1994 Honda Accord High PSI in low pressure valve on AC syst

I have an old 1994 accord and I am trying to decide whether to get the AC fixed or just let it go until the car is replaced altogether.

A week ago, (in the middle of a road trip), the AC stopped working. No gradual decrease in cooling, just completely stopped cooling.

In an attempt to identify whether this would be an expensive vs. Inexpensive fix (and not able to drop $150 to find out), I used an r134 pressure guage to check the pressure in the system. Now for my question:

When I put the guage on, I was expecting to find low or normal pressure, instead, the needle on the guage swung all the way around to maximum and hit the needle stop. In my mind, this eliminates the possibility of a system leak, and points to a much more expensive fix than just a recharge or hose replacement. Your thoughts?

Braden