Appalachian Trail Inn-to-Inn Hike

As I inch closer and closer to 60, my backpacking criteria has changed, and comfort tops the list. I opt for the most comfortable hiking shoes, have broken down and purchased hiking poles, splurged on the most comfortable air mattress, and I have the most sweat-wicking and rain repellent clothes on the market.

Even with these “luxuries”, the thought of pitching a tent each night, firing up the stove and eating dehydrated food, and sleeping outdoors has become less enticing. That’s when the idea of hiking inn-to-inn, or hiking to a lodge or cabin each day, came to the forefront. If I could eliminate the parts I didn’t like, yet still spend a few days backpacking, that would be the perfect compromise!

So I began researching. Section hiking the Appalachian Trail, or AT, has always been on my bucket list so I started there. Was there anything like that?
After doing some digging, I found an article written by a woman who had done just that. She hiked through Shenandoah National Forest, spending each night at a cabin or lodge, where a shower and a hot meal awaited her. Bingo!
Next up was convincing my hiking buddies to join. Actually, it didn’t take much convincing; two were on board immediately and a third was considering it. So I decided to commit to it. This was in April and we decided a good time for our adventure would be the first week in October ,when the weather had cooled off- but not too much- and leaves would potentially be changing as well.

I handled all the reservations through the park at www.goshenandoah.com. We would be hiking roughly 40 miles total: from Swift Gap trailhead to Lewis Mountain Cabins for the first night; over 8 miles to Big Meadows Lodge; another 9 to Skyland Lodge; and then the last 10 miles to Thornton Gap.
The woman in the article ended her hike at Skyland Lodge, but since we were coming all the way from Oregon, we thought we would make it worth our while and add on an additional day (which we were so glad we did)

So here is the story of our adventure hiking inn-to-inn through Shenandoah National Park

Day 1: Travel

We left Portland early afternoon and arrived late at Dulles Airport. It was so late that we drove halfway to our starting point and stayed at a hotel in Winchester, Virginia. The next morning we drove straight to Thornton Gap, the end of our hike, where we met Shirley, our shuttle driver. The parking lot was large and there was plenty of places to park our rental car. Shirley was waiting for us and we piled into her van and she shuttled us to Country View Motel www.countryviewlodging.com in Elkton Virginia, just minutes from the Swift Run Gap trailhead.
Since we had an entire free day, our awesome hosts at our hotel took us to Elkton where we shopped and ate at a lovely Italian diner. Molly and I went to the brewery, and Joan and Kat went to the store to buy food for our night at Lewis Mountain Cabins, since there was no restaurant.
The brewery was closed, but Molly and I sat on the front porch in rocking chairs until the owner opened the door and asked us if we would like a beer. He just happened to be at the brewery cleaning and saw us out on the porch. Of course we couldn’t say no to a beer, so we got 4 and brought them to Kat & Joan. We sipped our brews until the hotel manager came to pick us up and bring us back to the hotel. He also offered to take us to the trailhead the next morning. When they talk about southern hospitality, they are not kidding! We spent the afternoon packing and repacking and hanging out in the gazebo in the front yard. We were all a bit nervous and excited for our adventure. We went to bed early, anticipating a rough and lengthy first day of hiking.

Day 2: Swift Run Gap to Lewis Mountain Cabins

As promised, Nick dropped us off at the trailhead first thing in the morning, and we began our four day hiking journey. Joan and I both admitted later that we were wondering what we had gotten ourselves into, and that we were not convinced we could do four days of this arduous hiking! We hiked straight up from the trailhead at a pretty brisk pace (too brisk, probably) and I immediately regretted the whole idea. What was I thinking? Although I had been training for months, I didn’t train with my pack on (strike 1), I didn’t hike longer than 4 miles at a time (strike 2) and I didn’t hike back-to-back days (strike 3).
Once we made it to the top and caught our breath a bit, we felt much better. This would be doable. Just one step at a time. What I didn’t realize is that the trail would rarely be flat; we would be going up, up, up and then back to the forest floor. For four days. On those rare times it was flat, the person leading (normally Kat) would shout “Flat!” and we knew we were all in for a blissful few minutes hiking on flat ground. You really appreciate the small things when you are backpacking.
It was a bit cool, perfect for hiking, and we began to get in the groove of things. We were amazed by the fungi and fauna-so different from Oregon!
We stopped at Pocosin Cabin, an old homestead a bit off the trail. It promised a “mouldering toilet”, basically a compost toilet, which we opted not to use. The weather cleared to blue skies and we arrived at Lewis Mountain Cabins around 4 pm, a bit before our cabin was ready. We raided the camp store and Kat did our laundry in the laundry facilities. Our cabin was super cute with 2 double beds. We were exhausted, but we made a campfire and hung outside for a bit, feeling very proud of ourselves. Dinner was peanut butter on tortillas and fruit. Delicious!

Day 3 Lewis Mountain Cabins to Big Meadows Lodge:

We woke to rain and donned our ponchos. It wasn’t too bad, and it cleared after a couple of hours. Unfortunately it was a bit misty, so when we got to an overlook we had no view. It started to become a joke and we posed for photos with only fog behind us. We saw a lot of deer and they were not afraid of us in the least. After a long day, we arrived at Big Meadows Lodge.
The lodge was lovely and we had a fabulous dinner in the restaurant. Molly and I went downstairs after dinner to the brew pub and had a great time listening to live music. Most of the guests were in their 50’s and 60’s so it was really fun.

Day 4: Big Meadows Lodge to Skyland Lodge

Day 4 was Wildlife Day. We saw so many deer and even some wild turkeys. We were always on the lookout for bears, but we never saw any our entire trip. I was fine with that. We hiked down to Rock Springs Cabin, which was a shelter on the trail, and had lunch. We met a through hiker who regaled us with many tales. After lunch our hike consisted of a lot of scree on the trail which made things difficult in spots. I was so thankful for my poles! We finally had some views, and they were spectacular. We arrived at Skyland Lodge, exhausted. Our cabin was a long walk from the main lodge, and it would be an understatement to say we were not happy to hike down there after hiking all day. It’s amazing how once you are mentally done with a hike you are DONE. Once we got down to our cabin we showered and changed and hiked right back up for dinner. Again, dinner was amazing. We were pretty tired, so we went to bed early in anticipation for our last day on the trail.

Day 5: Skyland Lodge to Thornton Gap

Only a mile or two in, we hiked up to Stoney Man Mountain. This was the highlight of our trip (again, so thankful we added this last day on our itinerary). We were so lucky the fog lifted and we had amazing views from 4000 feet, our highest point on the trail. We took lot of photos and our moods were bolstered by the fabulous, sweeping views. The trail was ROCKY. We had to be careful at all times. A few miles later we reached Birds Nest Hut, but some through hikers were taking a 0 day (meaning they were not going to hike and only rest) so we didn’t stay long as we didn’t want to disturb them. They seemed pretty worn out and tired. We quickly ate our lunch and left.
The last two miles, we knew, (we used the guthhook app, a long distance hiking app) were straight down. I’m not a huge fan of steep declines as they are tough on my knees. But we knew we were almost finished once we started our descent, so we grinded it out: 2 miles of the most intense downhill hiking I have ever done. We met people coming the other way, and they were all struggling to some degree. I’m so glad we traveled NOBO (northbound) instead of SOBO (southbound). Those first two miles going uphill would have been a rough start.
I am always happy to see the end of the trail, and this time was no different. We started so high on the top of the ridge, and ever so slowly we made our way down to the parking lot where our car was waiting. Happiness! Is there a better sight than your car at the end of a backpacking trip?

4 days-4 friends-40 miles. And a lifetime of memories.