After Mount Rogers, the trail went over some grassy hills with rocky outcrops and great views.
Wow, what a strange night. Shortly after I got into my tent the wind picked up and was howling through over the top of the mountain. I had to put on every single piece of clothing I had: long underwear top and bottoms, shirt, fleece, insulated track pants, jacket, hat, gloves and two pairs of socks, and I was still chilled though. At about 2 am I could hear something in the distance that sounded like thunder. Then suddenly I realized it was the ponies galloping down the trail at tremendous speed. The first time it happened I was convinced they were going to trample my tent and kill me. If I was going to be killed by animals on the Appalachian Trail, I hoped it would be by a ravenous bear or a flock of man killing eagles, not by a herd of cute little ponies. It would be the equivalent of being suffocated by a pile of stuffed animals. They galloped past our campsite three or four times. Eventually, I fell asleep.
The Vegan hiking toward the Grayson Highlands.
In the morning when I woke up and opened my tent, I burst out laughing. There were five ponies eating grass and wandering around our campsite. It was a nice clear, cold morning. We all packed up and got moving to stay warm. The section of the trail we were hiking that day went down from 5448 feet to 5084 feet over 18 miles. Since there weren’t as many big climbs, 18 miles seemed like a reasonable goal. We hiked into the much talked about Grayson Highlands by mid morning. It was gorgeous. Miles and miles of rocky outcrops over scenic hills. It was quiet and beautiful. At mile 500 of the trail, we passed over my favorite area since starting in Georgia. It was desolate and open with craggy mountains and rolling hills framed against a gray sky. I stopped for a break to take some pictures and enjoy the views.
That’s me, Smooth, posing in one of my favorite sections of trail. I was right near the 500 mile mark.
When the trail left the open hills and went back into the forest, the trail became rocky and uneven. I think we all fell a few times as we scrambled over the moss covered boulders. We were going to try to make it to the Hurricane Mountain Shelter, but Seth’s knee was really bothering him, and the slippery rocks weren’t helping his pain. We busted out our guidebooks and decided to call it a day when we reached The Old Orchard Shelter which was about 6 miles closer. I was always interested to see the shelters, because each one was so different. The Old Orchard Shelter was on the edge of a sloping hill and set under a canopy of very tall trees. We investigated the empty structure and I wrote in the shelter log. Fifty or so yards down the hill was a nice flat tenting area and a fire ring. There were two tents set up at edge of the clearing. We moved in and set up shop. A middle aged couple was there with a massive discount store tent. In the other tent, there were two cute girls in their twenties. They were also on a weekend hike. The Navigator and I went and found some fire wood. I enjoy gathering firewood. It gave me a chance to get way off the trail and discover new areas of the forest I otherwise would not have seen. We had dinner and a nice fire. The other folks in the camping area were very friendly and interested in our thru-hike. The older woman tried to tell me I had the wrong boots for a thru-hike. I was 500 miles into my hike and according to her I was doing it wrong. Under normal circumstances, I may have tried to melt her face off with a few well placed comebacks, but I was in a good place and feeling relaxed, so I didn’t give it much thought. Right as the conversation was starting to get interesting, the sky opened up. We all ran to our tents and dove inside. It poured all night.
Smooth's Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike 