Date: 2022-09-28
From: Hurricane Campground (Exit at Dickey Gap Trail) Mile 519.4

To: Big Wilson Creek Established Campsite Mile 505.5
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: clear sky

Overnight I did have to put the puffy on, but I didn¢t have to zip it up to get warm. In fact, I was worried that I might start sweating if I zipped it up. We¢d decided to leave at 8, but when my alarm went off I turned it off and then promptly fell back asleep as I didn¢t want to get out of the warm sleeping bag. I got 10 hours of sleep last night which is definitely a sick thing as I¢m usually waking up after 8 hours or so. Given the air temperature I didn¢t take off my sleeping clothes layer to help stay warm. By the time I had finished breakfast and packed up I was 30 minutes late and my hands were freezing. I started hiking in long pants and with the fleece on to warm up but it took a while until I could remove the fleece. Ended up hiking in long pants for the first time this trip. It¢s windy again today and both Orchid and I struggled to keep warm while hiking at times. The morning wasn¢t much different from yesterday and was mostly unremarkable. We¢re getting closer to Greyson Highlands and so we did pass a couple of people today and we stepped as far off trail as we could to let them pass. We stopped for lunch at the first shelter and sat in a sunny grassy area away from the shelter. We spread out all of the wet things (from condensation and dew) from last night in the sun to dry out. We also basked in the glory of the Orb¢s warmth. Eventually we had to pack back up and move on, although it was definitely hard to get motivated to do so. Not long after leaving we had a big terrain change as we left the woods and came out into an area of meadows and balds. Terrain changes or micro environments happen all the time, but I¢m still surprised when it happens. The first thing we see is The Scales Campground which appears to be in a large fenced in area. This was full of ponies and cows with horns. It looked like a section of fence was missing and they could get in and out. Otherwise it seemed like there were way too many animals for the space and they would have to be fed. Continuing on we had a long meadow walk looking out at Mt Rogers and the surrounding mountains. We¢re close to 5000 ft and the leaves are starting to change up here. It¢s not fully leaf season yet as only sections of the mountains are changing but it¢s obviously coming fast. The shelter we were targeting is just over the border of Grayson Highlands State Park which doesn¢t allow tent camping. As a result we¢re at an established site by Big Wilson Creek. This site even has a bear box. Despite a decent amount of trees and Rhododendron bushes what it doesn¢t have is protection from the wind. We found some sunny spot to ear dinner and I¢m in my fleece and puffy with rain pants on and still barely warm enough. I¢m basically putting everything I had on last night back on again tonight. Slightly colder and definitely windier tonight so hopefully it¢s enough. Orchid was definitely having more trouble than I was staying warm this evening and she¢s very congested, but so far no fever.Steps 30800Weather Forecast: 52/38 sunny