Date: 2018-06-30
From: Harpers Creek Shelter

To: Priest Shelter
Miles today: 7.4

Distance: 7.4 miAscent: 3461 ftDescent: 1278 ftDay 25We woke up at 6:00, packed up and hit the trail. Today we had to climb the last little bit and descend to the Tye River. We could tell that it was going to be a hot day. The heatwave has hit and is making climbing very difficult. I can only hike half as fast in the extreme heat.The Tye River has a gorgeous suspension bridge across it. Pop didn¢t like the fact that it sways and moves as you walk across it. There was also some trail magic at the trail head, cold Dr Peppers. We had a snack, then started up the Priest. The mountain is dreaded on the trail because it is a 3000 ft climb in 4 miles. It is very steep. Interesting enough, the climb is split into 3 equal segments. The first 1.3 miles brings you to a good water source, Cripple Creek. The second 1.4 miles brings you to a rock outcropping with a great view. The last 1.3 brings you to the top.As we started up, the heat combined with a stomach full of a Snickers Bar, Dr Pepper, and Fruit Bar, made me totally nauseous. So I was pretty miserable. Also by the time we got to the Creek, I was literally dripping with sweat. The creek had a deep, 6¢ deep, spot downstream past where people would collect water, so I sat in it to cool my body down. I felt much better when we left 30 min later. While we were there we were passed by two women, sisters, who were also having heat problems like us. They were very friendly, and were a highschool counselor and a teacher on summer break. They had been doing sections for the past 12 years, starting at Springer, and had made it to our section this year. They were hiking SoBo as well. We had lunch at the view and rested there to cool down. We were pretty wiped out at this point. We had only 1000 ft and 1.3 mi left. It was almost vertical. When I put my foot down, my toe was so much higher than my heel that my Achilles tendon started spasming. We made it to the top and stood on the Ledges for a beautiful view of the valley. We met the sisters there along with their two friends, also educators. We all then continued to the Priest Shelter. When we got to the shelter we found the spring was low, the privy was disgusting, and there as a group of college students set up to party at one of the tent sites. It had to happen at some point I guess. However, the TrailRunner arrived, so the party never happened. We also were joined by 2 thru-hikers and another section hiker. We had fun talking to everyone and met some great people. The TrailRunner was friendly and gave everyone a lesson on Leave No Trace.He did tell me that my bear cans were too close to camp and showed me where to put them. I asked why in the SNP all the bear poles were so close. From what he said it sounds like the idea is to keep everything close together at park campsites. Most of the shelters are used to capacity and the quantity of people deters the bears. If the bears are brave enough to try for the poles, they want people to hear the bears and to be able to scare off the bears. Where we are now, there aren¢t enough people, so they don¢t want the bears attracted to the people.