I did an overnighter last night up Hightop Mtn in the SNP. The weather forecast was nasty: 20mph winds with higher gusts, rain, and lows around freezing or so. The mountain top was obscured in clouds as I approached:

When I parked at the Swift Run Gap entrance the temp was 35* and visibility was about 100 ft. As I began the climb from 2376 up to 3563 it immediately started raining. I put on my wind shirt I had just made and all was good. After stopping halfway up for lunch, it began to rain in earnest, so I changed from wind shirt to Parcho. Next I noticed the rain was slowing- no wait it was changing to snow-perfect! It snowed all the way to the top and then slacked off as I descended the shoulder to the hut.


Dinner was good with some Tennessee Honey for desert:



I set up my tarp at one of the sites behind the shelter. I had the place to myself. Later when I brushing my teeth by the fire pit a "Hi there" came from the shelter behind me. Totally startled I spun around to see a headlight glow in the back corner. She introduced herself as "Reach" a section hiker. She had come in a couple of hours ago and because of the howl of the wind I hadn't noticed. We talked for just a minuted and then I was about frozen (standing there in my silk LJohns) and headed for my shelter.

The wind continued to howl all night with gusts I would say maybe as high as 50mph. My water bottles never froze but my shoe laces did. I had stuffed my newspaper in them to dry them and sure enough they were dry in the morning although the laces were frozen solid. I used a silk liner with my overstuffed 30* bag and wore my ss wool sirt, ls wool shirt, and silk LJs.I woke up cold and tossed a handwarmer into the bottom of the bag- it worked pretty good. I also took a swig of the Tennessee Honey ( the stuff would not last through the night).

It sleeted good and hard for maybe 2 hours and then changed to freezing rain. The morning found my tent covered in ice. I packed up quickly to get hiking to warm up. My toes started out frozen in my shoes but were toasty by the time I crested Hightop. There were several fresh blow downs on the way back. The fog had lifted and I got a few pictures.

it was a great trip. my little camera and phone really do not do it justice . the wind was unbelievable it sounded like a low flying jet every 30 seconds. it was nice to get out.