The Second Day On the Skyline Drive

We woke up quite late that morning in our tiny home in Stanardsville. The previous day’s activities had worn us out more than usual. It was however still dark outside in the woods, a phenomenon to be expected at this particular time of year in our part of the world. There seemed to be no point in rushing to the park to get an early start for the activities of the day. But, at the same time, there was nothing much to do in the tiny home other than having our breakfast and packing some food for the day. We were on our way to the park sooner than I expected.

Stanardsville was close enough to the park that we were were able to get to our first destination of the day shortly after 9:00am. We were visiting a section of the park in the South River Area, close to the Swift Run Entrance to the park. This was the same place we had exited the park to get to Stanardsville the previous evening.

Once we got back on the Skyline Drive, we headed south towards the Hightop Mountain Parking lot that was close by.

It was still early enough in the morning that there was enough space in the small parking lot for our car. The place also happened to be far away from the more popular sections of the park. Perhaps there were less people that hiked this trail anyway. The goal was to climb Hightop mountain that morning. We would be on the Appalachian trail for the entirety of this walk.

The hike was challenging from the start.The mountainside was all green. In spite of all the green, there were were signs that the leaves were beginning to drop,

In the midst of all of the vegetation, we passed a few random rock formations that appeared unexpectedly beside the trail. It made you wonder how they even got there. The geology of places can be interesting. The Appalachians happen to be an older mountain range (when compared to ranges like the Rockies and the Himalayas). They have been worn down with time.There were touches of yellow on some trees in the higher reaches of the mountain.The view from the viewpoint on Hightop mountain was not exactly what I was expecting to see from my reading of the literature.I had expected something more dramatic and panoramic. We went further along the trail hoping for other viewpoints from the mountain but did not find any. It turns out that a more expansive view might have been possible from the place where we had stopped if I had gotten above the vegetation level to to the right of where we were standing. Perhaps, winter is a better time for such a view.

Hightop mountain is the highest peak in the southern section of the park.

After the hike, we drove further south into the park to the Loft Mountain area, stopping at the Doyles River Parking lot (just beyond Mile 81). Once again, there was enough place to park in the lot itself. After lunch in the car, we headed for the Doyles River Trail to see the waterfalls. The trail marker to the right of the picture below is typical of what you will find in the park.The bands around the top of the post have information about trails that intersect, and about distances to destinations.For a change, instead of heading up a hill after parking the car, we had to hike down a mountain ridge to get to our destination. After all, significant waterfalls are not likely to be found along the tops of the ridges of mountainsides.

The way down was quite steep. We knew that we were in for a challenging time returning to the car.

We had walked just a short distance before we found and took a spur trail up a hillside to the Doyles River Cabin.The Doyles River starts in the vicinity of the cabin, probably as a spring. There is a spring supplying water at the place where the spur trail to the cabin meets up with the main trail to the waterfall.

Much further down the mountain, Browns Gap Fire Road crossed Doyles River and our trail.

The trail also crossed Doyles River just beyond the bridge.

We went all the way down to both the upper falls,and the lower falls.The trail was somewhat difficult in these parts. The waterfalls were also a popular destination, but they were not too crowded.

There were asters blooming everywhere we looked, and all along the trail side.

The climb back to the parking lot from the falls was as difficult as we had anticipated.

We were done with our hiking earlier than I expected. We had been making good time on the trails in spite of the challenges they presented.

We were tired and immediately headed back to Stanardsville. We had to stop at the grocery store in town to buy something that we had forgotten to pack – toothpaste! It had been quite the experience the previous night and in the morning improvising in the absence of toothpaste! Something like this does not happen often.

Getaway had left some goodies in our tiny home when arrived the previous day, including some marshmallows that could be melted over a campfire – to be served as a sandwich with crackers and melted milk chocolate. We could buy firewood and starter material for this purpose from Getaway. (They were stored in the plastic box in the picture below.)We decided to try it out. My attempt at starting a fire was not very successful. We had to settle for one partially melted marshmallow!The wood would not catch fire! One of the logs was smoking a lot, as if it had moisture in it.

We had to abandon our attempt to sit outside beside the campfire for an extended period of time. I was a little upset about the whole experience the rest of the evening.

Dinner that evening was an Italian Wedding soup with turkey meatballs and chicken sausage that Teresa had made at home and brought for the trip. It was delicious and hearty, and went down very well with a couple of beers after the long day in the park. I actually did some reading that evening before going to sleep.

And I was also happy to be able to brush my teeth that night.😊