Appalachian Trail (day 24) - Virginia Creeper Junction to Old Orchard Shelter / mile 510

Sunny day, good miles, ponies!

First on the menu was a big ascent to Buzzard Rock, on top of it I've met "hiking mum's", four friends taking few days off from home duties to hike the Appalachian Trail. Ladies were all from Nashville, Tennessee. I talked mostly with Lauren, trail name "Wren", she was a mother of three, working in healthcare and recently divorced. As a democrat she wasn't happy about the current state of politics and she had a lot complains about it. She said that Tennessee in general was a "red state" (voting for republicans) but Nashville was considered a "blue dot" (democrat) on the map. Mums were section hiking the AT, every year they would add a hundred miles or so, they said it should take them another 12 years to complete the trail.

Soon enough AT was passing through one of the newer additions to the trail: Grayson Highlands State Park. In the 1960s when Forest Service started to buy a land here to create National Recreational Area, they discovered that when left unattended the open high country started to fill with trees and shrubs, so decision was made to introduce ponies to the area to keep the land open for both scenic and recreational uses. They were hardy enough to survive winter and provided visitors with enjoyment.
The experiment worked out well, and 10 mile stretch added to the AT is both scenic and entertaining due to the ponies grazing alongside the trail. I've spend here good portion of the afternoon.

I've arrived at the camp side at 6:30 PM and met here two new thru hikers Walkabout from Australia and Kanga from US. We had a chat about New Zealand, Walkabout was considering hiking Te Araroa, so I told him how the "hut pass" worked and what are general trail conditions. Kanga got her name because she owned a dog called "Roo" it was a "Winnie The Pooh" reference, she stayed at the Broken Fiddle in Damascus yesterday and didn't have much sleep as the hikers were having a party. It looks like my decision to not stay there was correct.
Virginia so far brought a breath of fresh air to the trail which was well marked and maintained, the bear boxes and toilets were back and shelters were in good condition. Hopefully the following states would keep up this high standard!

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