Date: 2004-04-21
From: Whitetop Mt. Road

To: Grayson Highlands State Park (Wise Shelter)
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: overcast clouds

The view we had before the sun went down last night was just as beautiful this morning once the sun came up. Lucky us.   Arwen & Heather wanted to do 18 miles today. I told them I'd probably do the same depending on how my knee was feeling. Though the rest in Damascus helped it out a lot, it still wasn't 100% recovered.    Today was the first day I really noticed my legs. The shape they are in now compared to 2 months ago is a huge difference. I feel like I can somehow get a ZZ Top joke in this paragraph, but I'm not gonna waste time thinking about it.    Looking at a road atlas of the U.S. a couple of years ago, I noticed that each state mentioned where it's highest point of elevation was. It would be cool, I thought, to be the first person to "summit" each state's high point. I use the word summit loosely because, though some of these high-points are challenging climbs requiring serious mountaneering skills, some of the points are not summits at all. Not even hills. Just a flat spot that happens to be the highest point in that particular state.    Not long after that, I discovered a place online for people who call themselves "Highpointers". Like all stupid ideas, this one had already been thought of. That's not to say the interest completely vanished. In fact, Arwen and I had discussed the possibility of summiting all 50 high-points. I'm not sure if this is something I'll look into more or not; we'll see. Right now, there's only one high-point I want to climb. It's in Maine. And it's called Katahdin.   Unfortunately, there are a lot of other mountains in the way.   Mt. Rogers is the high point in Virginia. And I stood staring at a sign on the AT that marked a half-mile side trail to it's summit. That would mean a full mile of extra hiking. Too damn much when you don't have to hike it.    However, if "Highpointing" does become more of an interest, I'd already have this one done. I mean, it's right HERE.    So I took a left toward Mt. Rogers summit and climbed up for about 15 minutes to the top.    "You made it," I heard a man say. "It's right here."    The man's name was Larry. He and his wife were sitting on a rock atop the viewless summit. I was surprised to see anyone up here, knowing it wasn't supposed to be anything spectacular. But Larry is a Highpointer. He's already been to most of them and just has a few of the easier states left. His goal is to summit 49 of them.    "I don't think I'll do Alaska. But we'll see if I have the time and energy."    Alaska is the home of Mt. McKinley. Not only the highest point in the U.S., but in all of North America. According to Larry, the trip is at least 3 weeks and you drag all your provisions behind you on a sled. It's a tough climb with lots of cold, snow, & ice.   Highpointing suddenly became less appealing.    I stopped at Thomas Knob shelter for lunch, and then enjoyed what has been the most breathtaking 4 miles of trail yet. Soon after leaving the shelter, I saw two white-tailed deer at the edge of the forest. I took my camera out and slowly walked closer, stopping any time they sensed my presence. I wanted to see just how close I could get to them.    The closer I got, the more surprised I was that they didn't take off. Then they started walking toward me. Eventually I was walking with them, around them, between them. Country & Ramblin' Man came by and the three of us came within 5 feet of both.    Next stop: Grayson Highlands. Wild ponies. Lot's of them. Walked right up to them. One even posed for a picture with me. Beautiful section of trail.   After an incredible day, I didn't mind only doing 12 miles. Had good company at Wise Shelter. Played the AT version of MASH that Flora & Fauna made up. Remember MASH, kids? Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House.   "Except we play TCSH," said Fauna.   Tent, Cabin, Shack, House. Very clever.   If "MASH" means nothing to you but a 70's military sitcom, that's called a generation gap. Simply ignore the past few lines and proceed to the next journal entry.