hightop hut to big meadow campground

long day today. i’m going to keep this brief. we made it to elkton around 10. it rained on and off on the way there. when we got to town it was a pretty nice day, but we could see that the tops of the mountains were enshrouded in rain clouds.

the outfitter had my box. i immediately put my new shoes on and preceeded to destroy both my shoes and my sleeping pad. i took pictures and sent them to the respective places.

we briefly hit a coffee shop and then the diner for lunch before asking our shuttle driver to drive us to the food lion where we did our resupply before taking us back to the trail.

we got back on trail around 14:00, and within 5 minutes it was raining again. it rained on and off for the rest of the day.

i made good time and traversed the 16 miles arriving at big meadow campground around 18:00. it was briefly sunny and i got a good picture of the view before navigating my way to the campground.

it was mobbed with tourists, surprising because it’s supposed to rain all weekend. i had to pay $30 for a site for the 4 of us. it didn’t come with a shower or laundry. (that’s the same price as most hostels)

i pitched my tent and headed to the lodge where i met up with some other hikers we’ve been sheltering with the past few nights, wipeout, airplane, and mellow. we got a beer, pizza, and some dessert each.

i waited for bugs, lyric, and rocket to arrive, but they didn’t get here until almost 20:00. it was raining when i left the lodge to meet up with them. we had dinner in the laundry room, the only dry place around.