Mon! I was so glad I'd already decided I was going to hiking in SNP! I have been working on hiking the entire AT in SNP - I have been working on this for 6+ years now and before today I'd done roughly 50 miles of it, so 1/2 way through SNP. Today I decided to hike a few more AT miles. I haven't done much exploration of the south district of SNP since it's so far away, however I have covered most of the central and north districts and wanted an interesting hike for the day. I looked in the guide books and found Hightop Mountain which looked like a good day hike. I decided to hike up from Smith Roach Gap and go up the mt gently and then descend steeply to Skyline Drive and then hike back to the car via Skyline Drive rather than retracing my steps. It proved to be a wonderful hike, with wonderful views!

These little white flowers were abundant along the trail.

This winter's ice storms were especially hard on the central and southern districts of SNP. It's strange because the ice seemed to take the tops of the trees rather than the whole tree. It looked almost like tornado damage, rather than ice storm damage. The woods were a mess and I know it took many many trail crew hours to clear the trail so it was passable for hikers.

The view from the summit of Hightop mountain.

Another shot of the view from the top. You can see an overlook on SNP down below. Scroll down and you'll see the view of the mountain from the overlook - I think...there were two overlooks from which I could see the mountain so I'm not sure which one I'm looking at here.

Yet another shot of the view from Hightop.

Where the AT meets Skyline Drive.

A view of Hightop Mountain from one of the overlooks along Skyline Drive.

After I hiked the Hightop Loop (6.6 miles) it was still early in day and I'd considered doing a few more miles in southern district but was feeling like I should quit while I was ahead - 6 miles was a decent days hike and it was hot. I'd decided that I would drive back SD rather than deal with 29 and all the stop lights and such. As I drove up SD toward Big Meadows the beauty of the day got the better of me and I decided that I had to hike some more. There was a section of the AT from Lewis Mt Campground to Pocosin Fire Road that I needed to hike. I'd failed to bring my central district map so I was unsure of the distance but I remembered it being about a mile from the fire road to the campground meaning that it would be a 2 mile round trip. Well, I was a bit off...it was almost 2 miles from the fire road to the campground, adding 4 miles round trip to my day, bringing my total milage for the day to 10+ miles! Pretty impressive!

A shot of the AT between Pocosin Fire Road and Lewis Mt. Campground.

On the way back I actually pulled out my ipod - I swore I'd never use my ipod while hiking becacuse I love hearing the sounds of the forest, however the forest was very quiet today, scary quiet, and by the 9th and 10th mile of the day I needed something to keep me interested.

Overall it was a spectacular day! The best part....I didn't get a hiking headache! I have had a hard time with getting a horrible headache after hiking long distances but today I didn't...not sure the exact reason why but here are my theories...

1 - I drank A LOT! I started by "tanking" up before I even left home by drinking a large cup of water and then nursed a bottle of Gatorade on the way to the park. I made numerous stops to use the "facilitrees" all day. I think part of the problem could be dehydration.

2 - I ate throughout the day - little snacks here and there rather than a big meal at one point. I'm wondering if that might be part of the problem...I eat lunch within the 1st two hours of hiking and then hike all afternoon and my body needs me to stop and snack more. I do stop and snack but I realized that I frequently eat starchy/sugary stuff for my afternoon snack....I'm thinking I need to bring something more substaintail for the afternoon - like another sandwich or hard boiled eggs or someting with some protien.

3 - I kept the pace slow - it took me between 3.5 and 4 hours (not sure when I started) to do the 6.6 miles and then almost 2 hours to do 3.6 miles which I think helped too.

4 - I was maxed out on my allergy meds - I think allergies has something to do with this too...

One thing I would def change next time...get the sunscreen ALL over my body....there is always a spot that I miss....today it was the backs of my hands...after the hike it's always a "fun" surprise to discover where I missed getting the sunscreen!

Total AT in SNP miles: 55!!!!