Date: 2016-04-26
From: Priest Shelter

To: Devil's Backbone via Reid's Gap 
Miles today: 15.5
Weather: broken clouds

Slept pretty poorly last night, but it was ok. Blues Brother and I packed up together before 8 am. Before we headed out I checked the register to read other hikers' confessions and found a two page passive aggressive rant from Monkey Dancer a directed essentially at the two of us. She especially had a problem with my leaving a Mylar space blanket in the shelter for another hiker to use; she came up to me earlier in the morning and asked me whether I "really" was leaving the blanket at the shelter. I said yes, and she rolled her eyes and said she'd pack it out for me. Get off your high horse. Someone else would've wanted it I'm sure, now it's going to be trash. Anyways. I climbed up the small way over the Priest (the last time we'll be above 4000 feet til Killington, VT) and began the long descent down to the Tye River. I accidentally scared the crap out of Large when i passed him. I met up with White Rabbit and Spidey at the river where we stopped and met with a ridge runner named Wood Elf who gave us clementines and took our trash for us. Good guy. We began the long long ascent of Three Ridges, about 3000 feet up to the summit, and the last mountain before Massachusetts with a single climb more than about 1000 feet. The climb up Chimney Rock was brutal, and the switchbacks made for one great moment in which i watched White Rabbit, Spidey and Blues all in my line of sight but spread out over 100 feet of climbing and probably a quarter mile of trail. We all ate lunch at the top of the mountain before heading down to Maupin Field Shelter, where we hung out for a very long time. Everybody had different plans for the day; White Rabbit and large were planning to go 7 more miles, Sooner or Later was considering waking up at 3 AM to get into Waynesboro at noon, and I was trying to get to Devil's Backbone Brewery just 2 miles away. Eventually White Rabbit and I headed out and I got down to the road at Reid's Gap. I called the brewery to see if anyone was free to pick me up, but no luck. It took me quite a while, but I managed to hitch a ride with a very old woman named Helena down the five miles to the brewery. The brewpub is a huge complex, with a stage and outdoor seating and a giant main building. I spent the next couple hours eating food, drinking beer and charging my electronics. I was shown where hikers are told to camp, but also was suggested by one waitress that I should just camp out under the big pavilion of the outdoor bar. I spoke with a big group of Quebecois bikers and had a very nice couple (whom I'd met before on the trail) pay for my dinner. They offered to drive me back up to the trailhead but as claps of thunder and lightning strikes began to happen, I decided to stay the night here. I spoke to another couple, one of whom has just been accepted into the Marine Corps Band, and drank some more beer before heading out for the night. Dill, PenDexter and Toast were inside the building and we casually indicated to each other that we all had the idea of camping under the outdoor bar pavilion. We headed out there together and hung out under the lights shooting the breeze and playing cornhole. Eventually most of the employees left, and we set up our pads and bags under the bar. We were worried by a man doing final rounds of the facilities, but he didn't seem to care that we were here. So that's where I'm staying the night. Hiker breakfast and Waynesboro tomorrow!