Date: 2005-04-20
From: Thomas Knob Shelter

To: Dickey Gap
Miles today: 21.2

Miles hiked today : 21.2I woke up this morning at 6:55 a.m. and was on the trail by 7:55 a.m. There was horse poop on the other side of the stile bordering the shelter area, which made me raise my hopes that I might see ponies before I covered the 2.3 miles to the Grayson Highlands State Park.My hopes must have been a little too high, because I mistook a couple of large rocks in the distance for ponies. In fact, at 8:13 a.m., when an actual pony came trotting down the trail to meet me, I almost didn't believe it was real. I pulled out the baby carrots that I'd brought from Damascus and fed him several before continuing up the trail.Before I knew it, I was being accosted by 3 ponies. The original pony, which had followed me, plus 2 more that came out of the treeline. One of them started licking the back of my calves and I was laughing so hard that I could barely move away to get it to stop. The same pony later goosed another hiker, Gravity, before going after his calves as well.A little further up the trail, I happened upon more ponies, 2 of wich had very young foals in tow. I was able to pet one of the foals, though it was very skittish. The mother didn't seem to mind, as she was busy being fed by Gravity and Danger.I must have stayed in the vicinity of the ponies for at least 20 minutes and found it very difficult to leave. I still had more than 4 miles to cover to the next shelter. Along the way, I passed through "Fatman Squeeze," which is a natural rock tunnel formed by rocks that have dislodged from what was probably once a cliff wall. The name is somewhat of a misnomer, as I was able to walk through without removing my pack. One would have to be extremely obese, at least 3 feet wide, in order to have to "squeeze" through.After the rock tunnel, at 10:15 a.m., I encountered more ponies between the trail to Massie Gap and Quebec Gap. One of the ponies had long white hair that spilled over onto the front and sides of its face. I dubbed it "Flock Of Seagulls" and had a hard time not laughing as it walked around. Red Rover was on site and based on behavior, Flock Of Seagulls must have mistook her for its mother. I still had some carrots left, though I made it a point to feed the two very shy ponies and let Red Rover deal with the super aggressive ponies.Leaving the ponies behind, I moved on to Wise Shelter, arriving at 11:25 a.m. It had taken 3.5 hours to cover 5.1 miles. Oh, the ability the ponies have to delay hikers. I took a 30 minute break before continuing on.Shortly after leaving Wise Shelter, I crossed the northern boundary of the Grayson Highlands State Park. At 1:20 p.m., I reached "The Scales," a fenced in area where there used to be a cattle scale for ranchers to use before taking their herd to market. Just past the scales were 2 more ponies, one of which was in the perfect place for a picture in front of a "No Horses" sign. Such signs are often seen on the AT when it intersects with a horse trail. I reached Old Orchard Shelter at 2:45 p.m. and took a lunch break until 4:00 p.m. At 4:37 p.m., I crossed a stream that marked the 500 mile point of the AT, a milestone many of my fellow hikers have been excited about. I'm more excited about reaching Atkins, VA on Friday, which marks the 25% point of the AT.Moving along, I covered another 2.4 miles with an 840 foot climb to Hurricane Mountain Shelter, arriving at 5:55 p.m. I had intended to stay long enough to use the privy, though once I sit down, it's sometimes hard to get back up, especially when there are people to talk to.At the previous shelter, I had announced my intention to hike the 10.2 miles to Dickey Gap. Everybody else seemed to think that 3.9 miles to Hurricane Mountain Shelter was enough for the day and Red Rover commented "4 miles is happy, 10 miles is crappy," which elicited a good deal of laughter. At Hurricane Mountain Shelter, however, Red Rover decided to continued on with me for the additional 6.3 miles. We left at 6:20 p.m. with the intention of stopping in an hour for water, as the last water source before Dickey Gap was not potable.At 7:10 p.m., we stopped for 15 minutes and I filtered 4 liters of water, which added 6 pounds to my pack weight after drinking 1 liter. I figured that we had at least 4 miles left to hike and Red Rover suggested that rather than hiking all the way to Dickey Gap, that we hike for another hour then look for a camping spot. I suggested that we hike to Comers Creek, which would make for a 20.0 mile day and she agreed.After a huge climb that quickly heated me up, I was watching for a landmark of powerlines so that I'd know when we had 2.1 miles to go, though I soon saw a side trail to the USFS Hurricane Campground at 7:35 p.m., which meant that we were much further past the powerlines and had to have been further than 2 miles from Hurricane Shelter when I filtered water.At 8:00 p.m., we crossed Comers Creek, which had a nice waterfall, though there wasn't anywhere to camp except on the bridge across the creek. We continued on for 1.2 miles to Dickey Gap, arriving at 8:25 p.m. We'd covered 6.3 miles in 2 hours, 5 minutes which includes a 15 minute water break. I was highly pleased with this and we were fortunate to find a huge grassy field across the highway to camp in. The road is fairly close, though we're camped a couple hundred feet behind the treeline and in all, there are 7 hikers here tonight, so safety shouldn't be an issue.Tomorrow is a hitch into Troutdale to pick up my maildrop, then 14.5 miles to Partnership Shelter, which is rumored to have a shower and a telephone that can be used to order pizza for dinner.Bedtime at 10:30 p.m.