may 6- no ponies

The grayson highlands are way overrated. Or at least they seem that way when the rain has been so bad in the area for the past 3 days that the appalachian trail has become the appalacchian creek. Or at least most of it is. And it definietely seemed that way today. The grayson highlands is a park in southeastern virginia that is famous for having wild ponies roam the area. I didnt see any ponies, just a load a horse shit. On the trail and next to the trail were piles of horse shit of differing sizes. Some were so big you think all the horses on the mountain decide to shit in the same spot at the same time. No horses were shitting on the trail today, may 6, though.... the wind was strong and the rain was coming down, and it was impossible for your shoes to not be really really wet. One of the other hikers, evenbeard, saw a horse, and one walked right up to his father. They started the same time as us and from the same place as us. So they werent far behind us when they encountered the ponies. Were still in horse area though, so its possible that tomorrow ill get to ride the ponies. Tomorrow is going to be a real long day too. We have 20 miles planned. I hiked with monk ,han solo and coach today. Han solo went ahead after we took a break at the first shelter 4 miles in. He's getting off the trail soon for a wedding and a cd release. Hes not the one getting married, but his band is releasing their first cd. Its pretty cool, and the music is pretty good. Its a bluesy rock type o sound. Anyways, he went ahead because monk wasnt doing too well and was debating stopping for the day after just 4 miles. It was cold today and monk doesnt have rain pants and he wears fivefingers while hiking. So he was cold and his foot was hurting. Me coach and monk continued together. It was a coool trail, mostl grassy balds, the grass kept short by the grazing horses, though i didnt get to see any. There were also some cool rock fields where i had to hop from rock to rock. And of course, lots of water, constantly walking through water. At onne point tere was a bridge over a fast moving stream, though i opted to wade through the stream just for fun. I couldnnt get any wwetter anyways. We got to a shelter hoping for a spot, but the shelter was already overfull. There were 10 people in an 8 person shelter. The night before there was 18 in that shelter, and the hikers couldnt continuue hiking for half of the day because the stream that is just past the shelter was too high to safely cross, the bridge was covered by fast moving white water. I saw the streeam at the end of the day and it was still very high. We camped at that shelter, getting water that ran off the roof of the shelter. I was reluctant to use ground water because of all the horse shit that was scattered everwhere. Even finding a tent spot was a chore to avoid the feces scattereed everwhhere