Date: 2007-05-05
From: Thomas Knob Shelter

To: Old Orchard Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: light rain

PonymaniaI slept until 9 this morning since I was only walking 11 miles today. The entire mountain was fogged in when I woke up with a bit of a drizzle. I ate breakfast in the shelter and my lexan spoon broke in my jar of nutella. grrr I managed to use the spoon nub to still cover my bagel. After breakfast a herd of feral ponies wandered over near the shelter. Quake, Couch, and I went and to check them out and and were able to walk right up and pet them. There were probably 20 ponies in all. A few foals were staying close to their mothers and we saw two ponies makin some lovin. We def learned about the birds and the bees this morning. I made friends with 4 of the ponies as they surrounded me and fed them all my carrots. It was pretty cool to see these large animals running free on the beautiful mountain tops. I was surprised with how friendly they were!Eventually I ran out of carrots and just stood around for a bit watching them do their pony thing. Then we went back to the shelter, packed up, and started the walk along the rocky mountaintop fields and forests. The fog had lifted a little bit giving us views of the highlands. I walked alone all morning and ran into quake and trailblazed in Grayson Highlands State Park near the end of the ridgewalk. There were 5 more ponies who were even more friendly that we met there. So friendly in fact that they were licking my arms and legs and boots and wherever they could find some salt from my sweat. I hung out with these 5 for a while, particularily the gray one with a long white mane. This one was super cool and his hair was so long it covered his eyes. I pushed it back behind his ears trying to style him for a picture. They left and went went down the mountain, but so did the trail, so I saw my buddy one more time doing some trail maintainance. He was eating the grass right on the trail. I made it to Wise shelter, spotting 2 more ponies in the forest right before I got there, as the rain started to pick up. There was a ridgerunner therethat I talked to about the ponies. The herd I saw in the morning was the Crest Herd and the herd in Grayson is the Massie Gap Herd. They keep the two seperate. After another avacado and tomato lunch I continued on through the last of pony land. Quake, Couch, and I found one final herd, not sure of their name, that wasn't as friendly as the other two. We estimate that we saw about 35 ponies over the day! The three of us stopped at Old Orchard shelter with tabasco, chris, and trailblazed. Tabasco is on a mission to rid the shelters of mice. He is carrying 4 mouse traps that he sets up every night. So far he got 2 tonight and suppsoedly his record is 10 in one night. Some think he is doing the hikers a service, others think he is a ruthless mouse assasin. You be the judge. The mice have been known to chew through food bags and run all over hikers through the night. I am in my hammock hung in some fir trees listening to owls calling in the distance. Another absolutley amazing day on the AT!Today's StatsStarting Point:Thomas Knob Shelter Ending Point:Old Orchard ShelterMileage:11.0Elevation Gain:1590ftElevation Loss:2870ftHiking Time:8:03Weather:Overcast, cool, drizzlePain Factor:2