A Story About Life and Living It

Our short stay in Virginia didn't really do justice to all that there is to see in that state, but we're planning on going back one day to see all of the historical sites. This time we went due south from Charleston, WV to the skinniest part of western Virginia where we found the Mt Rogers National Recreation Area and the adjacent Grayson Highlands State Park. We gave ourselves an afternoon for the longest hike of our trip at about 9 miles round trip. The hike passed over a varied landscape: some huge boulders, some flat ground, and some forests.

The hike started in the state park but soon left it and met up with the Appalachian Trail. We saw of a lot of people on the trail who looked like they had been on it for months. There were actually some neat shelters where some of them were staying.



The highlight, especially for Lani, were the wild horses roaming the area. They're loosely managed, but roam free around the National Recreational Area much to the enjoyment of hikers. We saw 9 on our hike.


I now turn the time over to Lani for some guest correspondence on the horses:

krrrshhhwe......krrsh....Can you hear me?  It is pretty patchy.....patchy out here in the wilds of Virginia.  Sorry for the touch-and-go journalism.  Hopefully we can get through the whole report without losing the connection. Yes, this is Leilani Williams, coming to you from the Appalachian Trail.  I'll tell you, it's totally crazy out here.  The rocks are murderous.  You can't quite tell from the pictures, but the first mile of the hike was like horizontal rock climbing.  And I was not wearing a harness.

After a nasty, ankle-twisting tumble by yours truly, I was ready to throw in the towel, pick up my trusty green water bottle, and call it a night.  However, Chad willed us to continue, because he had called in a favor for me.

Yup, he specifically planned the route to include, wait for it, WILD HORSES!  I know, right?! Just as we came around a bend in the trail, we spotted them!  They were extremely skittish, and even the sight of other animals, especially humans, could send them galloping away in a flurry of hooves (untrimmed, albeit). Needless to say, we had to use the cover of boulders even to see the horses.  It was tricky to remain downwind of these half-ton beasts, because if they smelt the human-ness of us, their flight-or-fight response would send their adrenal glands into overdrive. As we slowly approached, the horses started to look smaller, much smaller, and less ferocious, and less angry.  In fact, by the time we were close to them, they looked like small, amicable ponies, with little adrenal gland action.

I subsequently spent the next 20 minutes squealing like a little girl.  It was so exhilirating to see these beautiful animals, wild, untamed, briars in their hair, nursing their young, totally unperturbed by our presence. The indomitable Groucho Marx said, “Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.” I hope that he would let me substitute horse for dog. We found out that the nine ponies that we saw belong to a feral herd of about 150 ponies that permanently lives in and serves the state park by grazing on the undergrowth and brush, helping prevent forest fires.

The following excerpt is from an interview with a prominent member of the Wilburn Ridge Pony Association: "See, the ponies will go down into the lower wetlands and survive good in the wintertime. That helps to clean the wetlands out and protect the older forests from summer fires. Then in the warmer months they stay up in the higher elevations, where it’s better picking. That helps manage the threat of fire on the mountains’ grassy bald faces."

After seeing the small horse family, featured below, with the mom getting ready to nurse her tiny baby, we hiked a little further and saw another small group.  This second group had two pinto ponies in it, as well as a pony that looked like a mini Sadie Mae (my gorgeous bay). Needless to say, I was Sadie-homesick.

I'm so grateful Chad did his homework and planned the pony route.  After our pony adventures, Mt. Rogers is hands-down my favorite high point.  Thanks for listening to the report.....skwwwwwehk ........ report......schreeeeew.  Signing out, Lei....la..shcreee... William.....s.

Looks like we lost her. Thanks for the reporting, Lani.


The very top was heavily wooded and looked like a recent storm had taken down a lot of trees.


We slogged through some mud but made it and enjoyed a little break.



The obligatory USGS marker picture:


On the way down I scampered up to the top of a nearby rock outcropping for some epic shots:


There are these passages installed to stop the horses from making it onto the actual Appalachian Trail part of the hike.


Did I mention that there were some really cool rocks?