Date: 2018-05-22
From: Thomas Knob Shelter

To: Fox Creek
Miles today: 13.6
Weather: light rain

Day 48 - Thomas Knob Shelter (498.4mi) to Fox Creek (512mi)We were bright eyed and bushy tailed when the shelter got moving at 6:30. Big Mac was the first one up and reported good views from the behind the shelter. The sun had just began to cut sideways through the trees illuminating the fogged-in valleys way below us. Some green peaks jut out from the cloud carpet and took Ellen¢s breathe away. As we were packing up, a section hiker came to the picnic table with his Ursac ripped open and completely brown with mud and bear saliva. He found it still completely tied to the tree but the bear had been able to rip the seam of the bag open and then devour all of the food. He was not the only person whose food was taken by the bear either. We found a thruhiker who I will not name moping in his pile of food wrappers alongside the trail. I gave him some bars to eat and helped clean up the mess before the four of us entered the Grayson Highlands State Park aka Mini Pony Land!Within feet of the boundary fence, there was a baby pony that could only have been a couple of days old. Looking ahead, we could see many more ponies roaming the ridges. What a sight!! The walking was rocky, muddy, and slow going but we were stopping anyway to ooh and ahh at the munching herds, each having a few small calves among them. In addition to the ponies, we also crossed our first trail maintenance crew of the trip. A huge thank you goes out to them for all their hard work!At a break, we called Benny to give him our ETA down at Fox Creek. Broken Seal went into his email and had received another graduate school acceptance letter from his final school!! We were all so happy for him. Even though he was good at enjoying the accomplishment for a little, Broken Seal went straight into business and planning mode in regards to how he would make his decision. When we met up to have lunch at the Scales corral after hiking with our respective parents for awhile, Broken Seal had decided he wanted to go back to Boone, NC to use the family laptop for research purposes and that he wanted to make a final decision tonight! It certainly changed the mood of the group for a bit.From lunch, it was a long but gradual downhill to Fox Creek. Even though the rain had held off so far today, the trail was so wet and muddy. It was a real pain in the butt and our parents got a good peak at how so much more than just distance can determine can determine daily mileage. We knew it was a successful trip when Ellen said that even though she was excited to shower and be in a bed tonight, she knew she would be missing sleeping outside.The icing on their experiential trip was finding a great trail magic setup by Graybeard at the trailhead where Benny was waiting for us. We indulged in some cold sodas before Benny whisked us back to Big Mac¢s car at Whitetop.We had a slightly teary goodbye like always. Big Mac has always been such a great sport in following me on all of the crazy and challenging adventures I seem to find myself in. He is always pushing his limits so that he share in these experiences with me and it is profoundly appreciated. After two weeks of following our smelly butts around VA, he started the long drive back to NH and we started driving back to NC. I¢m pretty sure that there rental car has a lingering stink to it from our wet shoes and socks alone. Benny and I did the resupply shopping together while Broken Seal started in on his grad school research. He definitely had a preferred school but is going to try it on for size mentally before making the official decision.