TMax
New member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2005
- Messages
- 589
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- 85
Since I’m taking care of Hikethe115’s (now known as M&M) mail drops and I’m on a quest to hit the state high points, I made plans to drive her re-supply down to Virginia and hike the AT over Mount Rogers with her instead of mailing it. 
So Thursday night after work I drove 200 miles to pick up Topofgothics who joined me on this journey. We decided to hit Kentucky’s highpoint since we would be “in the neighborhood.” We drove through the night (with the occasional 15 minute power nap) and wound up to within 10 miles of Black Mountain when we encountered a closed road. Topofgothics talked with the construction worker at the site who was nice but told us we would have to work our way around the mountain. We followed a very windy, narrow road with precipitous drops around every bend, but the re-route turned out not to be as big a deal as we thought and we were standing on the summit shortly after noon. Black Mountain is just barely over the Kentucky border and is owned by a coal mining company and requires that you sign a waiver before going up. There’s a bunch of towers and a golf-ball looking radar facility, but otherwise the 4139’ elevation of the summit is unremarkable.
Now we had to get to Damascus for our planned shuttle to a trailhead where we were meeting M&M. Damascus is a cute little town that is currently overrun with thru-hikers. The AT runs right up main street! Topofgothics and I took showers at the hostel then hitched a ride up to the trailhead and there was Dawn waiting for us! We hiked up to a shelter, set out our tents and then spent the evening in front of a fire having a great (and loud!) time. She is having the time of her life and has been completely absorbed into trail life. Saturday morning we got a leisurely start to what would be a long day. We walked through some miserable weather while trying to deal with a Bob Dylan crisis (tickets went on sale that morning and we had no cell phone reception!!) Eventually the weather cleared and we got tickets! We covered about 14 miles and 4000’ of elevation gain with full packs to get to the summit of Mt. Rogers. My 25th high-point. While it does sit at 5729’, there is no view from the top. We hiked back down and set up tents around 5400’. It made for a cold night with the wind howling. There was a small herd nearby of the famous “wild” ponies.
Sunday morning we got an earlier start in beautiful weather. We took our time hiking through Grayson Highlands to absolutely amazing views of soft rolling hills and larger mountain ranges in the distance. There were plenty of interesting rock formations and wild ponies to add to the oohs and ahhs. At the end of the day, we got another shuttle back to Damascus and M&M’s hiking buddy Bowleg and his 4-legged buddy Bono, joined us. It was funny watching Dawn walk down a strange street in Virginia and to see her know most of the people we ran into…they were all thru-hikers. We had a great dinner, spent the night in a hostel and then Topofgothics and I gave M&M, Bowleg, and Bono a ride back to the trail. We then had a very special ride home.
Folks can continue to follow M&M’s journey here
So Thursday night after work I drove 200 miles to pick up Topofgothics who joined me on this journey. We decided to hit Kentucky’s highpoint since we would be “in the neighborhood.” We drove through the night (with the occasional 15 minute power nap) and wound up to within 10 miles of Black Mountain when we encountered a closed road. Topofgothics talked with the construction worker at the site who was nice but told us we would have to work our way around the mountain. We followed a very windy, narrow road with precipitous drops around every bend, but the re-route turned out not to be as big a deal as we thought and we were standing on the summit shortly after noon. Black Mountain is just barely over the Kentucky border and is owned by a coal mining company and requires that you sign a waiver before going up. There’s a bunch of towers and a golf-ball looking radar facility, but otherwise the 4139’ elevation of the summit is unremarkable. Now we had to get to Damascus for our planned shuttle to a trailhead where we were meeting M&M. Damascus is a cute little town that is currently overrun with thru-hikers. The AT runs right up main street! Topofgothics and I took showers at the hostel then hitched a ride up to the trailhead and there was Dawn waiting for us! We hiked up to a shelter, set out our tents and then spent the evening in front of a fire having a great (and loud!) time. She is having the time of her life and has been completely absorbed into trail life. Saturday morning we got a leisurely start to what would be a long day. We walked through some miserable weather while trying to deal with a Bob Dylan crisis (tickets went on sale that morning and we had no cell phone reception!!) Eventually the weather cleared and we got tickets!
We covered about 14 miles and 4000’ of elevation gain with full packs to get to the summit of Mt. Rogers. My 25th high-point. While it does sit at 5729’, there is no view from the top. We hiked back down and set up tents around 5400’. It made for a cold night with the wind howling. There was a small herd nearby of the famous “wild” ponies. Sunday morning we got an earlier start in beautiful weather. We took our time hiking through Grayson Highlands to absolutely amazing views of soft rolling hills and larger mountain ranges in the distance. There were plenty of interesting rock formations and wild ponies to add to the oohs and ahhs. At the end of the day, we got another shuttle back to Damascus and M&M’s hiking buddy Bowleg and his 4-legged buddy Bono, joined us. It was funny watching Dawn walk down a strange street in Virginia and to see her know most of the people we ran into…they were all thru-hikers. We had a great dinner, spent the night in a hostel and then Topofgothics and I gave M&M, Bowleg, and Bono a ride back to the trail. We then had a very special ride home.
Folks can continue to follow M&M’s journey here
