May 28th - Day 43: Was that a fighter jet? Sweet!

May 28th, 2013 - Day 43
Whitetop Mountain Road to Hurricane Mountain Shelter
22.7 miles, 510.9 miles total

Well today was another long one, but it was definitely a good one. I saw a lot of cool stuff today. First of all, I passed by Mt. Rogers, the highest peak in Virginia. It's all downhill from here, kinda. Anyways, right around Mt. Rogers, I started to hear this loud booming noise that sounded like an airplane way up in the sky. The only thing different was that the noise kept getting louder, like really loud. And then I see it, and then it's gone. A fighter jet (probably an F-22 Raptor, according to Avo, who was in the Army) had just flown directly over and then banked over Mt. Rogers. It was a pretty neat experience. Throughout the day, I continued to hear fighter jets fly by in the distance. Later in the day, I also saw a V-22 Osprey flying in the distance. But I saw it twice, once as a helicopter, with its rotors horizontal, and then later, with its rotors vertical. It was quite interesting to be so close to such technology, and yet so far away.

Aside from the aircraft, I also saw plenty of wildlife today. Today I was in the Grayson Highlands State Park, where they have wild ponies that graze on the open fields of grass. A lot of times the ponies will simply walk up to you and not even be afraid. I have even heard stories of people waking up in a shelter to wild ponies sticking their heads in as if to say, "HEY! What are y'all doing in here?! Can I have some of that?" I also saw some cows and deer, and even a little fawn curled up in the bushes on the side of the trail.

Today I also passed by the "Fatman Squeeze", which is a rock tunnel on the AT, and it's actually quite difficult to get through with a pack on. I finally caught up with Avo, at a shelter in the late afternoon, where we were escaping an afternoon shower. Luckily, the rain let up just enough for us to reach our final destination for the night without getting too soaked.