Mountain Trip - Day 3 - Grayson Highlands SP(Take Two)

Now to the final post about my weekend mountain trip. I know most of you are probably bored off your rocker.

After all the snow on Saturday up in the Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia we weren't sure we would be able to hike the next day despite a forecast of temps in the 60's.

But.. we were! Take Two!

You can't really see it but I'm actually holding up two fingers.

 

We decided to take the Rhododendron Trail up to the Appalachian Trail.

 

That took us straight up into the park into Wilburn Ridge where the ponies are.

Gorgeous! If you ever get to Southwest Virginia -- you have to visit this park just as lovely as I was told.

As we got up higher we saw ponies in the distance!

They saw us too. These ponies are obviously fed by humans.

This guy made a beeline for us.

All the signs said not to pet(or actually the word 'molest' was on the sign), them so we didn't even though it was tempting.

The Ranger told us this little one was born the night before. The mama was pretty protective.

The trail was pretty but not totally what I was expecting.

Not as wooded as I would have thought. When we got on the Appalachian Trail it was rocky and we were literally 'climbing' at points. It reminded me of some of the hikes I did when I lived out West.

This part was almost cave like and giving the snow the night before it was slick!

Much of our hike was like this - slushy.

Which made for wet pants!

We hiked probably 5-miles total along the 'AT'. We turned around at a certain point because, to be honest, we were a little confused and I felt we might get lost.

We decided to hit another trail. The Cabin Creek Trail that had us hiking along a creek that included numerous waterfalls.

As usual -- most of the beauty is hard to capture on camera. You have to see it in person.

 

This trail is highly recommended if you visit this park. Peaceful and gorgeous.

It's considered strenuous and does have you climbing quite a bit.

All in all a great weekend trip! Brad and I are headed back to the same area this weekend but to ride our bikes on the Virginia Creeper Trail and explore Abingdon, VA.

I know..I know. Most people shop and get drunk on their vacations but I like to exercise! HA! Happy Humpday!