Date: 2016-05-08
From: Lost Mountain Shelter

To: Mile 503.9 side of trail
Miles today: 19.1
Weather: light rain

My first night in a tent was pretty much as expected. I did not sleep that great. The hammock is so much more comfortable. It did rain pretty hard at times during the night and I did feel safe and secure and I stayed perfectly dry as did all my gear. I will try the tent for a few weeks and if it goes well I will keep it. If I can not stand it I can always go back to the hammock. I would have to make some adjustment though. It was also on the cold side during the night and I was not near as warm as I had been in my hammock. It was my first night using my twenty degree down quilt. I had to put on some cloths part way through the night. I hope it starts to get warm again soon, but I think they are taking about cold weather again late next week. I was slow getting out of camp. I did not want to get up due the cold and everything being wet. Once I did get up it was much easier to get everything together and organized then when I had the hammock. I was one of the last ones to leave the shelter area a little after 9:00am. The morning hike was yucky and mucky. It was really overcast and windy. I had a big four mile uphill climb over Buzzards Rock and Whitetop Mountain. It seemed to go on forever. The wind at the top was practically blowing me over and it was chilly. I had all my gear on, which now entails a hiking shirt, a thick mid layer with a hood and a wind jacket. I now have very little cold weather gear, but my pack was well below thirty pounds today, which felt great. The morning hike was not much fun, like I said before there was muck and mud everywhere and the trail was slick. After noon the weather started to improve. I had lunch with a new guy that I met in a road crossing parking area. His name is Wook, as in Wookie. He was a nice pleasant young man. After lunch I hiked through some meadows that were loaded with wild flowers and started to get some good views down into the valley. It was hazy, but was still nice. Around 2:00 pm just before reaching the first shelter I came into a big open expansive field and saw what everyone talks about. Wild Ponies. There were about ten of them in this field. It was pretty cool. As I passed by the shelter and continued on I kept running into them for the several miles. They were not afraid of me or anyone else either. Some would stand right in the trail and make me go around them. The afternoon weather got better and better and the hiking was outstanding. I was up over 5000 feet much of the afternoon. There were expansive pastures and field with huge rocky outcrops. It was my kind of hiking. I took my time and really enjoyed it. Todays hike also took me through Grayson Highland State Park. It was beautiful as was the entire afternoon. I made it to the Wise Shelter around 7:30pm. I said hi to the people in the shelter before looking for a place to set up my tent. It was weird that there were no other tents there. It was getting late so I found a spot and quickly set up. I then went to the shelter again to make my dinner and that is when I found out that there was no tenting allowed at the shelter because we were still in the state park and they do not allow tenting at the shelter. I quickly made and ate my food and then proceeded to take down my tent and head back on the trail. It was now getting dark as the sun was setting. I checked out a few spots but they were too uneven. I hiked another mile in a half before I found a clearing. Then I noticed someone else up ahead. I said hi and asked if I could camp at that spot with him. He said of course I could. His name is Gary and he is from Dapper Virginia. He is a very nice guy and we talked the whole time I was setting up. It was now well after 9:00pm. Once I got my tent up and my bag hung I looked up and noticed the perfect crescent moon in the sky. It was picture perfect. A great way to end the day. I said goodnight to Gary and entered my tent. I am hoping for a better night of sleep tonight.