Date: 2013-04-10
From: Lost Mountain Shelter

To: Wise Shelter
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: broken clouds

I have read and heard that many think the section we did today, Mount Rogers and Grayson Highlands, is the most spectacular section until the White Mountains in New Hampshire. It was spectacular today, but we have had so many spectacular days already that I don't think I can put it ahead of all the rest. We earned the 360 degree panoramic views we had today.We started at under 3000 feet, ascended the summit of White Mountain at 5,080 feet, then descended into a gap before again climbing up to 5,440 feet on Mt. Rogers. The shelter area where we have pitched our tent is at 4,460 feet. The top of Mount Rogers and the Grayson Highlands look like something from out west, with scrub brush and piles of huge rocks (that were fun to climb on) jutting up. The descent from Mount Rogers was very hard and tiring. There were piles of rocks on the trail that required either a big step up or a long, jarring step down to move through them. Progress was slow, and since it was toward the end of the day, it did make the final miles of the day seem long and tedious. Plus, I got a sunburn and my first blister. And, Hoosier and I missed a trail marker indicating a turn and got a little "lost" for a bit. While trying to find and get back on the trail, we got separated, and Hoosier ran into a low, old barbed wire fence that tore up his shin pretty good. He got a pretty nasty deep cut. We treated it with Neosporin and wrapped it up tight with some gauze pads and duct tape. A highlight was coming in contact with the famous Grayson Highland Wild Ponies. They roam all over this area and are not fenced in. They have long shaggy coats and are not really so wild, since they like to lick your arms and legs in order to get the salt we sweat. (The hardest part about pitching my tent tonight was finding a flat place with no horse dung on it.)Trail Magic! Nomad, was providing "trail magic" at a State Forest Road that the trail crossed. Nomad hiked the first 350 or so miles of the trail but decided that what God wanted him to do was to support other hikers on their journey. So he is now traveling around in an old van that he just bought a few weeks ago so that he has room to transport injured hikers (and their gear) while they are recovering and preparing to get back on the trail. On this day three injured hikers were with him. When they recover (usually in a week or less) he transports them back to where they left the trail unless they want to skip a section so they can hike with their friends again. He had markers and was asking everyone to write their trail name on the side of his van. He was serving Gatorade, lots of treats, and homemade cookies. A cool, very special moment for me was when after getting some food I sat down on the grass to eat. Soon, a half dozen or more hikers in their mid-20's sat down in a semi-circle of-sorts on both sides of me. There was lots of room on the grass and they could have sat anywhere, but they chose to eat with me and include me right in the middle of the group. As we ate lunch it felt so good to be included and feel accepted even though I am much older. Off the trail I don't think I am disliked by young people. I may even be at times respected. But I am not now, nor have I ever been "cool". So I don't expect to be included in their social gatherings or when they just hang out. But here on the trail for the first time in my life I actually feel "cool". I fit. I belong. I am not "old" or out of touch. The younger hikers actually want to hang out with me. That's a great feeling. A poignant moment in the day happened when Joe-the-hiker left us. Out here, he is just Joe-the-hiker, but before the trail he had a very successful career that demanded a lot of travel. Suffice it to say that the demands of corporate life made things hard on his family. Part of what he has decided on the trail is to make his family a priority. When his wife told him that his college age daughter was getting a special award at her college he decided to fly home and surprise her at the award ceremony. He told us he had missed to many of her birthdays and other special events and he wasn't going to miss this one. So Nomad is driving him to a small local airport where he is going to take a connecting flight to Houston, Texas. He will spend four nights at a bed-and-breakfast with his wife before surprising his daughter and then returning to the trail next week. He said his wife knows how much this hike means to him and she was thrilled with his plans. Good stuff!! Hoosier and I have grown very close to Joe-the-hiker. We will miss him, and we all plan to stay in contact.A moment to savor was when at the end of the day I put my feet, for a few seconds at a time, in a frigid creek near the shelter where we have pitched our tents. It was peaceful to sit on the rocks and watch the swollen creek tumble past.It has been another very full day. I am thankful.