Date: 2012-04-20
From: Lost Mountain Shelter

To: Thomas Knob Shelter
Miles today: 12.2
Weather: overcast clouds

I ran into Huff and Puff coming down from their camp so all was well and we started off together crossing some very pretty fields and starting to climb. Big steep hill and a switchback that lasted forever! Unfortunately my bad ankle was on the outside so it was feeling a lot of pressure. Great views around buzzard rock. Just beautiful. The kind of view that no picture and no words of mine will be able to capture and convey. Looking south you could see the peaks of Tennessee's and North Carolina's mountains, the sun was slanting its way through the clouds trying to penetrate their heavy blue thickness. Patches of ground shone bright where it succeeded. And the wind whipped around us gentle enough to be pleasant and carrying the most wonderful grassy smells. I wish you all could have been there. So I was planning on going 17 miles today, but well....PONIES!!!!! Ponies ponies ponies!!!. Grayson Highlands has herds of wild ponies who were introduced to the area to keep the grass in check. I have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to force myself upon these adorable creatures. But first to climb VA's highest peak Mount Rogers. Which compared to some of our previous climbs was really um less impressive. But did I mention the ponies?! We entered the park through the lower winter pasture where there were old signs of them. But as we climbed we began to see fresh droppings and little tiny hoof prints. The ponies obviously use the trail as their trail too so there was a lot of dodging today. But we felt we were getting closer and closer. We finally saw the shelter and the corral that surrounds and protects the water source. To our left the summit of Mount Rogers loomed but as it is covered in pines there is no view and none of us felt the need to take the side trail up to it. My ankle was particularly bad today, it felt like someone just took a saw to it running it back and forth along the joint. I'm getting a little concerned that the increasingly bad shape of my ankle could cause much bigger problems as I continue north. Luckily it was pretty early when we got into the shelter so we had plenty of time to settle in, limp around, and slowly make our way to water down the rock scramble. Looking in the shelter log I learned that we had just missed Motown who took a zero here avoiding the rain same as us in Damascus. SO CLOSE! I just never can seem to catch that girl. She noted that the ponies never came but I'm hopeful the better weather will mean good pony viewing luck for us. Yay! We were there all of 20 minutes when we heard a winnie in the distance and then a single beautiful white and brown pony comes prancing into our camp. He wasted no time in licking all of us, enjoying our hiker sweat. Man I wish I sweated more. Big smiles all around as we all took turns petting and taking pictures with him. Once our bodies stopped being salty goodness he started to chew on our packs and clothing so we all retreated to the shelter some. Sensing that there would be no more salt he whinnied again to announce his departure and galloped up the trail into the trees. We all were smiling and enjoying the afterglow of our pony encounter when more blessings came walking in! Rocky and Sunshine who I haven't seen since Hot Springs came strolling in. So exciting, we thought for sure they were days ahead of us. And then I ran into a really old face when Danu who I was last with at Neel's Gap in Georgia showed up next. So there was much rejoicing and sharing of stories and happiness as we planned out the next few days. I love this about the trail; you never know when you will run into someone again. Frenchy showed up next as well as some kids Huff and Puff started with in Georgia but whom I was meeting for the first time. We shared our pony experience and all wished more would come. Although we saw them moving in the distance on the climb up to mount Rogers they did not appear again.Until later that night right around dusk when I headed down to use the privy and saw an entire heard making there way down to the pasture right by the shelter. Like a giddy school girl having just spotted Santa Claus I went skipping back to the shelter to announce my find and the whole hoard of us made our way down to visit them. hehehehehe so much fun! There were two toddler aged ones who hadn't learned to lick and not nibble yet, a few older one, and two obviously pregnant girls who shied away from us and kept their distance. There was much cooing and awwing, picture taking and laughing. They were so gentle and obviously deal with humans all the time. It was particularly fun to watch Frenchy interact with them, as his real life profession is a horse trainer. Trust me he was the only one comfortable playing the game of "gotch your tongue". Eventually it was too dark to keep playing and we all went back to the shelter to listen to little pony hoof noises around the camp for a while as they passed through. Smiles tonight guys, smiles tonight.