{"id":238,"date":"2016-04-27T19:14:18","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T03:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.calumjohnson.org\/?p=238"},"modified":"2016-04-27T19:14:19","modified_gmt":"2016-04-28T03:14:19","slug":"virginia-highlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.calumjohnson.org\/?p=238","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Highlands"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m here in Marion VA with Ptarmigan and Tetris. We’ve been meeting up at shelters for a while, I guess our pace matches well. The Grayson Highlands have been amazing here on the AT. It’s been a treat walking amongst wild ponies. Although I must say wild is a bit of a stretch. They are very familiar with people. As you approach them they usualy come up to you smelling your pockets for food. Sometimes they lick your arms and back, I’m assuming for salt in my sweat. I like to think of them basically as giant dogs that sit around and eat grass. <\/p>\n

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Two ponies coming up to say hi<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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Hello!<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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I even took a pony selfie<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nThe ponies weren’t the only great thing of the highlands, the views were pretty stunning too.<\/p>\n

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It was nice to watch the clouds fly by<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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It’s hard to tell, but that is me in the photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nAnother cool thing about The Grayson Highlands was that we passed the 500 mile mark. It was only 30 miles past Damascus, but it still felt like a big achievement. 
\nAfter the highlands we dropped into another nice deciduous forest. The trails were easy going, but there were some sections with bad rocks. The last day we decided to do a 23 mile push to partnership shelter. It was only .2 miles away from the Mount Rogers visitor center, where we ordered pizza for delivery. This was my first day over 20 miles, but I think it was well worth it in the end. This morning we went to the visitor center and caught a bus into Marion. It’s not a typical transit route, you have to call an hour ahead to let them know you want to be picked up. Today was spent mostly consuming food we can’t get out on the trail. Things like fruits, rotisserie chicken, and milkshakes. We also made gin and tonics.<\/p>\n

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A nice sunset after the highlands<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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An awesome area lower down, just a day after the highlands<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nI’ve really enjoyed Virginia so far. Unfortunately the highlands are pretty unique. People often referrer to Virginia as the green tunnel at this point. Hopefully it doesn’t get me down that much, so far everything’s been great. My next resupply will be in Bland Virginia, about three days away. Keeping resupplies so close is a good way to keep pack weight down, but I don’t aim on staying in town. I wouldn’t mind keeping the pace up a bit. <\/p>\n

Until next time,<\/p>\n

-Orion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m here in Marion VA with Ptarmigan and Tetris. We’ve been meeting up at shelters for a while, I guess our pace matches well. The Grayson Highlands have been amazing here on the AT. It’s been a treat walking amongst wild ponies. Although I must say wild is a bit of a stretch. They are … <\/p>\n

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