Date: 2010-05-29
From: Saltlog Gap north 

To: The Priest Shelter 
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 83The pack always seems so heavy after a day of slackpacking. Luckily the AT in this section was designed by nice people who kept it pretty flat for the 6 miles to the first shelter.   I was so moved by this kndness that I composed a song and wrote it in the shelter register. Forgive me but I will write it here as well. Sung to the tune of Rudolf the Rednose Raindeer...Rudolf the kindhearted trail designerDesigned a nice and easy trailAnd if you ever hiked itYou would say its swellAll of the other trail designersUsed to laugh and call him names They wanted poor RudolfTo join in theiir sadistic gamesThen one fire ring trail dayz EveThe ATC came to sayRuudolf with your trails so niceWon't you design all our trails tonight Then all the thruhikers loved himAs they shouted out with gleeRudolf the kindhearted trail designer You'll go down in HIS-TOR-YLike I said, I apologize again, but these things pop into your head out here and wont let go until you release them onto others. During that stretch of trail I saw this very large tree growing out of the top of a big boulder. Trees are amazing in how they will grow anywhere. When you see the pic in my album keep in mind that the rock is about 15' high and the tree at least 18" in diameter. This is not a sapling but a fully mature tree.I skipped the free lunch at the Dutch Haas hostel because 3 miles off the trail is to high a price to pay. So my next stop would be Spy Rock, a rock dome that is supposed to be fun to climb. On the way there I passed about 15-20 people from the trail maintainers club in the area. I think its Connerac, but I probably have the spelling wrong. They were all working very hard, but a few were interested in my Ribz Front Pack so I gave them a little trail fashion show and showed off the pack. Laura, the trail maintainer I met a few days ago was there too. Its cool to recognize a face in a place you have never been before.The dome at Spy Rock was amusing because there wasn't one good way to get up. Just a bunch of different ways that were none better than the other. It was fun to watch people start one way, change their mind, then start up another. Then getting down was fun to, because the path you took up didn't look the same going back down. Oh, the view was pretty good to when the fog blew out of the way.I hiked the rest of the way to this shelter pretty fast even though there were a couple short but steep inclines. I also noticed a lot more car campers at the forest service road crossings. Its memorial day weekend so the woods will be crawling with people. There's a boy scout troop camping near the shelter and another big group camping above the shelter. But there are only 3 of us in the shelter so that's nice. I'm making a short day of it here, only 12.5 miles, so that will allow me to have a short mileage day into Waynesboro 3 days from now. I have a nice fire burning, I've had my dinner, I've caught up on my journal entries and I've done some reading. Its been a good day. The only thing wrong is no phone or internet service here. What a hardship. Well its off to dreamland. I have a big downhill and a huge uphill tomorrow and in between another chance to go for a swim. Good night and sweet dreams to all of you out there not living the Song Composing, Rock Climbing, Flat Trail Dream