June 2nd: Grayson Highlands

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The night passed without any problems - no rain, wind or unwelcome visitors. The
fellow who had been in the shelter packed up and was gone about 5:30AM. A second
hiker had come in after we went to bed, his tent was up near the privy. He
wasn't up when CC and I climbed out of the tent. We had everything packed except
for the food bags before 7:30. We had a nice hot breakfast with hot beverages
from our re-supply box:-)
We were on the trail by 8:15 heading up Pine Mtn from 4,050' to 5,000'. From
here south the elevations bounce up to the 6,000' range here and there. The
climb wasn't too bad with much of the trail at 3% grade or less. We started out
in the hardwoods but soon it changed to Pines, Firs or Spruce trees. They are
quite old in this area and all are large. After topping out Pine Mtn, we dropped down
into the Grayson Highlands which range between 4,800' and 4,400'. This is an
area anyone can come and enjoy. It is a state park and you can drive into Massie
Gap and walk up an easy trail/road into the highlands. I've not been to
Scotland, but this place sure looks like all of the pictures I've seen. The
mountains are splotched with high meadows divided by Rhodies and other low
bushes. Mt Rodgers is in the area and is world famous for the Rhodie blooms. We
are here on the front end of it and the mountains have a lavender hue. Large
rock formations jut high above the bushes and low weather beaten scrub pines. The VA horse trail also winds through the park and riders can
be seen here and there. Being Saturday, bloom starting and mild weather, we have
only seen crowds like we saw today in towns. People are walking everywhere! Day
hikers, section hikers, tree peepers, flower lookers, and the pony watchers.
There are herds of wild ponies up here that range in size from a few to a few
dozen. They are all colors: Paints, Rhoan, Gray, Buckskin, Black and I even saw
what looked like a Palomino colt. We got close to one small herd and took a few
photos then continued up the trail.
CC took another header in the bushes today. She was weaving through one of the
rocky sections when her foot hit one rock just right, or just wrong. Over she
went like a drunken sailor into the bushes, best thing being that it was the opposite
side as her first fall. She was fighting with her pack trying to stand upright
but was getting nowhere. A brigand of a branch had her held tightly to the
ground. I reached over and repositioned the thing while helping CC regain the
upright position. No broken bones or bad cuts, only a scraped elbow. She asked
if I had taken a picture as most people would get a good laugh out of it. I said
no. Thinking at the time if I would have told her to just stay in the head down
position a few moments longer while I got the camera out, was not the correct
response I should make. 30+ years of marriage has taught me a thing or two. (As editor of this blog and the son of said travelers, I would like to take the time to say that he may literally mean only ‘a thing or two’ Love you dad! -matt)
We spent a good part of the afternoon crawling in and around boulders and rock
formations. Wilburn Ridge and Grandview Peak were two of the mountains we had to
climb at least part way up through the rocks. Then it was through "Fatman
Squeeze" a natural rock tunnel. After that it was through Rhododendron Gap at
5,440'. Leaving there we dropped down 40' to the Thomas Knob Shelter for the
night.
We had been passing beautiful tent sites for half an hour before getting to
the shelter. What did we find there? Big rocks and no tent sites. CC went
looking for a place to setup camp while I went to the spring for water re-supply.
On my return CC was talking to some women who had hiked in. She said there was a
great spot about 100 yards south. In the few minutes it took us to get there,
someone else had grabbed the best tent spot. We took what was left.
The day was overcast with the sun was merely an occasional white dot in the clouds.
Fog is quickly enveloping our mountain. Supper is done, the pot is cleaned and
we are tucked inside our nylon home for the night. We did 11 miles today, for a
total of 521.3 miles down, about 22 more miles and we will have 1/4 of the trail
done. We will be just over that figure when we walk into Damascus on the 5th.

Patrick, Deborah Mooney aka OD & CC
All Who Wander Are Not Lost

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Comments

[chris]

AWESOME!
Love you guys! crazy to think it's already been two months. Good to hear the trail is being good to you. Talk to you later! Love, - me