Date: 2013-06-01
From: Harpers Creek shelter

To: Humpback Rocks -- Grace Lutheran hostel
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: clear sky

The Priest Mtn yesterday was a little over 4000 feet; the Tye river at the bottom was 970. Now I'm back up to 3984 on Three Ridges Mtn. Even tho I started at 5:45, everyone from the shelter passed me coming up, even Double Nickel, who was going so slow a couple of days ago. Now I'm the slow one: 3 hours for 3.2 miles of uphill! The rest of the day has more downhill than up & doesn't look so steep. We'll see. Everyone is out early because most of them want to go to a beer fest at Reed's Gap. I think I can skip that. I stopped at Maupin Field shelter for lunch. Several hikers came in for water, including a father, daughter, son-in-law trio, heading South for a few days. When I mentioned my rib discomfort, they offered me some Advil. I declined because I'm just not much into taking pain medication & because so many people out here take things, especially Ibuprofen, so routinely. The pain in my ribs makes it hard to adjust my pack -- all those abdominal & chest muscles are connected. I felt I was going very slow (& carrying much too much weight) when I got to Reed's Gap. There was trail magic there, so I stopped for a while. Then a guy with a white beard (named Santa's Helper) drove up & wanted to give out some more stuff. Then a woman drove up to give out a few things before she went for a hike herself. All of these people are former thru-hikers. It was very nice except for the lack of shade. I just don't like standing or sitting around in the sunshine. Santa's Helper mentioned that he had come over from Central Tennessee to help at the church hostel in Waynesboro. That gave me an idea. I asked Santa's Helper if he'd take my food bag (heaviest single item in my pack) & I'd pick it up at the hostel in the morning. I wasn't planning to stay at the church hostel, but I would be going to town for church, & a chance to lighten my load was certainly attractive. When he agreed, I went across the road to get my stuff. Just as I was returning, he drove off! He'd forgotten already!That was disappointing, yet there was something freeing about the experience. At the same time, I decided that maybe I had a situation where it was appropriate to take some medication: so I started looking for my ibuprofen. I couldn't find it, but that didn't seem so important -- in each of these cases, I'd been able to make a decision to alleviate my situation. That alone was enough to help me FEEL better about hiking on. The next section of trail was quite rocky, with a good bit of poison ivy as well. I met no one except a couple of day-hikers. After a few miles, I stopped to drink some water. Half an hour later, I stopped again. No water bottle! I'd left it on the rock where I'd stopped last. So I left my pack & walked/ran back, 20 minutes in each direction, thru poison ivy alley, to get it. Walking without the pack feels good, yet the whole event was a little disheartening on a difficult day. And of course there was no forward progress during that time. After crossing Bluel Ridge Parkway a couple more times, I stopped to cook supper on Humpback Mtn. A bit after that, I found that a bunch of people were congregating to see the sunset from Humpback Rocks. I obviously was not going to make it to the Paul C. Wolfe shelter (too many miles, even downhill), I really didn't feel like camping, & more & more I was thinking, "I NEED MY ZERO DAY NOW!"It was not the best place to get off the Trail. The parking lot was almost a mile down an extremely rocky trail (not up to AT standards). By the time I made it down, the sun had set & people were returning to their cars. I got a ride into town from a very nice college student who had taken her dog up the Mtn & back. I was late for the hostel, but tried it anyway & they let me in. Grace Lutheran Church has a great facility for the purpose. Hikers sleep on cots in the fellowship hall, there are shower rooms off the choir room, & there is a separate room used for a living room & cooking area for hikers. I helped finish off some leftover spaghetti & worked a bit on one of the computers before getting to sleep. Even with an air mattress, the cot wasn't very comfortable for my condition, but it felt good to be in a different environment.