Saturday (11/2) to Monday (11/4) Rockytop Backpacking (C3)

Are you hankering for some fall backpacking on short notice?  Contact Art Ritter (o2behiking@yahoo.com). I’m trying to hike every trail in SNP, and here is an area I haven’t hit yet: Lewis Peak and Rocky Top in the Southern District: Big Run Watershed.  I am rating this as C2 because we’ll only be hiking about 6-8 miles any given day for the three days, but the trails are rocky and rugged.  Basic schedule will be to leave from Brown Gap Saturday morning and hike over to the Rockytop Trail over to the Lewis Peak Trail.  From there, we’ll bag Lewis Peak (which I hear has great views) and continue down the rest of that trail, camping near Upper Lewis Run.  Sunday morning, we will back-track a few miles to the Rockytop Trail, hike over Rockytop at 2,600 feet, and descend about 1,400 feet to Big Run Portal, where we will camp for the night.  Monday, we’ll break camp and return to the car mainly over the Big Run Portal Trail.  So, you will need three lunches, two dinners, and two breakfasts, plus normal backpacking gear, tent and sleeping pad, warm layers, rain gear - just in case - and a warm sleeping bag as it could get below freezing at night.  The weather looks beautiful and cool with highs in the 40’s - low 50’s and lows in the low 30’s - upper 20’s.  So be prepared.  Let me know if you want to come along.  Because of the rough camping conditions, I am limiting this to myself and three others.  We will have to scrounge for level tents sites, and we won’t be able to have a fire.  We will carpool to the park in one car.  We should hit the last of the fall foliage with a little luck, and there will be stream crossings which we may or may not be able to rock hop.  With the fairly low miles each day, we will go at a moderate leisurely pace and enjoy the mountains, including an extra hour Sunday.