Date: 2008-04-09
From: Somewhere before Grayson Highlands (~5000')

To: Trimpi Shelter (2900')
Miles today: 23.3
Weather: scattered clouds

This morning I woke up pretty early in my tent. I packed up inside and rushed out to go to the bathroom. The sun was just coming up and hitting the field we were in and some big rocks on either side of us. I took a bunch of pictures before I put my tent away and Dynamite wasn't up yet. I ate some pop tarts and packed up more and Dynamite started to emerge just as I noticed two wild ponies 100 ft from our tents. There were small and grazing. I pointed them out and went in for some pictures. When I started to eat my second pop tart pack it noticed me and started heading for me. I figured it wanted my pop tarts and I wanted them more so I moved away and finished packing up. We were heading out by 8:40 and the sun was out and it was a clear day. We shortly later entered the Grayson Highlands Park and stopped to take off our warm fleeces and I hadn't even tied up my boots up underneath my camp pants. It was less windy then in the morning so shorts and T-shirt worked fine. This is the third time I've walked in shorts and T-shirt and all of them were in VA. There were some more wild horses/ponies as soon as we entered the park and we took some more pictures. The rest of the hike to the first shelter and a little beyond that was very gradual inclines and open areas with great views. After lunch at the second shelter we pretty much cruised the next 14 miles to Trimpi Shelter. The last 6 I took slower because I had plenty of time to get to the shelter. I saw what I think was a wild turkey running up the trail ahead of me. He ran for about 20 yards up the hill before flying off. I got to Trimpi shelter a little before 5:30 and was out of water. I filled my water and tried to get my Steripen to work and eventually it did for a little. I had time to relax before dinner which was nice and I eventually cooked lipton butter and herb noodles again. I added another 12 oz tuna pack and some hot sauce as well but this time I added some of Dynamite's olive oil which was a nice touch. I relaxed some more and heard about a book/online book called "And then the hail came" that Shepherd had read that followed a 1983 thru-hiker on his trip and it has some pretty funny stories in it. I'll have to check it out and compare it to my experiences. I munched on a king sized snickers and reeses bars, a hershey bar (dark chocolate with rasberry and macadamia), a chocolate chip Clif bar, a chocolate almond granola that CJ gave me to try, and I polished off the oatmeal raisin cookies. I have about 5 bars for tomorrow enough pop tarts and we might be (or hopefully definitely) ordering pizza to Partnership Shelter for lunch. Its 0.1 mi to a road crossing from that shelter which has a payphone you can order pizza from. I figure I'm consuming around 4800-5000+ calories a day between pop tarts, granola, peanut butter, dinner, and candy bars. Not bad eating. Around 9:30 a jet or a couple of jets flew right over the shelter really close to the ground. It was loud and unexpected I have no idea why they would be flying around at night. Tomorrow should be an early start to allow time for pizza and 20+ miles into Atkins. I hope those planes fly by again and wake us up. Almoust as bad as shelter mice.