Date: 2013-05-11
From: VA 600- Elk Garden, mi 490.6

To: camp site and spring, mi 517.6
Miles today: 27.0
Weather: light rain

After crossing VA600 in the early morning, the AT crosses through a large pasture bounded by fence. The AT was elusive. No posts with blazes, just a wide muddy path, shared with cattle. I made it across the field to the fence marking the entrance to the Lewis Fork Wilderness. Somewhere, after crossing this fence, the AT diverged from a wider path that I followed in the rain, for at least 0.5 miles to another fence that marked another boundary of Lewis Fork Wilderness. I hiked beyond this gate, and into another hilly open field, realizing that this wasn't the AT! I backtracked, cursing the bastards responsible for maintaining this section of trail. I made it back to a campsite for horses and fortuitously glanced to my right, catching another hiker out of the corner of my eye about 100 yds through the trees from where I was. I hiked cross country to intersect this trail and discovered the AT. On my steep ascent to Brier Ridge, I found a herd of wild ponies grazing in the rain. I stopped, and reached for my phone, which I kept in my shorts pocket. One of the ponies approached me thinking that I was pulling some food out. I grabbed some almonds that I had in my other pocket, and allowed it to forage from my hand. Several more ponies gathered around me in the middle of the trail. They seemed cold and hungry. I passed the side trail to Mt. Rogers (El= 5,729-ft, VA's highest mountain) and stood in front of Thomas Knob Shelter. A couple of hikers, one smoking, were looking at a map and blocking the entrance. They were oblivious to my presence. I pressed on, over large outcrops of gray rock. The visibility was poor. After passing through Fatman Squeeze (mi 496.7), I officially entered the southend of the Grayson Highland State Park. Regardless of the poor visibility, there were many day hikers on the trail, many likely making their way towards Mt. Rogers. Pool Cats caught up with me en route to Old Orchard Shelter. He passed me up at his wicked pace, and planned to stop at this shelter for some lunch. When I arrived, there were a couple of dads and their daughters preparing an extravagant lunch. They were in for a few days, and enticed their daughters to hike by bringing many luxuries, which included, fresh meet, cheese, fruit, and heavier foods that the through-hiker could not afford to carry. I stopped for a moment and decided to press on while Pool Cats enjoyed his lunch. By late afternoon, Pool Cats had once again caught up to me. This time, we hiked together, maintaining a fast clip up the ridge north of the USFS Hurricane Creek Campground. I was ready to throw down anywhere that was flat, having hiked in the rain all day. He suggested the campsite and spring about 0.2 mi east of the AT near the top of the ridge at mile 517.6. It was near dark when we made it to the first flat area we could find next to the spring. We set up tents and cooked dinner. After Pool Cats had crawled into his tent for the evening, I decided to cook a second round of dinner. As soon as he mentioned the chance of rain, it began to fall. It was as if he had a switch inside his tent to turn it on when he wanted. I managed to finish cooking my pasta before getting too drenched and crawled into my tent to eat supper.