Date: 2005-05-06
From: Thomas Knob Shelter

To: Hurricane Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: broken clouds

Did we have a surprise waiting for us when we woke up this early morn! Bug rolled over and told me to quietly grab my glasses and sit up to take a look (I am pretty much blind without them). First off, the skies had cleared overnight, but more to the point....there was a "wild" pony right outside our shelter. Only 5 feet away was this little pony grazing right out front. Throughout the night Bug and I had heard these strange noises, but in our state of sleepiness we just assumed it was a cat in the loft chasing after resident mice. According to Quiet Paul this pony wandered up sometime around 3am. I was whispering so as not to scare it away when QP told me that he didn't think that pony was going anywhere, as he(QP) had been outside clanging around all morning.Bug and I were both able to pet the pony, and we fed him some fruit & nut trail mix, which he seemed to love! (Now before someone from the Mt Rogers wilderness area gets upset...there were no signs informing us that we were not to pet or feed the ponies until we exited the wilderness area.) We packed up after breakfast and prepared to set out for yet another beautiful day on the AT (another treat since rain had been predicted). Before we left, Bug went over to Train and Raindrop's tent to let them know about our neighbor that had arrived. They grudgingly woke up and told him they had no desire to see it as it had been nudging at their tent all night long (I am guessing they had just gotten to sleep when we woke them...sorry guys). We hiked up over the ridge to find about 8 ponies in the pastures grazing, and a few of those wandered over to us as well! We plan to post some pictures when we get into a town that is large enough. What a gorgeous day! The hike through Rhododendron gap was very pretty and I can imagine it will be stunning in a few more weeks when the rhododendrons are all in bloom! Next, it was off doing some rock scrambling (up, down, over, and around these massive rock outcroppings). It was beautiful, but not quite what I expected of Virginia in the way of terrain. It almost looked like something I would associate with the west or midwest. We crossed over a stile (a step or set of steps for passing over a fence or wall) and into Grayson Highlands State Park. Bug and I were greeted by an entire herd of ponies, one of which looked to be only 2-3 days old. This little colt stood right beside his mama and could barely even walk, his legs were so wobbly. According to some section hikers we met, right before we arrived, the colt tried to lay down and tumbled head over heels. These animals were amazing. Needless to say, we felt very blessed to be witness to such a rare and beautiful sight. We hiked on to the next shelter for a bit of lunch, and continued on out of the park. We managed to spy yet another herd before we left. This day has been absolutely amazing...the weather, the views, the ponies! To be honest though, Bug was tiring of the Highlands a bit. This is because we only ended up a mere 4 miles north of our starting distance even though we had hiked 11.4 miles all total. The worst part was that you could see exactly where you had been an hour or two earlier.But anyway, back to our amazing day! This entire area had been described to me by Warren Doyle as "Heaven on Earth", and how right he was!!! We passed over mountains covered with: spruce and pine, millions of wildflowers, barren lands with rock outcroppings, and beautiful open pasture lands...all in one day!We decided to go on to Hurricane Mountain Shelter. It was off the trail a little ways, but well worth the trip. This shelter was soooo pretty! I don't typically get too excited over shelters, but you could still smell the stain on the logs! It was immacculate and free of defacement (a rarity for shelters). Our original intent had been to stop for an hour or so, cook dinner and then hike a few more miles, but once we saw it, and had a warm meal in our bellies, we decided it looked like a great place to sleep. Ray from NY came in and we had a shelter buddy for the evening. We plan to get an early start in the morning...we are still trying to catch Mr. Clean Jr. He said he was going to hike slow, but we are beginning to wonder. Forget Nyquil, hiking 15+ miles a day will help you get your zzzzz's.