We set the alarm for 6:30 and were waiting for the dining room to open (7:30am) so we could get breakfast and get on the trails as soon as possible.
Our first hike was the Hawksbill Loop Hike, a 3 mile, 860 ft elevation change loop. We were on Lower Hawksbill Trail just before 9am....
..arriving at the Byrd's Nest 2 (a day shelter) at 9:25am.......
It was just a few more minutes to the Hawksbill Viewing Platform.....
Then onto the Salamander Trail.....
...and then the Appalachian Trail (the AT), where its 2,198 miles is marked with a white blaze.....
We continued.....
...and were done with the three miles by 10:45am, so just shy of a 2-hour hike.
(While we intended to do this hike counter-clockwise ~ don't recall why now ~ we missed a turn at the very beginning and hiked clockwise, which was perfectly fine! 😎)
It was then onto Marys Rock Summit , another 3 mile, 830ft elevation in-and-out.
We started around 11:20am on Meadow Spring Trail ~ and it was getting pretty hot by now....
Some flowers along the trail.......
...intersecting with the At around 11:50am....
More flowers.....
More trail......
Reaching Marys Rock at 12;15pm.....
We headed back down the way we came.....
(We passed this chimney ruin on the way up, of course, but forgot to stop a take a pic.)
Finishing at 1:10pm, so a bit shy of a 2-hour hike.
We had lunch in the Skyland region of the park, and then it POURED, with intense thunder and lightening, so we were glad to be off the trail. The temperatures dropped 20 degrees, which was a nice reprieve. We drove back to our hotel (in the Big Meadow area) about 10 miles south where it didn't rain at all, but was still cooler. We showered (clean is good!) and by 4:30pm the thunderstorms were at Big Meadow and it POURED again!
We went to the Visitor Center, turned in our Junior Ranger Books, and took our Junior Ranger Pledge, earning us our Junior Ranger badges! 😎
We hung out at the lodge (with a ton of people and their dogs) and played the National Park Trivia Board Game....which had some very obscure questions! 😃
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