I can't belive that I have come this far.

Wow, 583 miles completed when I arrived in Bland, VA last Thursday. That is more than a quarter of the way done. I can't believe that we have come so far. It is mind boggling although we have all decided that we need to slow down, enjoy the ride and make it last. Not going to do many more 23+ milers unless it is for a good reason, like getting close to town so that we can hike in and have hot coffee for breakfast. Oh yeah, have I told anyone that this coffee drinker has only ONE 8 ounce cup of cold coffee mixed with protein drink for breakfast. I miss my pot of hot coffee for sure. But what I have is sufficient to allow me to hike throughout the day and get going in the morning as quickly as possible so that we have enough time to hike the miles we want.

There is so much to write about that I do not really know where to start so have decided to talk about the best day yet. Hiked out of Damascus, VA to the Mt. Rogers State Park - okay let me back up a bit first with a scary story as it precedes the good day. While hiking out of Damascus, VA, we had to hike a part of the Virginia Creeper Trail (for those of you that are bikers, you should check out this trail, it is beautiful) and then cross a bike bridge. There was a plaque there telling about the bridge, the man that it was dedicated to etc... I read it all and then stepped onto the bridge, viewing the river and bridge. I noticed that the bridge was screwed together and that there was one big screw. Why I wondered and decided to check it out - until it opened it's eyes to view me! Biggest snake I have ever seen in my life, being a girl about such things, I of course ran down the bridge screaming, which disturbed the other big black snake that was sunning itself. Oh yeah, hysteria ensued ---- finally got off that darn bridge and into the woods where I think I am safer. Later, at the shelter, there was quite a discussion about these two characters and general consensus was that they were six feet long. I disagreed, I am sure they were more like twenty feet long when I saw them. So the snake count is two to date. Soundtrack has a great picture of one of them that I will upload when I get a copy from him.

The hike to Thomas Knob the following day was a nice hike through forests and fields to the highest point in VA, Mt. Rogers. Mt. Rogers was a bit of a challenge as we have encountered some rain along the way and all the streams are running high. We had to ford streams were all the stones were below water, cross bridges that had waterfalls crashing down over them, and follow the white blazes no matter where they were. At one point, I thought I had gotten lost and was following a stream instead. No, it was the AT "creek" I was following once I found the next blaze. Once we got to Thomas Knob Shelter, it was clear that we were in for more storms. That night, I think the winds got to 60 mph. Wow, what a windy night. I found out later that not too far away (Atkins, VA) they had a possible tornado. I love the wild weather, don't you? We did not get to have pizza at the shelter though. That would have made it a perfect night.

The good day - left the Thomas Knob shelter and hiked to the Grayson Highlands State Park. My heart sang as we climbed over the rock outcroppings, crossing the bald and finding the WILD PONIES!

They have free run of the state park and look very happy and healthy. I had apples for all and played with them for quite some time. K-Bar has the best picture of this but I do have a few to share with you. I fell in love with this area and fully intend to return to explore more of this beautiful area. The park is mountainous and grassy with lots of rock outcroppings to explore. Aren't there guys and girls cute? Yes, there is a foal in one picture and he is one of many that I saw. There were paints, buckskins and lots of solid color ponies to watch. Make no mistake about it, they are wild. They are not domesticated and are just as happy to bite or kick you as let you come near. Of course they also like apples and let me feed them. The park ranger was not around when I was there but I understand that they discourage people from interacting with the ponies. I do understand why but am so glad that I got to visit with them for half the day. This day has been my favorite so far. I hope that all thru hikers enjoy this area as much I did.

As favorite as it was, there have been so many others since I last wrote that I could go on for pages talking, describing the beauty that I have lived with. But there other things as well, have you heard of trail magic? Well this is what it looks like sometimes. That is right, just a cooler set off the trail with drinks maybe a snack or two for thru hikers to look forward to, enjoy, and be thankful for. Of course, the worst, is when you see the cooler, imagine the cold Coke and Little Debbie's Oatmeal cookie, savor the idea while you are getting down the switchback only to find the cooler empty - what a let down. Crazy Horse says trail magic doesn't happen in New Englad much, well, K-Bar and I have decided that we are going to prove him wrong next year. While approaching Bland, VA, the trail magic consisted of two gallon jugs of water (there is little in the area) and a print out of the next 10 day's worth of weather forcast. It doesn't take much to make trail magic happen or to make a thru hiker happy.

Friends - oh my gosh, I love all my fellow thru hikers so much. We have fun everyday. We celebrate every day even if it is raining which really is not so bad unless everything you own is dripping wet which does happen but not too often. I have met so many wonderful people on this trail that I could not begin to introduce them all to you. I think a few pictures will suffice to show us at our best. Enjoy - I will write more later.