Date: 2008-04-26
From: Lost Mountain Shelter

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

Day 44 -- I woke up at 5 a.m. to a few tenters talking loudly at the shelter table. They were so loud they woke everyone up. We ended up getting up and heading out early, which is good, but the way we had to wake up--it was rude and inconsiderate. Anyway, we started out with a climb up Whitetop Mountain, which went slow for me...my calves and ankles were pretty sore. We saw a white tailed deer on the way up. Wing-It! and I stopped at Buzzard Rock to snack--nice views. Then we went down and around to a road, where we met Stripe and had lunch. Wing-It! and StripeWrongway, Sage,Chef, and Sailboat, and dogs, whom we had leapfrogged with throughout the morning came and joined us in the grass. I spent an hour and a half there eating and chatting with our new friends, and soaking up the rays while the sun was out (mostly cloudy all day). When we finally got up, we were hiking up Mount Rogers (although the AT does not summit it). I startled an owl or two out of a tree--got a nice picture--pretty cool.Owl dead centerHalfway there all but Stripe stopped for water. It was a good source but we ended up walking pretty far down to get it. When I got to the high point, I realized I walked all that way for water and there were two decent sources 100 yards down the trail ON the trail, AND I didn't even drink anything until then. Oh well! Anyway, around the junction of the AT and the summit trail we stopped because we noticed Sage, Sailboat, and Chef taking pictures of ponies. Then we headed to Thomas Knob Shelter where two more ponies were and they were licking everything salty--rocks, wood, back packs, my arm. We decided to go on since this was only 12 miles for the day, and on the way out, Lukasz & Karen rolled in.Pony licking off the rock in front of Thomas Knob Shelter   The hike through the Grayson Highlands was gorgeous--ponies were around, LOTS of people (probably more than we had seen on the trail since Springer, total), fabulous scenery that reminded me of South Dakota a little. Thunderheads were threatening so we picked up our pace some, though difficult because of the rocky terrain and ponies blocking the way occasionally. Grayson Highlands with Wrongway bottom left corner - very, very small.We arrived at the shelter to find GAR, Tourist,Stripe (we were only five minutes behind him this time!), and Wrongway. Statesman came in. I immediately changed into Crocs, grabbed my raincoat, bottles and Wrongway's bottles and ran to the stream for water. Luckily Wing-It! said she'd let me use her Aquamira to treat my water so I didn't have to sit out there longer, knowing the sky was about ready to open up. I ran back and arrived just as the rain began to pour. We all ate dinner while it thunderstormed, and ran to use the privy whenever it paused (it's important to take advantage of dry time--we didn't know if it was going to rain all night or not). A group of six hikers from Florida came in, wet, and tented nearby (and shared chocolate chip cookies :&gt). Wing-It!'s and my feet are pretty sore and she wants to take it easy tomorrow--we're planning on ten miles. It'll be nice to chill for half a day--read and do crosswords...and maybe Top Hat, Fire and Mouth will catch up with us tomorrow. "You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." -- C.S. Lewis