Scale(s) Magic

Today is Saturday, May 4, and right now, I am at the Old Orchard Shelter, and guess what? It’s raining. I woke up this morning at the Thomas Knob Shelter, and I expected to have a very wet and fairly long hike today. My plan was to do 16 miles, but I ran into a few surprises along the way, so I didn't quite get as far as I’d wanted to in the end. But overall, it was a much better day than I’d been expecting, which was great.

I got up at about 6 o'clock and was on the trail shortly after 7 a.m. That’s probably the earliest start I've gotten so far. Fortunately, although the clouds were very low, it wasn't raining, which made it a fairly good start to the day.

Before too long, I crossed the 500-mile mark, though I didn't see any marker for it. I just turned on the Far Out app, and it said that I was at mile marker 500.1. So I guess maybe the mile marker that I'd seen in some AT videos had been moved, or I’d just missed it somehow. But a milestone is a milestone, I guess, even without a marker.

Then, when I got into the Grayson Highlands, I saw some ponies, which was cool. This area is known for its wild ponies, and if you're lucky, you might get to see some of them grazing and just roaming around. I was happy to come across some of them pretty early.

At a certain point, the AT intersects with some other trail, and when I came to this intersection, I wasn’t sure which way I was supposed to go. So I was standing there, trying to figure out the right trail to take, and I suddenly heard a bunch of runners coming down the hill at me. I got out of their way but was able to ask one of them what was going on. He told me it was a 50-mile race that was taking place around the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area. [Wife note: It’s called the Grayson Highlands 50 Mile/ 50K/ 25K.]

Then, I came to a rock opening in the trail that’s called Fat Man's Squeeze. It’s basically this narrow passageway through some boulders, and hikers try to see whether they can fit through it without taking their pack off. And I made it! All of this was just in the first hour I was hiking. So it was a very eventful morning.  

The clouds eventually lifted a little, so I got a bit of a view as I hiked along, and when I reached the Wise Shelter, which was about five miles down the trail, I stopped to have a snack. I hadn’t eaten all that much before I headed out this morning, because I hadn't wanted to take all my food out of my bag. The table at the shelter had been super wet, and I’d just wanted to get going.

After five miles, though, I was feeling pretty hungry, and the Wise Shelter seemed like a good place to have a snack. While I was sitting there, a couple ponies came around and started grazing right in front of me, which was pretty cool. They didn't seem to be bothered by humans whatsoever.

After I ate a little, I proceeded onward, and it had started sprinkling a bit here and there, but nothing of consequence. And then some other hikers let me know that people were giving out Trail Magic ahead, so I hustled a bit to try to get there in time. At about the eight-mile mark, you reach a campground called The Scales. I have no idea why it's called The Scales. [Wife note: I found this explanation online: “Scales got its name from the old cattle grazing days. The story goes that the ranchers would weigh the cattle at the trailhead located at Scales to maximize their profit. Apparently the cattle lost weight on the trip down the mountain.”]

So, apparently, there’s this group of guys who have been getting together once a year around this time for the past 15 years or so. They go camping together, and over the years, they’ve gone to various locations, but at some point, a ranger pointed them to The Scales, and they’ve been coming here ever since. The Scales has this nice open field, so it's an easy place to set up camp, and it’s right on the AT.

One of the guys thru-hiked the trail a while back, and he had the idea to start providing Trail Magic as part of their annual get-together, and now it’s become kind of a tradition. And they provide some pretty epic trail magic.

They all have pickup trucks, and they bring this whole elaborate setup with them. They’ve got all kinds of pop-up tents and tables and a bar made out of old wood pallets. They've got a big fire pit, and they just cook food and drink beer and play music. They’re a very boisterous group of guys, and as soon as you enter The Scales — you pass through a fence — they immediately start yelling at you to come over. And if you refuse their hospitality, they start slinging profanities in your direction.

I of course did not refuse their hospitality whatsoever and made a beeline for their campsite. Asstronaut and Maple Leaf were already there, and it took me a hot second to join them and crack a beer.

The guys started yelling at me to make myself a meatball sandwich, and I was only too happy to oblige. Not long after, I was on to my second beer [Natty Light].

Not everyone who crossed their path was into their kind of in-your-face style, but I thought it was hilarious. Any time one of the runners doing the 50-mile event would pass through, they’d start yelling, “We’ll give you beer and cigarettes if you quit!” And one hiker stopped for some Trail Magic and chose to sit in one of those tiny camp chairs, rather than one of the full-size chairs, and they yelled at him for not knowing how to make himself comfortable. It was all in good fun, but I could see how it might not be for everyone. Personally, I was having a great time. And just as I started thinking I should probably move on, someone shoved a Dogfish 90 Minute in my hand.

One of the guys, the one who’d hiked the trail, was wearing a chicken suit. Supposedly, the suit originally had a patch of a weed leaf on it and a patch of the pi symbol. So, you know, “chicken pot pie.” He said it had been his Halloween costume one year. I have no idea why he was wearing it today, but he was.

There was another thru-hiker there named Fire Dog, and he looked very familiar to me, but it took me a minute to put the pieces together. We had ridden a bus together from Hiawassee in Georgia to the trailhead back in March. And Fire Dog had actually gotten there Thursday night and been there ever since. He'd spent two nights with these guys already and was going to stay for a third. He’d set up his tent on the edge of their compound. So that was pretty funny. But Fire Dog typically puts in big miles and then takes a couple days off and then does more big miles. So I guess it wasn’t really going to mess up his progress or anything to stick around for a bit.

I was probably there for about four hours, and I had some great conversations with a couple of the guys. One of them is a home brewer, so we talked about beer. And another guy has an old vintage Ford truck, so we talked about Ford trucks. I could have easily camped there and hung out all night, like Fire Dog. One guy kept trying to convince me to stay and set up my tent. That would have been a great time, I’m sure, but that would have meant even more lost miles. So once there was a bit of a weather window, I reluctantly elected to move on.

From there, I made my way to the Old Orchard Shelter, and just as I arrived, it started to very lightly rain. I hustled to get my tent set up and shoved everything inside it, and then the skies just opened up. I've been in here for about an hour now, and the rain has not let up one bit. I have some water, but I definitely need to go out at some point to get more. I’m hoping the rain lets up sometime in the next couple of hours.

So, 12 miles today. I meant to do 16, but it was definitely worth it to come up a little short to have that experience. The days won't all be like this one, of course, but it was nice to have a really entertaining day and meet some new people.