Date: 2015-05-12
From: Lost Mountain Shelter

To: Wise Shelter
Miles today: 17.6
Weather: broken clouds

I slept well last night. And that was pretty much the last good thing that happened until lunch.I was up early, it wasn't even completely light. As it turned out, that was because the sky was still a solid block of grey clouds. But, a brownie for breakfast makes everything better, and at just after 7, I was the first from our little group to leave.I was just ambling along and not moving very fast, which turned out to be a good thing. Because about 3/4 of a mile in, I thought a particular spring looked *very* familiar. And I started thinking about the sign I had read (but not really) as I was turning onto the trail. And sure enough, when I checked my guide against the shelter name I remembered from the sign, I confirmed I was going the wrong way. There was cursing.By the time I left the shelter area (now eerily deserted) for the second time, it was 8:15. I had lost just over an hour and walked just under two miles. You'd think that after almost 500 miles, I'd have this part (that comes along at least once a day) figured out, but apparently not.There was a long climb on tap for the morning and for some reason (ha!) I was not in the mood. So I was mostly just poking along. The weather was still crappy: cool, windy, cloudy, foggy and with absolutely no views. The climb eventually led up to buzzard rock, which was supposed to have great views but all you could see was fog. It made me want sing Kate Bush songs, or at least the only line of 'running up that hill ' that I could remember.At the end of the climb, I passed put-put and Tumbles, who were having a snack. I told them I had come up with a new rule: if you have to climb a (expletive) bald there better be an (expletive) view!I had passed Cherokee shortly before the top of the bald because he too had taken the wrong way somewhere. So, an hour or so later we did get to the agreed lunch location around the same time. Yoda was of course long gone, probably wondering what the heck had happened to us.By now, the weather was improving. Still clouds, but also blue and some sun. Temperatures were still fairly cool. We were later told that this cold front had caused last night's thunderstorm when it collided with the hot weather we had had.The story for the afternoon was Mount Rogers and Grayson Highlands State Park. Getting to the start of that section took me until three o'clock (all this time thinking I would have been there an hour ago with fresher legs if I hadn't been such a dumbass). The wild ponies are known to be in Grayson, but there were a bunch in the Mount Rogers area too. No selfie with ponies for me, but they were cute, in a scruffy kind of way.The first two miles from Thomas Knob shelter were a rock scramble, albeit one where you didn't need your hands. It was slow going, both because of the rocks, and because of the frequent picture taking. Also, foot placement had to be carefully considered so as to minimize foot soreness on the rocks. A futile task, to be sure!Almost as soon as the rock section ended, the highlands began. And I have never been to Scotland, but it certainly looked somewhat like I imagine it. Very rugged and windswept. Of course there was more picture taking but I was also really ready to just be at the shelter and I knew I still had a few miles to go.The 500 mile marker was a nice pick-me-up though! Officially there's no camping at the shelters in Grayson, but several were already set up , so we added ours. It was a late arrival (well after 6pm) and we leave early, so we'll keep our fingers crossed.Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?