Local Trail Hikers Hit a Storm

Shawn McCartong (Pace) and Karl Weiss (Hungus), the Jefferson couple currently on a northern thru hike of the Appalachian Trail, had a trying experience during part of their trip, involving a pretty bad storm. They also saw some wild ponies, which may (or may not) have made up for the weather issues.

We spent our time at camp this morning and left around 9:30. We were at the base of our biggest climb of the day. 1700 feet up to white top mountain. The grade was nice and we made to buzzard rock by 11. Hungus and I took a break. On the way up we passed spools and country. Country's mom was slack packing them for a day or so. 

We hiked on the next 0.7 miles to the road. There we saw the majority of people who slack packed yesterday getting back on the trail. We didn't see cheese water, sir Towelie or melons. We figured they took the day off in town. 

We were about to hike up to mt. Rogers. We stopped in a grassy meadow and had lunch. The sun was shining and the weather was hot!! Around 2 we started the hike up. On the way we saw seas of wild flowers. It was so beautiful. Yellow trout lillies littered the forest floor. There were pockets of trillium and white flowers. Hungus stopped to take lots of pictures. 

We were close to the top when we got our first view of the wild ponies!!!! They live up in the highlands and graze year round. Hungus and I had both bought 1lb bags of carrots to feed them. We wound thru the mt. Rogers spruce forest and stumbled upon alot of pony poop. We arrived at Thomas knob shelter just as some hikers shoed away some ponies. Apparently they were licking and bothering Hawk. We met a former thru hiker and he gave us some food. All Smiles, Hawk and Wiffle set out for the next shelter 5.1 miles north. We followed ten minutes later. 

We passed a couple and asked if they had seen any ponies. They did and we would reach them in an hour. Yay!!! The highlands are an open field area with lots of rock outcroppings, low shrubs and grass. They sit at approximately 5000ft elevation. We were to meander thru this section for 3 or 4 miles. 

Hungus and I were coming down one of the rock outcrops when we saw our first set of ponies on the trail. Just then it started to hail. Slush balls the size of m&ms began to fall from the sky. We stepped off the trail and took cover under some trees. We put on our rainjackets and pack covers and held tyvek over our heads. The storm passed quickly. To our delight when we looked up, the ponies were right there!! 

These wild ponies were so excited for carrots. We tried to be diplomatic and give each a couple pieces of food. When we were all out they followed us back to our packs. One of them chewed on hungus's gator strap and managed to unbuckle it. 

We left and continued our hike across the Grayson highlands. There was a storm east of us and we saw the lightning crashing from a distance. It was moving away from us. I looked behind us and noticed a new storm cloud developing. We started to put some pep in our step. Hungus and I talked about what we should do if the storm broke while we were still in the openish area. We came across some more ponies right on the trail. One of them nahed and they stampeded away. They all huddled under a tree. I turned to Hungus and said "I think they know something we don't". Very shortly after we heard thunder coming in our direction. Then it began to downpour. It was wild for less than a minute and we got dumped on so intensely we and the ground were soaked. We felt something worse was to come so we all but ran until the trail began to go down a bit. It did and just in time. The sky turned so dark we almost needed our headlamps and just then, the hail started. This was the biggest hail I had ever seen in my life!! Somewhere between ping pong ball and giant gum ball size. It hurt. We scanned for some protection and ducked off the trail. We threw our metal hiking poles away from us and pulled the tyvek over our heads for protection. We had hid downhill behide a boulder among some shrubs and trees. It sounded like a freight train was coming over the mountain. I have heard people say that's what a tornado sounds like so naturally the two of us were nervous. We hadnt heard or seen lightning yet but were going for our ground pads to insulate us from the ground. Just then BOOOOOOM there was a flash, a crash, and an intense electrical sensation that went thru both Hungus and I. Hungus felt the shock go through his left knee and down to his foot. I felt it in my shoulder. Both of the parts that were touching the rock. We were freaked out. I pulled out my ground pad and we crouched on it careful not to touch the rock. We held this position for ten minutes as lightning crashed and the storm raged. The ground was becoming covered with hail. 

The storm passed but we stayed in our safety position for another 5 minutes. The sun came out and we collected ourselves. We had both felt the electric shock and where we felt it still tingled. Did we just get struck by lightning?? We both discussed how when it struck we saw a blue light. We both agreed that was the most intense weather we had ever been in. On that note we continued to the shelter. Hail pellets were everywhere even floating down the now swollen streams. It was 7:30 when we got there and we had left the last shelter at 4:30. Upon our arrival our fellow hikers looked at us with concern and asked if we were ok and if anyone else was behind us. No one from the previous shelter was planning on leaving and we were ok. We told them of our experience and they were glad to hear we knew what to do. 

We set up camp and made dinner. As we were about to eat, Melons rolled in. We immediately asked if he was ok. He had fortunately taken a wrong turn and was not close to the top of the mountain during the storm. He too had a crazy day and was ready for bed. 

The wild storms we encountered literally developed over our heads. When we left Thomas knob shelter, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. We checked the weather when we were at the last shelter and there was nothing on the radar and it said 30% chance of thunderstorms, it says that everyday. We put our safety knowledge to work today and it payed off.