The morning started cold and damp, and we were forced to pack up a wet tarp, and to put back on wet socks and shoes. It’s really not the best feeling in the world. I don’t think they dried even a little overnight. No matter… once they’re on and you start moving they at least warm up. It wouldn’t have mattered if they had dried either, since the trail today was mostly mud and water, so our feet were getting wet again no matter what.
The whole day was a big long climb up Mt. Rogers, the highest peak in Virginia. As we neared the top, we got some glimmers of sunshine, though it stayed cool and very windy all day. We enjoyed our lunch near the top, at the Thomas Knob shelter. We met an interesting hiker up there that goes by the trail name Tuna Splatter. He was cooking pork chops in bbq sauce, and we learned that he had attempted a thru-hike a year or two ago, but had to be air lifted off of Tray Mountain in Georgia due to a bad injury.
After lunch we headed towards the Grayson Highlands. We had never heard of this area until the hike, and had no idea that the area is known for the herds of wild ponies that roam the park. And we did see some ponies, and then a few more, and then we ran into a group of ponies that was pretty much right on the trail. Even though the ponies are wild, they seem quite comfortable with the hikers. In fact, they didn’t seem to even notice that we were there.
We didn’t get too long to enjoy the ponies before a crack of thunder interrupted us, and we quickly started back down the trail in hopes of finding some shelter. Then the rain came again, quickly followed by small pea-sized hail. We took cover behind a big map at the entrance to Grayson Highlands. And just as soon as it started, it stopped, and the sun was back out.
We’re staying in Wise Shelter tonight, which ironically enough turned out to be a wise decision because another strong wave of rain just passed through which would’ve drenched our tarp again. It’s a completely full shelter, but we’re with 3 other thru-hikers who are doing a flip flop hike. They started at Harper’s Ferry on April 7, and are heading south to Springer. Then they’ll head back up north and complete the rest of the trail. It’s just about the right time to be passing any flip floppers, as we just hit the 500 mile mark today, which puts us just about halfway to Harper’s Ferry, which is right about at trail mile 1023.
