Last night was cold, probably the coldest of the trip. I saw frost on the grass when I started hiking. Across the highway, the terrain changed from forest to grassland. I headed uphill to Mount Rogers in the Lewis Fork Wilderness. The cold wind blew briskly. I stopped briefly at a shelter to use the privy, then continued through forest, then grassland and shrub land. The trail passed through Grayson Highlands State Park, which features ponies that roam around. The photo shows one of the ponies that checked me out. On the decent to The Scales horse corral, I passed a group of 50 people repairing the trail. The young people seemed to be having a good time. The Appalachian Trail re-entered the forest and headed downhill to the Old Orchard shelter where I met Pops, an older through hiker. We headed down to Fox Creek then hiked uphill for an 800-foot climb to Chestnut Flats then down to the Hurricane Mountain shelter. I ate dinner, then decided to stay in the shelter for the night. Hiking today was easy with modest elevation change. Rocks in the trail posed the biggest challenge. Today's miles - 20.2. Total miles - 513.2.
