Day 74-A Spy and a Priest...

May 31-11.9 trail miles +2.4 road walk-Montebello to Harpers Creek Shelter-AT mile 837.2

A spy and a priest...sounds like the opening to a joke, but I don’t know a good one (or even a bad one). If someone knows a good joke that starts with that, comment below. 

Of course we had to do the same road walk we did yesterday, only today it was an 800 foot climb. 

The paved part gradually going up in the morning sun. 

After I returned to the trail, I called my granddaughter to wish her a Happy Birthday. Today she turned three. I was a little sad after talking to her. I hate missing birthdays. I know there is a good chance I wouldn’t have been with them anyway, but it’s still hard. 

It was just a half mile to Spy Rock. The 360 views were pretty awesome. 

Shortly after getting back down off Spy Rock and back to the trail, the climb to the Priest began. There is a shelter called The Priest Shelter. One is supposed to leave a “confession” in the log book. My confession was this...Even after 800 miles I am still just a cyclist posing as a hiker. It’s true. I don’t think of myself as a hiker. 

From the shelter, it was .4 to the ledges at the top of the Priest. 

Sure Foot (Dusty was ahead of us)

There were many day hikers today hiking up the Priest. 

I had been warned that the descent off the Priest was steep and went on forever (4.5 miles). They weren’t kidding. 

Just before the descent started. 

Not only steep, but very rocky. 

Down down down I slowly crept. It felt like back at the beginning when I had to place every foot carefully. It was relentless. After a good long while, I caught up to Dusty and Sure Foot at a view point on some rocks. 

Looking down on Virginia farm land. It was a good lunch spot. 

As we continued down, Dusty and Sure Foot were quickly ahead of me. I saw two hikers coming up the trail. The woman said, “Are you Two Wheels?” I said I was, and she said, “I hear you like Honey Buns.” I said, “I do!” She gave me three Honey Buns and a packet of peanut butter crackers! I didn’t even get their names! How nice was that trail magic! 

Finally, the trail popped out to a parking area and the road. There were so many cars parked. The parking lot was full, and cars were parked all along the road. I should add that many of the day hikers would put masks on when they passed us. It seems strange for them to be wearing masks outside in the woods. 

After crossing the road, I crossed a river on this suspension bridge. It was a bouncy one!

After the bridge the trail began to climb into the Three Ridges Wilderness. It was 2.4 miles to Harpers Creek Shelter. A little over half was climbing. I finally made it to the creek. Dusty was getting water, and said her and Sure Foot were camped just at the top of the hill. 

After setting up my tent, we all went down and soaked our feet in the cold creek water. 

It felt so good!

I think it is appropriate that we traversed the Priest Wilderness on a Sunday, and that we ended up at Harpers Creek on Harper’s birthday (of course it is also Dusty’s Birthday).