Date: 2011-07-17
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

It is July 17 and I¢m off to southern Virginia. The main concern I have are the heat and high humidity that is so common in July. I start back on the AT near Damascus and the Tennessee border. Once again I did not do much prep walking for this trip so I try to keep the miles low for the first few days. I find that as I get further into Virginia I gain elevation and the temperatures are moderate. There is even an occasional breeze to cool you. No rain also makes for pleasant days at the outset. One of my goals on this trip is to hike to Mt Rogers, the highest point in Virginia. The trail after Elk Gardens is rocky but I trudge on. The trail to Mount Rogers is just about 34 of a mile off the trail so I opt to take it. The trail to the summit seems like an entirely different ecosystem. Ferns abound and many low lying plants are covered with dew. It is like a rain forest. The summit on Mount Rogers is marked with a US Geologic Survey marker. There is no view out or overlook at all. The AT Hikers Thru Guide points this out so I¢m not surprised. But the few people I meet are not aware of this so I tell them and they seem disappointed. The trail in general is not crowded. For the next 2 days I meet no people and only have 3 or 4 hikers at the shelters. There are a lot of trail heads along county roads in these sections of the ¢highlands¢ so it is conducive to day hikers. I am looking forward to getting to Grayson Highlands State park because there are herds of feral ponies. I happen on several groups of ponies and they seem content and stay about 50 to 100 yards off the trail. On one occasion, I stop at a shelter for a lunch break, lay my pack down, recline and sip some water. I close my eyes for a few minutes and lo and behold I have a very sad looking single pony come up to me. He licks my arm ¢ probably from the salty reside from my sweat. I don¢t feed him and he stands there looking so sad. Two other hikers come up on the shelter and drop their packs. They chat for a bit and go to fetch water. I wait for about 15 minutes but the hikers don¢t return. Well - I hang their packs in the shelter to keep the pony from pawing at them. I hope it works and I head off. I get to the Park and spend the night in the campground. It gets cool at night ¢ down into the 60¢s which seems cool. At dusk I see a pretty good size black bear strolling past some buildings in the campground. The bear looks big and well fed. I suspect he is on a trash patrol and it appears the campers have all done a good job of keeping the area clean of trash and food scraps. The bear saunters off and shortly I fall asleep. The next 2 days I hike through lower elevations and I can begin to feel the heat and humidity. The last days of this portion of my journey which ends up near I-77 are downright hot and unpleasant. Water is plentiful and I walk early in the morning and break in the mid day until temperatures cool a bit. On my last day I do not see a single soul. For the past two days I have been ¢breaking spider webs¢ on the trail so that tells me not many folks are out hiking. After this section, I am going to be off the trail until September.