We let Odie have the loft to himself last night. We also stored all of our food up there, hanging from the rafters, since there weren’t any good bear hangs available. Red Bird had also stored his food up there for the same reason, while he camped. Bunny and I strategically took the far end of the lower level (away from the ladder) to allow Stickers to become the first line of bear defense at the bottom of the ladder with Odie at the top. We felt our food was pretty safe.
I woke up to the sound of hiking poles clambering outside the shelter. I thought it was Red Bird coming to get his food, but the sound never stopped. Bunny nudged me to look out and see what was going on. I put on my glasses and peered out to see a pony chewing on some hiking poles and tossing them around. I yelled at it to drop them which woke up Stickers. The pony didn’t listen and Stickers jumped up realizing it was chewing on their poles (ours were inside). He ran out yelling (angry voice) “Get my F$%^ing poles out of your mouth” (loving voice) “you cute little bitch.”
Four other ponies joined the other outside of the shelter. They seemed very used to being around people. We all got up, even Odie, and got selfies with the ponies. They let us pet them, feed them, and even hug them. We spent at least a half hour playing with them until they got to be just a little annoying. Red Bird came up and tried to cook his breakfast on the picnic table and was forced inside to not have everything knocked over. Even then, they kept sticking their heads inside the shelter.
They followed us everywhere we went when we were outside the shelter and licked us (craving salt, we had been told). I even went to the privy and one followed me. I thought I might be able to save a wipe, but he/she wouldn’t follow me up the ramp.
With all the ponies hanging around, we were in no hurry to leave; this was what we had wanted to experience today. When we did get going, we met a couple walking their dogs who had seen 54 ponies already, today. One of their dogs looked like my old neighbor’s dog, River. When I say “old neighbor,” I mean my Grandma Sarah. (She’s actually younger than my parents, so how she became my grandmother is a completely unrelated story to this blog that involves time travel, a broken condom, and three missing sheep—maybe some day I’ll have time to relate the incident). As soon as I saw their dog, I started craving a glass of wine and a carrot—an old Friday night drinking ritual.
The walk today gave us a “top of world” view, but with a Western feel to the terrain. It reminded me of a New Mexico high plain and it was right here in the Eastern US. I am completely blown away by the variety and expansiveness of the Appalachian Mountains—and we’re not even 500 miles into this trail yet! That is, until we reach Fatman’s Squeeze where we see a “500 mile” sign in the trail.
We saw another group of ponies, including a couple of babies (pony ponies?) coming down Wilburn Ridge. They were more stand-offish that the herd we had at the shelter earlier. As we entered the actual Grayson Highlands State Park, we met a man, Moonlight, and his unloyal dog companion, Caesar. Moonlight is a minister/counselor and thinks that most of his couples would benefit from spending time hiking—how can anyone be angry or upset with all this beauty? He claimed Caesar loved whoever held his leash and didn’t care as long as he got to walk. We talked for a while about what we were doing and how far we had come. He asked if we had seen any ponies (a soon to be recurring theme). We told him about the shelter and left him contemplating about walking the 3 miles to get to it.
Lady Bug and Stickers were going to take a detour to Massie Gap for showers, lunch, and a mail pickup. We considered going as well, but we didn’t have any cell service so we decided it wasn’t worth the risk of randomly catching a shuttle. We pushed on another two miles to have lunch at Wise Shelter. Lil Ray got there just after us, followed by Spice, and Little Blue. We hadn’t seen Little Blue since he got back on the trail after Damascus so we were happy to see him. He told us that Geo, Summit, and Bear Foot were just ahead of him. He expected to see them here at the shelter, but they must have seen us and decided to push on (they love me).
Little Blue said his goodbyes saying he agreed with them and wanted to catch back up with them. Spice spent less than 5 minutes total at the shelter eating her snack of Cheerios. We hadn’t met her before and probably never will again—she’s putting in long hours every day hiking from sun up to sun down. She told us she doesn’t have a schedule, she just has to keep moving.
After we finished eating and airing out our feet at the shelter, we started moving again; we still had 11 miles to go today. We caught up with Geo, Summit, Bear Foot, and Little Blue putting on their packs by a stream—they had no choice but walk with us for a while. We walked together for the next 6 miles. It was good for Bunny to prove that she can walk at a slightly faster pace and keep up. She also talks when she’s hiking in a group where she often gives me the silent treatment because of some alleged “smart ass” comment.
It may be “one way,” but I really like this group of kids (sorry, anyone under 40 is a kid—I had to up it to include Little Blue who is 38; normally, I’d say 30 but I’m feeling sympathetic since his mother likes Vagabond Jack better than him). They hike 12-16 miles a day and don’t have a real time frame to finish. It’s probably dictated more by budget, but they are going to enjoy the trail as much as they can. They still haven’t had a pony encounter, so I relate to them our fantastic experience and show them our pictures.
Little Blue led the way. He was pushing hard; we all thought too hard since he was just returning from an ankle injury. We couldn’t keep up. He was so far ahead, he didn’t see the pony that spotted us and started heading towards us. It was on a direct intercept course so we thought they might get a good pony picture after all. We were mistaken. We got the royal snub at the last minute.
As we approached a coral, we saw Little Blue and a pony walking from each other. Geo was convinced he had gotten a great photo and was going to brag, but I could see the sun reflecting off of his tears. This was definitely an OMD (Orchestral Movements in the Dark—80s band) moment “if you leave, don’t look back, I’ll be running the other way.” This was clearly a missed opportunity at love. When we caught up to him, he confirmed that he was unable to get a good photo. I consoled him and showed him the great photos we had gotten earlier to give him comfort. Not all of us are losers at “pony love.”
After the third round of pony photos, Summit, Geo, and Little Blue turned on the gas a bit (perhaps they didn’t like being known as “pony love losers?”) and left Bear Foot back with us. Bear Foot seems to always be happy on the trail, even if he does fall a lot, hence, the name. This was the first time we had really gotten to talk to him in depth. We spent the next couple miles just sharing our experiences. He was an Eagle Scout like me but had limited backpacking experience before starting the AT. He quit his job to get the opportunity to hike the trail and is thinking he really likes the lifestyle—perhaps another Tripple Crowner is with us.
The rest waited for us at Old Orchard Shelter to “take a break” but as soon as Bunny and I sat down, they ditched us. Bunny needed a break so we longingly watched as they ran down the trail. They only have another 2 miles to go to make their goal of 16 for the day while we still had 5 to go to make it to Hurricane Shelter. We did pass them by a river where they sat up camp. I saw Summit duck into the rhododendrons when she saw us approaching.
I’ve watched Stickers work crowds of people when he walks up to them and I am impressed by how casually he holds up his fist to bump knuckles and says “Hi, I’m Stickers. What’s your name?” When we got to the shelter, there were only two people there, one of which was in a tent. The other guy was set up in the shelter by himself having already built a campfire. He was untangling his bear rope getting ready to hang his food. I walked up and tried the “Stickers’” approach.
“Hi, I’m easily Forgotten.” He didn’t make a sound. He started rolling his rope up, went to the shelter, rolled up his bag and deflated his sleeping pad. He packed up and decided to hike on. It was almost 7. Clearly, my reputation has preceded me. I had a record day for me, 5 alienated thru-hikers in one day. At least I now know how to secure a private shelter for us in the future.
EFG