AT Summer '16: Old Orchard Shelter to Thomas Knob Shelter (Day 3)

Appalachian Trail, 11 miles

Woot! It finally happened! We saw the wild ponies!!

But hold your horses (see what I did there?) and first let me start by telling you about the whole day, from the very beginning. Impossibly, even though today was only 11 miles, it felt much longer than the 14-plus miles we hiked yesterday. I mean it just seemed to go on and on. And on. And. On. I am absolutely giddy that we are now stopped for the night.

At the beginning of our hike this morning, things actually started out pretty easy and fun, because after an initial two-mile climb we found ourselves at the top of Pine Mountain with a small herd of longhorn cattle. The trail goes over a fence stile and into a bald at the top of the mountain where the cattle wander around and graze. They looked kind of threatening, but they pretty much ignored us, so we were able to get a few good pictures. The mountaintop was really pretty and a nice place for a short break too.

This was the first time this trip that we came out of the woods into a wide-open spot, so it was kind of novel. Here are Jay and Joe at the top.

On the profile of our topo map, things looked to be kind of straightforward and simple after that. But I should know better! Though the elevation change wasn't dramatic, the terrain became pretty rocky after we passed Wise Shelter, so it was a little challenging at times. Even the flatter parts of the trail were filled with rocks.

I hiked with Joe and Matt for several miles and as we started to make our way up toward Wilburn Ridge, we were rewarded with... yes... THE PONIES!!

Actually, at first it was just one pony, and we were pretty thrilled with just that one little guy. He was kind of off in the trees, near the trail, and didn't seem to mind at all that we were hiking right alongside him.

We didn't know it at the time, but we were soon to reach the time of Wilburn Ridge and see a lot more ponies: 

In fact, some of them got so bossy with us that we had to move away a bit. They were nibbling on our packs, our map, our shoes, our shirtsleeves... I think we must have been so sweaty that they were like, cool, mobile salt-licks!

Also at the peak were some amazing views and a really cool and huge rock formation. After some quality pony time, the boys made me hyperventilate by climbing up onto the cliff (from which they would surely fall to a grisly death if they slipped just a little). I was really, really happy when they made their way back down. Click these pictures for a cool view:

Tim caught up with us shrtlly, and we fussed over the ponies awhile longer. 

Joe and Matt and Tim moved on from there and I decided to wait for Jay. He came along after a little while and we had lunch together on a big boulder. 

From there, we set off to finish up the remaining miles to Thomas Knob, which is where we are staying the night. One of the cooler rock formations en route to the shelter is called Fat Man Squeeze (which, in fact, is a very appropriate description). Even the not-so-fat hikers have to kind of wiggle their way through a really narrow canyon-like pass. Matt got a good picture of Joe and Tim making their way through it.

I went on ahead of Jay for the last few miles. We determined it shouldn't take either of us more than an hour or two to make it to the shelter. We apparently didn't know that we were entering a time warp! I got quite a ways ahead of him and I kept slogging on by myself, thinking the shelter had to be just ahead. But it Just. Wouldn't. Appear. After what seemed like way more than an hour, I started to think for sure that I had overshot it. I mean, it was definitely possible...I was getting tired...inattentive... having trouble judging distance... I totally could see myself missing a small wooden sign pointing to a side-trail to the shelter. I whimpered a little as I was hiking and even yelled for Joe a few times, hoping that he and Matt and Tim might be just ahead. No one yelled back.

About 10 minutes past freak-out stage, I heard voices not too far off, and saw that a group of other hikers had set up their tents among the trees. I crashed my way through the underbrush to their campsite and asked them in a somewhat crazed and frantic voice if Thomas Knob Shelter was anywhere close. They said yes, just another eighth of a mile or so down the trail. I wanted to collapse with gratitude. When I got to the shelter, Tim and Joe and Matt had been there for about half an hour and they too had each felt like they surely had missed their turnoff. We were all so happy to be stopped for the day! But I was still kind of worried about Jay who was still en route, so I dropped my pack and backtracked about 20 minutes north on the trail to see if I could find him. I was so relieved when I finally saw an orange shirt off in the distance. Between grunts and moans he was all like, "Did you see all those ponies!?" We made it back to the shelter in short order and even had a chance to filter our water for the night before it started to drizzle a little bit.

It is supposed to rain hard tonight, so we decided to sleep in the shelter, along with quite a few other hikers. One guy is pretty huge and I can pretty much guarantee that our night will be riddled with snoring again.