Saturday May 10
Now it is Mother's day and I get to choose what we do. Two of my options were kayaking or doing a 9 mile hike up Mt Rogers, the highest point in Virginia at 5,729ft. I had heard so much about Mt Rogers from all we talked to so that was my choice. Don't ask what possessed to do go on a "Mean Ol Joe Hike". He wanted me to be sure to let everyone know that he has not been slacking in that department. It is a one and a half hour drive to the park, and a very beautiful drive in.
Once there we read all the trail information and the signs about the wild Shetland Ponies. I was really hoping we would get to see at least one herd of them. This trail also encompasses a portion of the Appalachian Trail. It is always fun to mark off another section of this trail. We start up a gradual up hill not to bad I think I can do this but it got much worse as we go along. Within the first mile we see our first herd of wild ponies. They are beautiful, there is one that is named Fabio because of his mane and tail.
More or this herd
Time to get back to hiking. It is all up hill from here very little down hill. The next section brings us to the fence line and we are not sure which way to go as the maps are not very well marked and the trail signs are even more confusing. We ask someone coming down and we are on our way. No one told me there would be steps to climb :<(. Steps are not my favorite thing to do. Once to the top of this part of the trail we come across another herd of the Ponies. This group has a new born baby with them. It can hardly stand on it's wobbly legs.
We spent way to much time with this group. The baby was so adorable.
Again we had to ask which trail to take as there were about 4 different choices with only two of them marked on the worthless map. A very nice hiker told us to follow the AT white blazes and we would get there without any problems. He for got to mention that there are more steps to climb, they are rock steps but steps just the same.
Nice place to take a break, what a great view! After a nice break we start out again. We had to hike through this cool slot up the trail to get to the next meadow.
Of course there was another herd of ponies waiting for us. At this rate we will never make it to the top. This group had FOUR new babies with them. They are so cute you just want to sit down and watch them all day.
Now it is time to make up some time. The white slashes painted on the rocks leads up a very rocky hill side, it wasn't to steep, but after being at lower altitude since Feb I find it a little hard to catch my breath.
Joe was down below me in this last picture waiting for we to slip so he could get of picture of it, I didn't give him the satisfaction and made it down the slippery slop with ease. Once down we see a few trail signs and find that we have only gone 2 miles so far, so we have another 2.5 miles to go to make the top. I was a little discouraged but kept going. At this point the trail leveled out some and wasn't so rocky. The trail guide said we would pass the Thomas Knob Shelter and there would be a privy there. At this point we thought we must of missed it some where when it suddenly appeared. This is a shelter for the AT thru hikers to sleep in when the weather is bad. I was especially glad to find the privy!!!!!!! Enjoyed talking with the thru hikers and their stories aren't much different from the PCT hikers we met last year
From this point we have about another .7 miles to go to make the top. I am out of energy and really lagging behind, Joe of course is at the top of his game and enjoying the climb. Once we start the last .5 miles up to the top I told him to just go and of course he did. I did better than I thought I would especially when the trail went into the very dense forest and it was nice and cool.
The top we were warned would be a big let down and they were right. There are no views, the trail suddenly ends in a group of rocks and trees, no signs to say you are there, just a geo marker.
We ate our lunch then started back down, it is now 2:30 and 4.5 miles back to the truck. I am so tired I hope I can make it back with out to much trouble. Once we are down from the top and back on the AT we stop to take pictures of the beautiful views from the trail. We see tents set up and wish we could of backpacked in and spent the night.
We scramble up the back side of the rock ridge and down to the meadow where the ponies were. They can still be seen in the distance. I sat in the meadow for a little while waiting for Joe to catch up from his rock climbing on the ridge line. I really needed that break and from here on out it is pretty much steep, rocky down hill. My knees and hips are really hurting and by the time we slip & slide the slope I burst into tears. Which of course made Joe happy, he at least got one of his three requirements for a mean ol' Joe hike. It has been a long time since I have felt this tired and sore, guess I really need to work on getting myself back into hiking shape.
Even though I was extremely tired and sore this is one of the best Mother's day I have had in some time. I can't think of anyone I would rather hike it with than my best friend! (besides all my hiking buddies back home, you all would of loved this hike.)
