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[at-l] mt rogers trip report

Got back Saturday from a much-too-short hike of the Mt Rogers/Grayson
Highlands section of the AT.  Let me say "Thank you, thank you, thank you"
to all who suggested this area in response to one of my posts a while back.
I met up with an old college roommate Tuesday night at The Place (3
southbounders were there), and MRO shuttled us out near the Fox Creek
trailhead off of Va 603.  We started our hike around 9:30-10AM.  The weather
on Wednesday was great, if not perfect.  Sunny, low 70s, and a gentle breeze
made for excellent hiking weather.  This was an short day, only 7 miles or
so, and we stayed at Wise Shelter near Wilson Creek on Wed night.  Except
for Wilson creek and the nearby spring, all of the little streambeds that
crossed the trail were, as my Gramma would say, "dry as a chit"  -- I don't
know what a chit is, but I am told it is very dry :).  Wed night was clear
and the stars were out; temp was probably in the low 50s.  Thursday we
started about 8:30-9AM and headed for Whitetop Mtn, where we would stay at a
campsite.  Another great hiking day - beautiful weather.  We were a little
early in the year for full fall color, but many of the maples were turning,
so we had quite a bit of reds and yellows.  I think a lot of birches were
turning as well (my knowledge in botany is pretty scarce).  We crossed the
Scales and made it up to Wilburn Ridge (great views) and around to
Rhododendron Gap.  We took a small break on the rocks and then at Thomas
Knob shelter and went on to Whitetop Mtn.  What a variety of terrain on this
section!  Amazingly, we did not see any ponies during our entire hike, so I
was a bit disappointed, but the weather and views more than made up for it.
We took a 1/4 mile section of the old AT to Whitetop Mtn road, followed it
up to a nice clearing with a breath-taking overlook of the valley below and
set up our tents.  This area must be popular with the high-school smoochers
-- many cars came up the road (some at 2AM) to take a "view".  We woke up
Friday morning in the middle of a cloud and packed up and headed for
Saunders Shelter.  It was overcast most of the day, with a few breaks of
sun, but the temperature was comfortable. I was looking forward to the views
at Buzzard Rock, but the visibility was, for want of a better word, crappy.
By the time we reached Saunders the sun had broken through.  The stand of
pine trees behind the shelter provided a nice blanket of pine straw to sleep
on.  After I noticed the basketball-sized hornets' nest about 30-40 feet
above me I felt it might be a good idea to set up the tent.  This decision
was further reinforced by the comment on the inside cover of the shelter
register: "watch out for the resident hornets -- they're EVIL".  We met a
southbounder at Saunders (didn't catch his name, but was from Knoxville) who
was making a quick stop to re-supply with water.  We talked a bit and he
headed south a couple of miles to set up camp so that he could make a short
hike into Damascus the next day before the Post Office closed at noon.  We
broke camp early Saturday morning and I talked to a couple of bow-hunters
who had come up from, if I remember correctly, the old logging road by the
shelter.  We came down the mountain and met another hunter who had to scare
off a bear right before we arrived.  Too bad we missed it.  Beautiful
weather as we made it over and down Iron Mtn and onto the Virginia Creeper
trail as we headed into Damascus.  Alot of cyclists were out Saturday
morning as we finished our hike.
        I have to say we were pretty lucky to get such great weather the
entire hike.  Also, I was expecting a lot of foot traffic considering the
time of year and the weather, but suprisingly we did not see very many
people. I was a bit concerned about the availability of water along the
trail, but all of the shelters we passed (Old Orchard, Wise, Thomas Knob,
Lost Mtn, and Saunders) had ample supplies.  
        I'll stop rambling -- just wanted to share my experience with all of
you out there.  

Looking forward to going back (I'm hooked) --

Bruce (still no trail name)

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