Date: 2017-05-03
From: Spy Rock

To: Maupin Field Shelter
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: clear sky

My shuttle driver was not kidding when she said my second day was going to be tough. If I had known how tough the climb up Three Ridges Mountain was going to be, I would have made the effort to get up The Priest Mountain yesterday. I woke up and the wind was still howling. I was hoping to go up and see the sunrise from Spy Rock, but the wind was making it way too cold. I packed up and started up Priest Mountain. The climb didn't seem too bad and I arrived at the junction for the shelter about 9 AM. I misread the sign and continued on the AT instead of going to the shelter. Since I had made a dry camp last night, I would need water soon. I meant to stop at Priest Shelter to get water, but there was a stream in about 3 miles and I wasn't going to backtrack to the shelter.  On the way down Priest, I found a wonderful large rock crop sitting in the sun out of the wind. I took a break here for a snack and just soak in some sunshine. I saw quite a few day hikers going south. There was one large group of about 12 seniors climbing up doing quite a nice job at getting up the mountain. The last man in the line stopped and gave me a frozen Snickers bar. I thanked him and told him it would help me up the other side.It took a lot longer to get down Priest then I thought it would, but eventually I made it down to the pedestrian suspension bridge crossing the Tye River. Now to start the 6 mile 3,000 ft ascent of Three Ridges. It was 2.4 miles to a shelter where I planned to take a break. Just before the shelter, there was a short downhill and I took this opportunity to eat my Snickers. I was barely moving and had my poles tucked under my arm while I enjoyed my candy bar. I heard a noise up to my left and there was a bear. I ate my bar a little faster, but before I could finish and get my camera out, he saw me and took off up the hill. Great sighting!!  The shelter was off the trail quite a bit, so I decided to hike on. The miles were coming slowly today. I climbed and I climbed and crossed huge boulder fields like the picture above. It felt like it was taking forever to climb this mountain. There were so many rocks and boulders that it seriously slowed my progress. It became a day of just getting the miles over. I saw more day hikers headed south. When I said the climb was kicking my butt, they said it was going to continue to kick my butt. Humph. I started to see a huge mountain beyond the summit I was trying to climb and I just knew I was going over that. I saw two more South bounders and asked if I was going up there. They said why yes you are. There was nothing I could do but continue putting one foot in front of the other. On a good note, the wind had stopped sometime during this climb. There were many switchbacks and I continued to climb. There were some nice views, but I was starting to get worried about time and didn't stop to enjoy them more then a few seconds. Eventually I hit the summit. According to my shuttle driver this is the last mountain above 4,000 ft we will climb until Massachusetts. That doesn't mean there aren't big climbs though, just means that might start lower and not go quite to 4,000 ft.It was still 3 miles to the shelter I wanted to spend the night. I started down the other side. It was about 6 PM by the time I made the shelter. There were 3 section hikers already there: FireWatcher, TalkingBull and Major. We were soon joined by Wolverine, a young thru-hiker. FireWatcher had a nice fire going to eat dinner by and for some lively conversation. Great group of guys to spend the evening with after the very long hiking day.