Day 58

Today was fun! I got up really early, for me, at least. I was ready with my shorts and sleeveless shirt under my longer shirt and pants thinking it was supposed to warm up quite a bit. It was a actually quite cool all day and even sprinkled for bit when I reached Thomas Knob Shelter. So right off the bat, after leaving Lost Mountail Shelter (Fantastic spot, BTW! Lots of tenting spots on soft leaves.) there was a MASSIVE climb. I didn’t think it would ever end. Something like over 3 miles climbing at an angle up the side of a mountain? At least. The trail got a little busy. There’s a big group I’m around doing close to the same miles. Even the kid with the 65+ lb pack hiking in sandals with the dirtiest feet you’ve ever seen. (I hear last night at the shelter, he pulled out of his pack a full sized bong!) You can see the kid physically struggling and at Thomas Knob Shelter, he looked absolutely miserable complaining about his foot pain. Well, DUH! Wanna know why? I can give you multiple reasons! Anyway, before I knew it, there were a group of hikers dancing and singing the “walk 500 miles” song and there on the ground was 500 in rocks. I forgot that was coming up! Very proud of that. I got to see a few ponies while around Grayson Highlands but there was a bunch of them off to the side as you were about to enter the park proper and were surrounded by day hikers and others who drove there. I didn’t go check them out. I kept heading towards those white blazes. After exiting the park on the north side, there’s a rushing creek and a big area where we could tent. (No camping allowed in Grayson Highlands.) There might be ponies in the morning. There’s pony poo everywhere. Luckily, there’s also a nice bear box right by the creek so I didn’t have to hang a line. Apparently, the bears around here learned to get bear bags down even hung PCT style. Oh, I also forgot to mention I made sure to follow the white blazes and climb the tunnel of rocks known as the “fat man squeeze.” I almost walked around it as I didn’t see the blaze entering the rocky tunnel but luckily I heard trekking poles clicking through so I figured it out before I missed it. I would have been pissed if I accidentally took a bypass around any white blazed section. Phew! So I have my first 20 mile day planned tomorrow. The map looks good so got my fingers crossed and the weather should be wonderful. We’ll see how I do.