Date: 2011-06-22
From: Hwy 60 Buena Vista

To: Harpers Creek tent pad (entry three)
Miles today: 30.0

Fraser FirSection HikerAppalachian TrailYear Eight ¢day tenGeorgia to Maine ?Thirty miles today with ten pounds on my back with no tent and only a tarp!06/22/2011Entry three of this beauty of a day. (last entry of the day for those who may be keeping score)My mp3 is going strong so far.I am sweating like a hog. For that I am concerned that I will ruin my music player but I keep hiking toward The Priest.The stop at the Salt Log Gap left me hiking one-half mile off of the trail in search of water.Again, water directly on the trail has not happened yet today, so I have to go searching for water even at the expense of adding one half mile in each direction of getting rehydrated. Definitely something not to complain about. This just makes an already long walk today a little more ambitious!The terrain from Salt Log Gap to the Fish Hatchery Road is without incident and I made fairly good distance in a fairly short amount of time.I feel guilty for not stopping at Spy Rock. In the past year or so, I read a wonderful article about a dad/son who sectioned the whole shebang together.There is a picture of the young man at Spy Rock when he is about eight years old or so. He and his dad went on to finish in style some ten or so years later. After Spy Rock, I start to struggle and take slow steps up to the Priest Shelter.The views are some of the best in Central Virginia today. In fact, better than most that I saw in Shenandoah National Park earlier last month.Tar Jacket Ridge and Cole Mountain were classic with several photo shots taken.I make it to the Priest and stop for much needed water, aleve, snacks and interactions with a guy who just woke up from taking a nap.Wow, I got a chance to log my ¢confession¢ in the log at the Priest Shelter and feel like one of the team. I confessed for craving a Rockstar energy drink and for not telling my wife where I am.She thinks that I am somewhere in North Carolina. Yeah, I am a scum bag are I not?She is with her family and I this was a last minute thing.I will tell her about it when I get back. My phone is sealed tight so I do not get water damage on this new one.My other phone got chewed up and spit out in the Thunder Ridge Wilderness by all of the dampness!The air temperature is cooler than anywhere along this part of the central Virginia excursion today. It is pleasantly cool.The views from the Priest Wilderness Area make me want to cry. It is pure beauty. Beauty beyond any camera lens or canvas. I stand in awe.Now I descend in anticipation of climbing again. I cover four and one-half miles in one hour.It is crazy how fast I move downhill into the community of Tyro.Never once do I recall running but the downhill tread was so steep, I guess I was running, wasn¢t I?Once I ¢bottom out¢ and cross the beautiful Tye River and Tye River Bridge, I start the painful up from Va. Route 56. I decide to call Harper Creek Shelter my home tonight. It is not too many miles away. It is right at about six o¢clock, so I have plenty of time to get there.At one point, I honestly thought that I would sleep in the shelter.I struggle to get up the ridge to the Mau-Hall Trail intersection.A thru from Texas gives me a ¢kick¢ of inspiration and says he will save a spot for me in the shelter.I am on the ground and rolling around like a defeated young man and really angry that I cannot go any further. It is hot, I am spent and I did not want this uphill right now. Beauty of the trail, amen?The Harpers Creek Shelter Area has several tent pads. It is still early but I do not see any indication of any incoming in climate weather, so I pull out my tarp for my first night under the stars with a tarp to shield me from thunder showers.The tarp takes longer to stabilize than any tent. bummer!!After I finish that debacle, I go in search for water. I gas up on Gatorade and start the climb to Harpers Creek Shelter to rsvp to my friend from the Long Star State. I would not make the party at Harpers Creek Shelter tonight.As it turns out, I turn around and there is my friend from New Hampshire, and I believe that his name is ¢Paradox¢Paradox notices that I am sporting my Superman shirt that I got for Father¢s Day just a few days ago.I am proud to say that Bryson, Siler and Daddy have a matching Superman Shirt. We wear them with pride.Paradox makes a comment that anyone who endured what we went through today, is like ¢Superman¢I ask Paradox to do me a huge favor and spread the word that Fraser Fir is going to call it quits at the tent camping pad. No social gathering and fighting off mice for me tonight.After drinking some fluids and listening to my mp3, you know I called it a day. Time for some good ole David Crowder Band to end a beautiful day with an outstanding sun set.Thirty miles. Wow.What do you think Brad Milburn? Think I can make it to Maine?I hope and pray so.