Big Meadows Lodge

[Rueben the Cobbler]

I'm looking to reward myself by taking a nero at the lodge. Do they have hiker rates?

[Lone Wolf]

no...................

[Rueben the Cobbler]

I figured, since a big tourist attraction.

[Lone Wolf]

https://www.nationalparkreservations...s#.U1Rvw_ldVpo

[johnnybgood]

Lewis Mountain has a hiker cabin with special rates.

[HikerMom58]

Love Big Meadows and Skyland!

[Odd Man Out]

Love Big Meadows and Skyland!

Yes. We stayed there a number of years ago with the family. Had a wonderful cabin with a living room and fireplace. Probably not what hikers are thinking. I remember when I told my kids were were staying at a lodge on the top of the mountain, they were confused (I'm sure they were thinking something like the Matterhorn). When we got there, the were even more confused. They asked, where are the mountains? We don't see any mountains. I said you are on the top of it. They refused to believe me. Then we went to the patio by the main lodge building where you can look down on the Shenandoah River Valley. Their eyes got real big and they said OOOoooohhhhh, I get it. That evening we went to the meadow and there must have been 200 deer out there at dusk. Then at night back at the patio, the lights in valley below looked like stars at your feet.

[chiefiepoo]

Yup, Lewis Mountain and the hiker cabin was a good night stay along with camp store amenities. At Big Meadows, I've stayed in a few of the small, cut up rooms located above the main lobby, a few of them overlooking the kitchen load out area and dumpsters. They were priced lower than the lodge or cabin rooms at the time. No special hiker rate, just substandard rooms that might draw complaints from ordinary guests.

[HikerMom58]

Yes. We stayed there a number of years ago with the family. Had a wonderful cabin with a living room and fireplace. Probably not what hikers are thinking. I remember when I told my kids were were staying at a lodge on the top of the mountain, they were confused (I'm sure they were thinking something like the Matterhorn). When we got there, the were even more confused. They asked, where are the mountains? We don't see any mountains. I said you are on the top of it. They refused to believe me. Then we went to the patio by the main lodge building where you can look down on the Shenandoah River Valley. Their eyes got real big and they said OOOoooohhhhh, I get it. That evening we went to the meadow and there must have been 200 deer out there at dusk. Then at night back at the patio, the lights in valley below looked like stars at your feet.

That's such a cool story, OMO.

I was 21 & a newly wed when I went to Skyland for the first time. Yep, that's where we went on our honeymoon. I know exactly what you are talking about when you said the lights in the valley below looked like stars at your feet. BEAUTIFUL. The deer greeted us in the morning too. I LOVE that place.

We went hiking on the AT while we were there. I had no idea what the AT was back then. It was just a trail that we went hiking on for the day. LOL! Byron knew all about the AT.. he paid attention to all that type of stuff. I was in the moment.

[Odd Man Out]

That's such a cool story, OMO.

I was 21 & a newly wed when I went to Skyland for the first time. Yep, that's where we went on our honeymoon. I know exactly what you are talking about when you said the lights in the valley below looked like stars at your feet. BEAUTIFUL. The deer greeted us in the morning too. I LOVE that place.

We went hiking on the AT while we were there. I had no idea what the AT was back then. It was just a trail that we went hiking on for the day. LOL! Byron knew all about the AT.. he paid attention to all that type of stuff. I was in the moment.

Also, not far from there is my favorite spot in SNP. It's an overlook north of BM on the west side (don't recall the name). There are some rocks along the ridge there overlooking the valley on the west side of the ridge. I followed the rocks to the left (south) from the parking lot as far I could. But there was one more small outcropping a little further out I couldn't get to (the gap was just a little too far to risk jumping). So I scrambled down to the base and found a place I could climb up to this last rock. Because it was harder to get to, there were no other people out there. At the very edge of the rock there was a shelf, like a bench. You could sit on the shelf with your feet hanging off the edge of the cliff, but the shelf was wide enough and sloped backward so you didn't feel like you could really fall off. Sitting there looking down the mountain, you couldn't actually see any of the rocks in your peripheral vision, so after a minute or two, I got the feeling that I was floating in air above the mountain, what I imagine it must feel like to be hang gliding.

[Mrs Baggins]

Big Meadows Lodge over Skyland any day - stayed in both, ate in both for breakfast and dinner. Don't miss the fried chicken in the lodge's restaurant. Some of the best ever. And a decent little pub downstairs for draft beers after a hard day's hiking. Big Meadows Wayside is excellent as well - both as a store and a place to get a quick something to eat.

[chiefiepoo]

Ahh, yes, the downstairs pub. I was sitting in there one Fall evening at a table in the corner furthest from the bar. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something fly through the door and over to the bar. Moth or big bug ? I was not sure of the size or distance from me at first but soon realized it was a bat. Seems as if bats were living in the stack of bottle storage cubes behind the bar. Live and let live, I suppose.

[mad4scrapping]

I had the best chicken fried steak there.

[teachergal]

Never stayed at the BM Lodge, but have spent several nights in the BM Campground! My favorite was last November - it was an unusually warm spell and I decided to take the RV out (I have a camper van) for a quick Friday night campout. Since I was just staying one night I was able to get a spot "on the rim". The campsite wasn't level at all (important for RV fridges), but I had an amazing view of the town below - Luray probably - even had strong cell phone signal! It was after the time change so it got dark at 7, which was too early for bed, the air outside was so nice and bug free that I threw open the back doors of the van and sat in my sleeping back reading my book and enjoying the view of the city lights below!

[flemdawg1]

Never stayed at the BM Lodge...

snicker.....

[mikec]

I've stayed at both and had a great time. But the beer prices at the Tap Rooms rival stadium prices. You can't afford to get sloshed there.

[Odd Man Out]

I've stayed at both and had a great time. But the beer prices at the Tap Rooms rival stadium prices. You can't afford to get sloshed there.

I only ever have one. I always tell the owner of our local microbrewery, he makes more money if I get one beer often rather than too much beer once.

[Pringles]

Also, not far from there is my favorite spot in SNP. It's an overlook north of BM on the west side (don't recall the name). There are some rocks along the ridge there overlooking the valley on the west side of the ridge. I followed the rocks to the left (south) from the parking lot as far I could. But there was one more small outcropping a little further out I couldn't get to (the gap was just a little too far to risk jumping). So I scrambled down to the base and found a place I could climb up to this last rock. Because it was harder to get to, there were no other people out there. At the very edge of the rock there was a shelf, like a bench. You could sit on the shelf with your feet hanging off the edge of the cliff, but the shelf was wide enough and sloped backward so you didn't feel like you could really fall off. Sitting there looking down the mountain, you couldn't actually see any of the rocks in your peripheral vision, so after a minute or two, I got the feeling that I was floating in air above the mountain, what I imagine it must feel like to be hang gliding.

That's a great description of the kind of place we all (I hope) treasure. Someplace so wonderful that unless you've been to a place similarly wonderful, you can't understand why someone is telling you about it. You tell a co-worker "and then I sat on this rock, gently swinging my feet, with the whooooole world below me," and the co-worker says "ugh hungh," and you know they have no idea what it was like. And then your soul smiles.

Thanks for sharing that.

[Dogwood]

Got a reduced rate on a room(cabin) twice at Skylands announcing myself as a thru-hiker. Maybe, SOMETIMES it's how you ask and how you schmooze. Good food.

[johnnybgood]

Got a reduced rate on a room(cabin) twice at Skylands announcing myself as a thru-hiker. Maybe, SOMETIMES it's how you ask and how you schmooze. Good food.

You look and smell the part of a thru hiker.