Day 88: Ponies!!!!!!

It rained all last night.  By the way i dont mention this for you guys but so when i am done i can count how many days it rained while i am out here.  I may be in a shelter but with the rains it soaks the leaves, grass, mud, etc so my shoes/socks get soaked regardless of whether i was actually in the rain.  The mice were active too.  I had one crawl across my feet of my sleeping bag and one lady had her toilet paper chewed up.  I think they mostly stayed on her side of the shelter even though she had a dog that didn't do squat to chase them off.  It was cold too.  This morning a ladies thermometer read 35 degrees.  Brrrrr.  I reek and so does my mummy bag.  The sun didn't come out until 10:30am but it was perfect timing right as i entered Mt. Rogers recreation area and Grayson Highlands State Park.  I did get to see a herd of wild ponies.  Wooohoo!  That was my goal to see a pony.  But the Mt. Rogers area is gorgeous and i am glad it was a sunny day.  At 5:00pm i met a gentleman that said he owns Woodchuck hostel in Damascus and offered to drive me there and shuttle me back to the trail.  So i only did 22 miles but i got to resupply, a shower, laundry, and a warm bed.  That is much wanted since tonight in the mountains it will be below freezing.  In the morning i will get shuttled back to the road i got off at and will slackpack 14 miles back to Damascus then pick up my pack and keep going.  I really needed a town stay moral has been really low and i am tired.  Hopefully i feel better tomorrow.  I am glad i met woodchuck on the trail today because the way my miles were gonna work it would have been to short of a day tomorrow to stay in Damascus so i would have kept going which would have meant smelling horrible longer.  Plus i like slackpacking.