Date: 2018-05-30
From: Thomas Knob Shelter

To: Old Orchard Shelter 
Miles today: 11.25

It rained most of the night, I could hear the rain on the tin roof even though I was on the lower level. Apparently no one slept really well last night, once the rain finally stopped the wind kicked up and whistled through and around that shelter even though a tarp was provided to cover the open side of shelter.I was awaken this morning not by birds or sunlight but by the smell of someone smoking weed right outside the shelter and the breeze bringing it inside. It turned out to be the same European guy that was smoking at the breakfast table last week. This time someone said something about getting high at 6:00 in the morning; I don¢t get it.The electric fence worked well in that everyone¢s food was safe through the night. I ate my breakfast without the smell of marijuana and was on my way by 8:30. It of course had started raining again and continued on through most of the morning. I decided not to wear a rain jacket since it was around 60 degrees and I¢d get wet anyway, but the wind was kind of chilly as the first 1.5 miles was on an exposed mountain top; I couldn¢t wait to get under the protection of trees. The trail was flooded. There was no choice but to walk right down the middle of the puddles in order to make progress. My feet were soaked within minutes and they stayed that way all day. The weather finally broke at noon. It got brighter and brighter and before long the sun shone through ever so briefly and I saw my shadow...which means six more weeks of rain. By 1:00 it was raining again.I managed to see the wild ponies about which Virginia boasts. First through a very thick fog and rain, I had to leave the trail to photograph them. But later in the day they were everywhere, even standing right on the trail. The little ones were quite skittish and would stick close to the adults, but if the adults were on the trail, so were the young un¢s (Southern talk for young one¢s). It was pretty cool to be so close to them, in a couple of cases it was a matter of only 10 yards. The ponies shared the same field, although 1/2 mile apart, with bulls. There must have been 40 or 50 grazing or just laying around and boy are those things HUGE. The closest I came was 50-75 yards and they made an impression on me. A couple just lay there and watched me as I walked by and really paid me no mind. Of course I kept scanning the entire landscape looking for one that perhaps I hadn¢t seen sneaking up on me like they do in cartoons...they were all in on it! I also saw a snake. I picked up a rock to tie to my bear line and it slithered out of the fire pit. Not sure what kind it was, didn¢t matter. It was a snake. All in all, a good day for wildlife.Within 6 miles of today¢s mud trail walk I crossed the 500 mile mark of my hike. That¢s just over 25% of the trail completed! It feels good to hit these markers, like I¢ve accomplished something.I wanted 16 miles today but the weather, the condition of the trail and my new shoes convinced me that was a bit too ambitious. I¢m in the Old Orchard Shelter tonight with Lost and Found, it¢s very quite and pretty cold. Nearby campers include Spoon, Renoir and Monk. The sun came out at 3:30 this afternoon and by 5:00 the sky was bright and clear. We all spread out our wet clothes and shoes in the sun to dry out and while we were doing something to set up camp, the wind began to blow pretty hard and within 5 minutes it began to rain. Since I was hanging my food bag, I was right there to gather my stuff. The others came running! The rain has now stopped and a cold breeze blows, perhaps tonight will be a good night for sleeping.