Date: 2013-05-09
From: Luther Hassinger Memorial Bridge, stealth camp

To: Thomas Knob Shelter
Miles today: 13.9
Weather: light rain

The rain stopped after the initial downpour. There was some dripping from the trees above and snail trail on the screen, but inside it was dry-ish. I was nice and warm in my sleeping bag, but my clothes never seemed to dry. About half way through the night, I put on my wet t-shirt. I had pulled it into the sleeping bag with me hoping that would help it to do. It hadn't. But my body heat helped to dry it pretty quickly. My hiking skirt was still wet, but at least it was warm from being in the bag with me. My fleece never dried, so I just put it on wet in the morning. I got up at 7. I kept trying to put it off. I went through the normal routine. I was surprised to see how wet my sleeping bag was. Yeh-horray for dri-down! I tried to dry off the tent, but finally gave up and packed it up soaking wet. The ground sheet had puddle off water on it. Thank goodness it was warm-ish. And thank goodness for warm morning sunshine with bright hazy morning rays that make their way through the train tressels. Everything might be wet, but the morning light made me happy that I had camped where I did. I did a little morning dance under the pines. It was a great day to wake up alive!Unsurprisingly, there was lots of water and lots of mud on the trail. Finding a water source was no problem. Whatsoever. Finding a place to step that wasn't four inches underwater, well, that was a different story. I passed by Lost Mountain Shelter. There were some people still packing up. I found out later that it had been PACKED the night before, somewhere around 20-30 people. I guess I made the right decision to camp where I did. The morning was water, springs, and woods. I crossed through a fence stile and climbed up a grassy hill and through a bright green field, complete with old apple tree. I passed Odette coming from the other direction. I entered into the woods and did more climbing and finally up on to some balds towards Buzzard's Rock. Bill & D.O.G. had warned me that it would be a tough climb. I was happy to have had the heads up. There were some neat rounded rock outcrops. The sun played hide-and-seek behind the clouds. The wind was steady and put chill bumps on my arms. I met up with Dreamer & her husband atop Whitetop. I stopped for lunch and hung my tent on a tree to dry out. They arrived by car. It was great to see them again. We arranged to meet again in a few days near Adkins, VA. After two hours of eating and chatting we bid our see-you-soons. After lunch, the trail headed down. Bitter Goat, Trigs and her dog, Gromit, caught up and passed me. I saw Percy again (I'd seen her the day before, one of Warren Doyle's students). The trail crossed a road, and we entered through a gate into the much-anticipated Grayson Highlands. I had timed my hike to go through the highlands in good weather. I was dead-set to see the wild ponies. As soon as I entered Elk Park and climbed the hill, I could see a pony emerging through the trees towards Bitter Goat, Trigs and Gromit. I hoped that Gromit wouldn't scare it away. The pony was a paint. On its side, it had a pattern that looked like the shape of Texas, especially when it was in full stride. Which it was, directly towards them. This was quite a tame "wild" pony. Bitter Goat and Trigs were taking pictures when I reached them. The pony seemed quite insistent. Trigs headed off because Gromit was just beside himself with excitement. Bitter Goat and I petted the pony. The pony tried to chew on out clothes and hiking poles. I wished that I had brought an apple. I hadn't. But I had a tomato. A coveted tomato. Against better judgement we decided to see if the pony might like tomatoes. I cut off a small piece. The pony lipped it a little bit but ultimately decided, no. Darn it. I ate the tomato instead. Another hiker pulled out a honeybun. As soon as the plastic wrapper crackled, the pony went berserk. Clearly this was not the "wild" pony's first honeybun. The hiker could barely get the honeybun out of the package before the pony was running him backwards. We watched the pony gobble up the honeybun, and then we tried to walk away. The pony laid its ears back and came after us, cutting us off. We shooed it off, but it just kept coming. I used my poles as a buffer to keep the pony at bay. Finally, another group of hikers came from the opposite direction, and the pony turn its sights on them. We took it as an opportunity to get away.The trail passed through lots of different woods, orchards, big rocky areas, balsam forests, open hardwood forests with yellow and white flowers carpeting the forest floor. And lots and lots of rocks and roots. Big boulders stood as solid rock walls. Springs ran out from under big rocks, ran out in the open for 5 or 6 feet, then disappeared again under another big rock. The trail passed through open forest with low squat trees. You could see a big grassy area out to the right. I took a short side trail out to get a closer look. There was a sign posted that read: No Motorized Vehicles, Bicycles or Hand-gliders. I followed along a really wet path, it was more of a creek, really. There were horse hoof prints and deer tracks. Finally, the trail opened up out of the balsam forest, and I could see the shelter nestled in amongst the trees about a quarter mile away. At the t-intersection I had the choice to go left up to the top of Mt. Rogers, the tallest point in Virginia. Or right to the shelter. I went right. I had heard from several people that there was no view from the top. I still have no regrets. There were a lot more people at the shelter than I anticipated. Bitter Goat, St. Croix, K2 Summit, Orion, Davy Crockett, Beans, Vice and several others. Everyone was in a good mood. I set my pack down in the shelter and made dinner. Everyone said that they had seen herds of ponies, but I had only seen the one honeybun-crazed one, After dinner, I went down to the spring to refill my water. There were a dozen ponies RIGHT THERE! They saw me and came running. I went back to get my camera. I was concerned about approaching them, but they had no qualms about approaching me. The most eager was a tiny foal, no more than a few days old. It made a tiny nicker as it approached. Much to my surprise, they started licking my legs. It turns out, they see hikers as human salt-licks. I was afraid they would try to take a chunk out of my calf, but instead they just ran their soft tongue over every inch of exposed flesh. The little one tried to nibble on my skirt, but I managed to get it to release the fabric. When the salt was gone, they recommenced grazing. It was simultaneously really cool and kind of weird. The sunset and the setting and the ponies and company and lunch with Dreamer & Chad and waking up to sunshine and a beautiful bridge, it was just one of the best days yet!