Date: 2007-11-21
From: Trimpi Shelter

To: Thomas Knob Shelter
Miles today: 25.1
Weather: scattered clouds

What a day! Another close call with a vicious dog, other people on the trail, great views, and PONIES!After leaving the shelter nice and early, I arrived at the shelter where I had expected to find Rambo and Sketch had stayed, but they had not signed into the register. I was somewhat disappointed to find that I had missed them, since I had never met them, having been behind them since they started before I did.I ate a quick lunch at the Hurricane Mtn. Shelter, and met a little old lady climbing up the other side of Hurricane Mtn. She was one heck of a trooper, to say the least! She also had some pretty hot flip-up clip-on sunglasses. I dropped down to the road and started my climb up Mt. Rogers, Virginia's highest peak, and the surrounding ridges.About halfway up, I came around a corner and was startled by a black lab standing in the trail. It started to bark like crazy, snarled like mad and bared its teeth. There were two people behind it, and a another dog; a pit bull. I stepped off the trail thinking that the dog would just walk past me after it realized that I didn't mean any harm. The dog continued to advance, while the lady, who was about 75 feet behind when the dog started to go crazy, sped up a bit and kept calling "Lucy" in a rather calm and pleasant voice. I was about 10 feet off of the trail and the dog continued to come at me snarling and barking, and the lady didn't really seem to show much hustle factor. If I had a gun, I would have shot the dog, but I don't have a gun, so I got my knife out and had my walking sticks ready for a beat-down. There's another thru-hiker on Trail Journals who was attacked by a dog and had to get off of the trail, so I kept thinking about him as the dog came off the trail and tried to circle around behind me. Luckily, the dumb ass, hustle-free lady that owned the thing finally caught up to it and pulled it back. I asked the guy to leash the other dog, and he said that it wouldn't do anything, and refused to put it on a leash. I told him that dogs are supposed to be on leashes, but he said that they didn't expect to see me. To quote what I wrote in my journal about the incident; "stupid f****** day hikers."The rest of the day went much better. Within a few miles, I was walking through some amazing highlands. If you live anywhere in Virginia and haven't been to Grayson Highlands State Park, you are missing out on one of the most amazing areas I have ever seen on the trail. The trail bounces between high scrub and forests, and then jumps up onto the Wilburn Ridge, which had big rock outcroppings with excellent views. Apparently, you can see seven states from one of them if it's clear! There are also feral ponies running around, which makes everything even better. I met a NOBO who had finished back in August and was out for a day hike; Hell Bender. She said that she was jealous I was going Southbound, because I got to experience solitude; she said that she only spent 4 nights by herself on her whole trip! I told her that I had spent the last 5 nights of 5 by myself, and that eventually it got kind of lonely. I finished out the day pretty quickly, arriving at the Thomas Knob Shelter just before 5. There was a fully-enclosed loft area, which was great, because the shelter's at 5,400 feet on an exposed ridge. I again had the place to my self, so I cooked up a big meal upstairs and crashed. Back when I resupplied in Pearisburg, I decided to support the locally owned grocery store, which ended up having a rather pitiful selection, so I was forced to buy Lipton meals, which I rather proudly had not carried since I left Maine. The noodles stuck to the bottom of my pot, and the stuff tasted like shit; not a pleasant main course. I did have lots and lots of hot chocolate, however, since I was going to be in town the next day, so that was nice. I knew from watching the weather when I was in Groseclose that there was a storm that would be coming through, so I set my alarm for 5:45 so that I could be on the road as soon as it was light enough to hike without a lamp. The front came through starting at about 11:30. The wind was strong enough that the shelter was actually shuddering and shaking rather violently, which made it difficult to sleep at times.