Date: 2008-05-05
From: Lost Mountain Shelter

To: Little Wilson Creek
Miles today: 17.4

We are up a little bit earlier than usual today, 7:15am. Each week we have been getting a different cereal to have for breakfast and today we have corn-pops. Not a good choice for a hiker because I was starving just a few hours later. Let¢s hope I remember that at the grocery store next week and make a better choice.We start our day out with a climb up Buzzard Rock.   It wasn¢t bad at all, again just really gradual. It was long, but not super strenuous. There was a piped spring at the top and the water came out with the force of a fire hose! I swear I could have chipped my teeth if I had tried to drink from it! It was wicked cold and felt great rinsing my sweaty face off.We headed down to Elk Garden, a road crossing, and had lunch with Stubbs, Mr. Bones, Hammer, Blues Traveler, Hi-Lo, and Pop Top. There was a pretty good bitch session about ¢slack packing¢, which got everyone riled up! I think that topic is the most heatedly debated topic on the Trail. At least that we have witnessed. We then had a hike up to Mount Rogers, but we crank up it without stopping once. Either the hills are really easy lately, or we have definitely gotten our ¢trail legs¢. I do believe it¢s a touch of both, actually. We opt not to go the 12 mile blue blazed trail to the summit. No views. No point. It is the highest point in Virginia, but that doesn¢t really mean a whole lot to us. We head to Thomas Knob Shelter and just before we get there we come to the infamous wild ponies. We stop to take pictures and videotape. One lets us get really close, pet him and take pictures with him. They are pretty cool. There are even some foals. I learn where the phrase ¢hung like a horse¢ comes from. And these aren¢t even horses, they¢re just ponies! It is quite astounding though and I¢m not the only one who can¢t help but stare! The odd thing, well another odd thing, about the ponies is that they are in a fenced in area. How can they be wild if they are fenced? I don¢t get it. (I learn later though, that the fence is not four sided.) And I am told that they are actually taken care of, like given their annual shots by the Vet and I think even sold at auction in the fall. It was pretty cool to walk through the woods into a clearing and see around 20 ponies just hanging out. It was definitely neat.From there we hike onto the Fatman Squeeze, a natural rock tunnel. It¢s along the lines of the Polar Caves, but not nearly as tight. Well, it¢s pretty tight with a pack on. It¢s the pack, dammit, the pack! It is still really neat as the AT goes right through it. It¢s probably about 150 feet long.   Then we hit the Highlands. It is like big balds with fields and monster rock piles. Parts of it reminds me of climbing Mount Monadnock. There are great views all around. All the hiking over the rocks does a number on my feet and after a while my feet are screaming! They did enjoy a rest at lunch when I took my boots and socks off. I am happy to report that for two days I haven't had to use bandaids on my feet at all. This is huge, cause normally I have too. I guess I finally have seriously callused, gnarly hiker feet!We hit Wise Shelter and I'm pretty sure that Sunbeam, Busdriver, Sunkist and Kyanite are surprised to see us roll in (they all left a day ahead of us out of Damascus). There is no camping at the shelter so we walk about five more minutes to Little Wilson Creek and set up our tents in the field next to it. We eat and have a big fire. We make hot chocolate from snickers, milkyway and a cadbury egg. It is sooo good, just a little weird with nuts floating in it.A great treat after a long day.