On Saturday morning we went to Ingles and got some snacks for a day's hike and some materials for trail magic. My mom tried her first Red Bull.
Mom and I hiked the breezy 2.5-mile stretch from the road where we met the night before down to Va. Rte. 600, where we met back up with my stepdad for a picnic lunch in the sun. He'd been handing out PBRs and Cokes to grateful thru-hikers.
Mom and I hiked to the Thomas Knob Shelter, standing at 5,400 feet elev. near Mt. Rogers, where we met hikers of all stripes: Weekenders, a ridgerunner, some thru hikers and a troop of boisterous Boy Scouts. On thru hiker, Merf, was adding a wild ramp to her noodles for dinner. Behind the shelter, the scout masters converged on the water source and pumped their filters like a tiny orchestra while their charges mingled with a small group of wild ponies.
The highlands are renowned for their wild ponies, introduced decades ago to naturally maintain the open fields on the highlands.
Then it started raining. The first drops out of the sky slammed the metal roof of the shelter. It tapered off almost immediately, giving us a window to hike on.
Soon we ran into those ponies again. Some were munching the grass. Others zoned out and stood in the rain like statues. We took our cameras out when the rain weakened further.
[Friendly ponies, Mom, May 1, Virginia highlands.]
A pair of ponies approached us and got all up in my grill.
We ended our day at Massie Gap under a gray, overcast sky, which gave the highlands a wild British isles aspect. My stepdad was very patiently awaiting us. Then, instead of turning left at US 58, we turned right, leading us to take a healthy 2-hr drive among the hollers of southwest Virginia, even through the streets of Damascus, on our way back to Marion. We had a late dinner in Marion.
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