It was a long day of hiking but the end was full of excitement. It's dark out (past 9) so I don't have long to write. Today was hot and sticky again. Lots of gradual uphill. Some rock scrambles, which I don't like. We met a 2012 flip-flopper (someone that hiked the whole trail but not in one continuous direction) named Oboe Hobo and his 14-year-old dog Gerti. We talked to him for about fifteen minutes, which is long for a trail conversation. He was super nice. Also met guys at two different springs. One is named Hog Driver, a working Delta pilot, and the other is a retired military guy that goes by Red Turtle. As I'm writing this on June 4 (this post is about May 7), Red Turtle is now off the trail due to a shin injury. He hopes to return when he can and possibly hike southbound to beat Katahdin's closing date at the end of October.
I was bored early in the day, but soon found some entertainment watching a fly on Wing It's pack. I timed how long it stayed there. Wing It tripped and the fly bounced off but landed on his pack again once he stabilized. That fly stayed on his pack as he walked for 9 minutes! Impressive!
Today we went through Fat Man's Squeeze. The trail routes you through a small gap between some rocks just for the heck of it. There's an easy bypass trail that goes around it. The trail takes some weird routes sometimes.
I was bored early in the day, but soon found some entertainment watching a fly on Wing It's pack. I timed how long it stayed there. Wing It tripped and the fly bounced off but landed on his pack again once he stabilized. That fly stayed on his pack as he walked for 9 minutes! Impressive!
Today we went through Fat Man's Squeeze. The trail routes you through a small gap between some rocks just for the heck of it. There's an easy bypass trail that goes around it. The trail takes some weird routes sometimes.
At the end of the day we finally reached the ponies! I've been looking forward to seeing them since I decided to plan this trip! I thought they would be eager to approach us, but instead they kind of wandered away when we got close to them. They definitely weren't scared of us, but they didn't walk up to us like I thought they would. The second herd we came across allowed us to get closer and take pictures. I noticed them back in a clump of trees as we were hiking so we walked over to them and started taking selfies. One of the ponies was a great selfie pony! He (or she) let me get right next to its head. We didn't see any baby ponies, but we did see some really fat ones. I think they are pregnant. Baby ponies would be awesome to see!
We also hit the 500 mile mark today and played "I Would Walk 500 Miles" in honor of the occasion. Only 1,685.3 to go! Right after the 500 mile mark there was a smiley face scratched in to one of the white blazes that marks the trail. Seemed appropriate given our milestone.
Tonight we are camping behind the shelter in Grayson Highlands State Park. Technically, camping isn't allowed in the park, but we are hidden from view behind some trees and will move our tents if asked. We just didn't want to hike on out of the park and we aren't particularly fond of staying in the shelters. Such rebels!
Best Thing: Ponies! And hitting the 500 mile mark.
Looking Forward To: An "easy" hike tomorrow.
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