April 23 - 23.2 / 502.5

I am a day late in getting this blog typed up. I started out this morning being the fourth out of the shelter area out of the 20 or so that were there. I passed Cowgirl for a few minutes and then went on. Cowgirl is one of the few out here that has a dog with him/her. Her's is a border colley. It is very well trained, and everyone enjoys having it around.

I was climbing to the top of Whitetop Mountain, about a 2,000 foot climb, when I realized that I had left my camp shoes at the last shelter. They were croc look alikes that I had just bought in Damascus two days earlier for $5. Knowing that a storm was supposed to be coming in, knowing that I was almost to the top of a good climb, and knowing that I didn't want to hike an additional three hours for the day, I decided to leave them at the shelter and hike on. I crossed my fingers that someone else would pick them up for me.

I got to the top of Whitetop, but the view was blocked by the fog and haze so I hiked on. From Whitetop, the AT goes on the side Mt. Rogers but not up to the top. Mt. Rogers is the highest peak in VA at 5,729 feet.

Around Mt. Rogers, Skyrocket (changed from Skywalker) caught up to me. The two of us hiked on toward Thomas Knob Shelter. We knew ponies were in sight. The NPS introduced ponies into the area some years ago to graze in the Grayson Highlands. They will approach hikers and are known to have taken hiker's pack in search of food. As we got closer to the shelter, we could see some ponies up on a ridge. We pressed on to the shelter thinking some would be there. TW, DM, and SB soon got to the shelter, and we all ate lunch. It was pretty cold and windy at the shelter so I got out of there pretty quickly. The others stayed a little longer. I know TW, SR, and Cowgirl walked over to the ridge to play with the ponies. Cowgirl ended up getting a video of one of the baby ponies running and jumping in her lap.

The Grayson Highlands were pretty cool other than the rocks we had to step over. The weather cleared enough to offer some great views. I plan to go back in the future during a summer to really experience the Highlands. I met Prophet as I was hiking through the Highlands. He is from Indiana. That's all I have on him.

After crossing the Highlands, the trail descended to Wise Shelter. Akido Joe was the only one at the shelter when I arrived. I took a break and debated on pushing on. Earlier, we decided that we were going to go for 23 miles to the Old Orchard Shelter. No one else had showed up for about 45 minutes. I felt good so I pushed on thinking the others would be right behind me. The next few miles weren't that bad, but my feet started to hurt. I got some new blisters coming into Damascus, and I could really feel them the last few miles. One is on the tip of my right big toe and the second is on the side of my right heel. Not wanting to walk much further I was glad to be at the shelter. Also there were Sofa King, Donner, Roughin It, and We'll See. I made my dinner in the dark, spoke with the others, and went to bed.

The other four ended up not making it in. I was surprised, but they would end up catching up to me the next day.