day 28 - 04/07

whoa! ya it was a really chilly night. my water is just a little slushy, but i think it didn't freeze only cuz it was hanging from my hammock line and was probably warmed from my body heat. i was warm enough all night for the most part. when i set off hiking i noticed that water that was seeping from the ground near springs was frozen like little ice worms coming out of the ground. today was an incredible day of hiking. the mt rogers area is so cool because the ecosystem is so unique for the east. the first picture is of a wild pony that came up to me a little ways south of mt rogers. apparently they are really common in virginia. unfortunately i couldn't take any pictures of the terrain because as i was making my way down a park ranger stopped me and explained that they were doing a controlled burn of all the grasslands so i had to hike fast so they could start. very interesting. the way they start these controlled burns is by shooting ping pong balls filled with naypalm (i have no idea how to spell that, but you know what i mean) thus igniting only the grassy sections. the second picture is from where i was hiking a little too slow and the fire ended up catching up with me so i had to actually hike thru the fire. on such a cool day it was actually nice and toasty warm. the smoke wasn't bad either cuz there really wasn't any wind. just another day in my crazy adventure! oh, and i passed mile 500 today! 22.6mi from whitetop mt to hurricane shelter. 508.4 total.