It rained quite a bit last night but when we woke it was dry.

We started the morning with a 2000′ climb to White Top at 5200′. All the rain had frosted everything over at these higher elevations…

and there was some snow too!

We spent the rest of the early afternoon working our way toward and over Mt Rogers.

More spooky forests.

Barely above freezing but we stayed warm hiking (uphill).

A good view near Mt Rogers.

Then we entered Grayson Highlands and got to see the famous wild ponies!

They were everywhere. Unfortunately, it was cold and a bit windy so we didn’t linger.

We passed the 500 mile mark today!

From here the weather took a turn for the worse. At first it was light snow, then heavier snow. There were a couple of inches of wet snow covering the trees and ground. Our gear kept us relatively dry and warm, but after several hours we were hoping for a dry shelter…but all full 😦 so we pitched our tents at 7:30, ate inside them and went to bed listening to snow/ rain come down. We dropped about 1500′ in elevation so there’s not quite as much snow down here, but definitely wet! I wish I had gotten more pics of the snow covered trees and trail but my hands were too cold to take out of my gloves. Salty did get a video which I should be able to post when I get wifi.

(Photos from Salty)

Hopefully things dry out and warm up tomorrow. Otherwise we might need to make a quick hitch into town. Hard to believe we were drinking tons of water and getting baked by the sun just three days ago!

 

This wasn’t in the brochure!