[at-l] Trip Report Grayson Highlands Part 2 of 2

["Stewart Holt" <Stewart_Holt@compuserve.com>]

Trip Report Grayson Highlands Part 2 of 2

There is a web page to accompany this report at:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Stewart_Holt/Grayso~1.htm

Thursday, we awoke to another purple sky day and warmer
temperatures. We left camp and hiked across the cove formed by
the southern and eastern end of Wilburn Ridge. This area contains
a sylvan swamp. Although vegetation was thick, there were animal
trails which made crossing it fairly easy. There is sphagnum moss
growing in thick clumps, ferns, rhododendrons, and other plants,
which had not yet leafed out. We climbed and met the AT near one
of the prominent rock outcrops on the ridge. The AT descends from
here and enters a mostly hardwood forest and arrives shortly at
the Wilson Creek shelter. It is visible from a distance on the AT
by its prominent green metal roof (See Picture). Here I saw a
recent shelter log entry from "Hopeful". It mentioned having no
shelter mates for a few nights. I think that the recent storm had
driven a lot of people off the trail. We had seen no hikers until
meeting a thru-hiker after leaving the swamp.

The AT leaves the park shortly north of the shelter, crossing the
fence via two ramps parallel to the fence. The AT climbs Stone
Mountain on its way to Scales. This is a really neat section over
the top of a mostly treeless mountain. Last fall in the fog, we
had to watch carefully for blazes on posts. This day, we took the
Scales Trail, which is more direct and would give us more time to
explore other areas. "The Scales" was once a place that livestock
were corralled, weighed and sold. Today, no scales are present
but a large corral exists with various smaller animal enclosures
around it. The AT enters through a style on one side and exits
the other in a similar manner. These are a little tight squeeze
for an external frame pack. The area is described as a camping
area and has a porta-potty at the AT's points of entry and exit.
The thru-hiker who had left us eating at the shelter was
surprised to see us at Scales.

From Scales, we took the Crest Trail (horse/hiker - which goes to
Rhododendron Gap) for about a mile and struck out following a GPS
waypoint to the start of the Pine Mountain Trail, which branches
off of the AT. With some difficulty, I persuaded a man and his
son who were about to follow a pony path towards Scales that the
Pine Mountain Trail was actually ahead. Shortly, we hit the blue
blazed trail. The fact that there are old roads and numerous
animal trails does make it hard to follow many of the trails.

The Pine Mountain Trail follows the backbone of the mountain as
it gently rises to from about 4600 feet at scales to 5526 feet
near Rhododendron Gap. It stays mostly in a hardwood forest of
beech and maple, none very large. There are occasional views and
large house-size boulders here and there. As it neared
Rhododendron Gap, we were in the largest area of Rhododendrons I
have ever seen, acres and acres! I would love to see them in peak
blossom, which would probably be late June. These are Catawba
variety, which have the purple bloom. The leaves are smaller and
paler green than the Rosebay Rhododendron that is common along so
much of the AT in the south. We climbed the prominent rock in
Rhododendron Gap and enjoyed views without the hurricane force
winds of 2 days earlier. We took the AT part way back so that we
could go through the "Fat Man's Squeeze" again. This is a crack
in a tall rock, which is exactly the width of a Z-Rest at one
point. There is a bypass trail for those not wanting the
challenge. Along this section of trail is what I call the gun
sight. It is a wide rock outcrop with a notch and blaze in the
middle where the AT crosses. (See picture). What large rock
outcrops the AT dares not cross, the Wilburn Ridge trail does.
So, having hiked the AT, we diverted to it, climbed another
outcrop with views, and followed it back to camp.

Since moving in, we had been too busy to meet the neighbors, so
they came calling. I had just started the dehydrated beef boiling
to turn it from something that resembles broken glass to
something chewable. Stephen said, "Look, there is a pony on the
trail, right behind that bush."  I jumped up, grabbed the camera,
and cautiously approached with a piece of hard bread clinched in
my teeth. Ponies usually stare at the ground. I noticed this one
was looking at my face and coming to me like a puppy dog. I took
a couple of pictures and quickly finished the bread and headed
back to help Stephen protect the camp from ponies which were
beginning to assemble on the perimeter. I found, accidentally,
that flapping something like a pack cover moves them back several
steps. Thus, we established what was out territory and what was
pony territory. We all ate in harmony.

There was no way that we would encourage them by feeding or
molest (as the signs cautioned against) them by hugging, but it
was tempting. They are really adorable, especially the young
wooly ones.

After dinner and securing the camp, we went for a longer walk,
this time north on the Virginia Highlands Horse Trail. We saw no
horseback riders this trip, but last fall, we met a group and
experienced the fear that the sight of a person with a backpack
can cause in a horse. We spoke loudly to the riders from a
distance to help the horses realize we were human, but had to
resort to backing off of the trail and crouching behind bushes
before the frightened horse was brought under control.

This night we saw no one. We marveled at this enormous area so
devoid of people. It was like it all was reserved for us. After
walking for a while, we decided to climb back up the side of the
ridge and back to camp. Here we saw herds of whitetail deer and a
few ponies. The setting sun cast warm tones on the eastern part
of Wilburn Ridge (see picture). We followed an old roadbed most
of the way back. This roadbed had an excellent covering of a
grass like a fine Bermuda. Strangely for 5500 feet elevation in
early April, it was green. We noticed that it was planted in lots
of places including the AT in Massey Gap and our tent site. The
ponies love it and keep it closely cropped. It seems to be a
great way to restore areas. Among the boulders, and tall grasses
on these ridges, there are some bare, dirt areas that look like
they were thrust up by freezing. This grass has been used to
restore some of these areas. We could not figure out what causes
those places. It is certainly not man or beast walking on them
because it is loose dirt.

Falling to sleep instantly while it was still light, I was
awakened about 10:30 by noises. Clomp, clomp, clomp, clomp, rip,
rip, rip, clomp, clomp, rip, rip, rip... Just one of our
neighbors having a late snack nearby. I had wondered what they
did at night.

The next day was another clear, beautiful, day but since we had a
seven-hour drive we left early. This time crossing south (trail
north) into the park, we paid close attention and followed the
grassy roadbed that is the AT to Massie Gap. At Massie Gap, we
figured out why we had missed the AT. In the middle of the grassy
AT on either side of the dirt trail we had followed is a short
post with a white blaze. Closer inspection revealed an N and an S
carved into the wood. We might have mistaken them for blazes on
the trail we were on, but more likely had our sights set on the
amazing rocky peaks straight ahead.







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