Date: 2013-03-30
From: lost mountain shelter

To: Wise Shelter
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Today's hike had to be cut short due to the conditions and a few humorous mishaps, but the sunny weather made it quite enjoyable. All of the group except Arrowhead and Daypack awoke early and left camp by 8. We were shooting for 23.2 miles to the old orchard shelter, hence the early start. As the day began and the sun rose into the sky, it slowly lifted the dense blanket of cold air in teh valley and on the mountain slopes. The trail made its way across a small farm field before beginning a long climb up whitetop mountain. The trail headed to the right side of the mountain, towards the sun, and the two eventually collided with great satisfaction to me. As I neared the summit of whitetop the trail suddenly turned left and headed up towards the bald summit. The wind quickly picked up on the exposed rocks and grass, and I found it the perfect opportunity to use my 30cent face shield which I had constructed out of a hat from dollar general. It worked like a charm, and after enjoying some great views I headed along the trail towards Mt. Rogers. It wound around the mountain before heading into the woods, where there was lots of snow and beautiful winter scenery. Eventually I reached Elk Gardens and the start of the Lewis Fork wilderness area, which offered the view of Mt. Rogers summit I had been waiting for. I headed across a cattle field, where I spotted a skunk making its way along the trail. Soon I found myself descending down and away from Mt. Rogers, before finally turning and heading up towards thomas knob (near the summit). Before reaching thomas knob after what seemed like a pointless section of the trail, I reached a small clearing and could see where I knew the shelter was. Little did I know I would be in for a special treat from the melting snow...the trail headed straight into a dense spruce forest with many branches which crossed the trail, and as the snow melted into water I found myself drenched and quite irritated. But eventually I emerged back into the shining sun, and after finishing the ascent to the knob I found myself at the shelter greeted by a departing Dry Bones. I spread out my socks and shoes in the sun to dry, and started enjoying a nice hefty lunch. Soon Flo and Daypack arrived and we sat in the pleasant sun for quite some time before eventually setting off down the mountain. As we descended the trail got continually more and more slushy, and as the water pooled on the trail it made travel quite slow. Soon Daypack and I found oursleves at the entrance to the Grayson Highlands state park, home of the famous wild ponies. We stopped to take a few photographs of the ponies and their young...Daypack made the mistake of wanting to snack on some crackers, and as soon as a nearby pony heard the sound of ruffling plastic it turned and headed towards him. He decided to feed the pony some of his crackers, but the pony had other plans. It lunged for the rest of his crackers, and as Daypack struggled to shake off the assault, the pony made a move to nip at his waist belt (the stash place for his candy). Daypack quickly threw the pony the remaining crackers, which instantly made the assault stop. We took off running, laughing along the way at just how ridiculous that pony was.. Soon Flo caught up and we casually made our way towards the next shelter, having decided 23 miles would be a bit too much for the day. Shortly after we made it to the shelter, and were ater greeted by Arrowhead who joined us for the night...Before long the rain arrived and we hit the sack.....The shelter marked officially 500 miles on the trail!!