Date: 2008-07-01
From: Damascus, VA

To: Mt Rogers Recreation Area HQ
Miles today: 63.8

Thunderstorms and rain seems to be the theme for this section. Once just coming out of the trees onto a bald, I could see lightning in the distance headed my way. So it was race back down into the woods, cover my pack & leave the metal hiking poles, grab the fly to my tent & descend another 150ft to sit on a rock under the fly for over an hour while the thunderstorm raged around me. After the rain stopped, it was back over the bald at Buzzard Rock, to find a camping spot at Whitetop Mountain. It was very cold & windy. Getting my stove light to cook dinner was a challenge. Then my gas canister ran out & I had to repeat the challenge again.The next day, was a beauty. I hiked along Mount Rogers the highest point in Virginia. At Rhododendron Gap there were some beautiful 360 degree views of the area. This area is unusual because it is generally rocky & open, not tree covered like most of the AT. It was a good payoff for the prior 2 days of hiking in the "green tunnel" with no long distance views. Another highlight in this section are the wild ponies. They are so cute & docile. If you stand still they will lick the salt right off your body. (If you are not careful, they will also try to eat the salt right off your pack!) I stopped at an earlier shelter that day to allow time to hang out & dry all the wet stuff from the day before. It was an early dinner & sleep that night (some people tenting near by said they came by at 8:00 to invite me to have a cup of coffee, but I was asleep!) Wouldn't you know that night thundershowers came thru about 11:30, getting everything wet again.Amy's relayed forecast was right the next day. It was scattered showers in the morning. In the after the thunderstorms started again. This time the thunder started in the distance as I hit the top of a ridge. So I kicked it into my hiker high gear and started following the trail down as fast as I could. In about 1 1/2 miles as the thunderstorm started overhead, I encountered the side trail to the shelter. That was the fastest 1/4 mile, I hiked. The shelter was so new that there was no graffiti. It was a great place out of the rain. There were two other hikers from CT already there, waiting for the rain to break so they could continue on. In the middle of the storm 3 hikers hiked right past the shelter & continued towards the privy. Moments later they were back asking where the continuation of the trail was. We explained that they had taken a wrong turn & were off the AT. In the middle of this thunderstorm with lightning lighting the sky, they turned around and walked away from a perfectly good shelter, back into the storm! The guys from CT waited until the thunder stopped & then launched back out. I stayed there & was glad. Two more thunderstorms came thru that afternoon & evening.The next day was nice, even sunny at times. I reached my destination shelter about 1:00PM as it started to get cloudy. However, while I ate lunch it cleared and was sunny again. I decided that I should press on to the Partnership Shelter - it would make a 20 mile day, but it would be worth it. (Partnership Shelter's reputation is known by many on the trail because, it is near the Mt Rogers Park HQ and you can call to get pizza delivered. Most hikers spend 2-3 days thinking about the type of pizza they will order.) Unfortunately, just as I was starting the ascent to the last 6 miles of ridge walking to Mt Rogers, another thunderstorm came racing thru. So I quickly pitched my tent in an opening along the trail and crawled inside to get out of the rain. I had a good nap, but when the storm was over, it was too late to hike to Partnership before dark. Instead of a large pizza with veggies (ex/ onions) and sausage, I ate red beans & rice and drank 1/2 of the water I had remaining. However, the next day's hike to met up with Amy was a breeze, my pack was so light with no food and hardly any water.