Date: 2013-04-16
From: Appalachian Folk School

To: Trimpli Shelter
Miles today: 29.4
Weather: broken clouds

(In which I unintentionally walk over 30 miles)I am awake at 0630 but don't get moving fast enough to keep everything running smoothly. Warren accommodates me anyways, but has to reschedule things a bit on his end in order to do so. By 0800 I am back at the Virginia Route 600 trailhead and ready to continue north. Again I have arrived at this site while it is still in the clouds, but at least this time I have all my clothing with me and can put on an extra layer to keep myself comfortable until I warm up. Warren departs to Damascus and I am alone in silence and mist.I start out by crossing the road and walking through open, grassy terrain. Eventually the terrain closes back in, but I move alternately through woods and open terrain for a while and climb toward Mt. Rogers. I break at one side trail, a blue-blazed trail over a fence stile and headed east. This trail is not in the guide but looks like it enters into some beautiful scenery. After ditching my pack and pulling out my camera, I walk down it briefly, crossing a stream and connecting to a red-blazed horse trail. At this point I turn back and return to my pack.The Trail climbs through more open terrain and reaches the side trail to Mt. Rogers. This is a half-mile side trail, but it is the highest point in Virginia and I figure it is worth a visit. The side trail stays in the open briefly before jumping into dense spruce forest. Unfortunately the trail stays in the forest all the way to the top, reminiscent of Unaka Mountain. I find the survey marker for the mountaintop on an inconspicuous boulder near the end of the trail, collect a photo of the high point, and head back down the side trail to my pack. When I reach my pack I reward myself with a nice break after my mile-long side trip.Grayson Highlands State Park is coming up shortly after Mt. Rogers. This is the only place along the length of the Appalachian Trail with wild ponies. However, it seems nobody had told that to the ponies. Fences and gates are in place to contain the ponies, which were introduced there to control plant growth. However, there are ponies on both sides of the fence. I spot my first pony of the day, a shaggy brown thing, next to Thomas Knob Shelter. It mills about browsing and not paying me much attention as I stop in the shelter. Many people remark about the lone pony in the shelter register, and when I text a 2012 hiker I know she asks if I found the greeting pony here.A few day hikers pass through and pay me more attention. The first two arrive from the north and depart back to the north. They inquire briefly on my trip, simply asking me if I am on a long trip. Yes and no, I think. Everything I have done from March 2nd up to yesterday has compressed into one moment, where everything is equally near and distant. Sometimes when someone asks about a point or section along the Trail and I look it up, I am surprised to see that I passed it hundreds of miles ago when it feels like I was just there.The third passing day tripper is completely out of place, even so far as day trippers present themselves. A man runs by southbound. Trail runners have not been common, but this does not seem like a trail runner. The runner is a young guy curiously dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a flannel shirt. He does not hesitate when he passes by the shelter, and continues running south. I leave the shelter heading northbound shortly afterward. Grayson Highlands is a couple miles away, and I am looking forward to this park.Before I reach the park boundary and its pony-containing fence I encounter about a dozen more ponies. I did not stop to photograph the first one, but I do stop for the next pair of ponies. They are very docile, and neither approach me nor shy away. I stop again when I reach the park boundary and find many ponies on each side, and one right on the Trail. Two of them approach each other from either side of the fence and make a show that looks like when dogs meet each other. Maybe they are smelling each other but I have no experience with ponies or horses to know for certain.The terrain in and south of the park is stunning. Outcrops of rock rise above open, grassy terrain. Without many trees or other real reference objects around the outcrops, scale is sometimes lost. What looks like it may be a giant and distant chunk of rock is passed minutes later, imposing but not really so tremendous. I spot the day hikers that had interacted with me at the shelter feeding the ponies. Another group farther off the Trail is atop an outcrop with their dogs, while ponies mingle below them. I stop at a few outcrops that the Trail passes over or nearby, and could probably spend all day moving around the park on all the outcrops and side trails if I could spare the time for that.Grayson Highlands State Park does not cover much area, and soon I am back over another fence and outside the park. Shortly afterward I reach Wise Shelter, which sits at precisely 500 miles from Springer Mountain according to the 2012 guidebook I use. I break here briefly to eat and sign the register. Not surprisingly, many of the entries make note of the mileage achievement here. I note in the register that some folks previously a few days ahead of me had checked in earlier today. I push on hard to see if I can catch up to them today. Given where they stayed, I imagine I will catch Slapp and company at Hurricane Mountain Shelter.When I reach Hurricane Mountain Shelter I find only a couple unfamiliar section hikers. It is near sunset now, but I push on from this shelter. Earlier today Warren mentioned some promising streams to camp near that are beyond this shelter. I plan to at least reach one of those streams and camp there. By the time I am passing these streams it is dark, and I can see no obvious hammock sites. There is little flat space beside the Trail for cowboy camping, and I am not keen on simply laying my sleeping bag down on the Trail.It is late when I reach Trimpli Shelter, nine miles beyond the prior shelter. Here there should be plenty of space to camp, but I do not approach the shelter. Most folks there will be asleep at this hour and the shelter is probably full with the group I have been catching up to. On the short side trail to the shelter I find a nice pair of trees to hang my hammock. Without ever approaching the shelter, I set up for one of the warmest nights yet in my hammock.Peace,