Date: 2022-05-01
From: Hog Camp Gap

To: The Priest Shelter 
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: overcast clouds

It was pretty cool this morning and we noticed that a couple other hikers had come in later in the evening. Coffeebean walked the supposed .3 miles to get water (both he and Cool Whip swear it was longer). When he got back he said that I had to get the next 3 waters!We ate breakfast and left about 7:30. We were trying to get to The Priest shelter before the rain started at 3pm. We went to the next shelter, Seeley-Woodworth Shelter, for a quick break. We met the infamous Leafblower hiker at the shelter. This is the hiker that is carrying a full-sized leafblower from Georgia to Maine. If you ask him why, he just responds ¢I just gotta get it to Maine.¢ He won¢t say anything more about it. He¢s just gotta get it to Maine. He agreed to let me take his picture!The hiking to this point was not bad. Little ups and downs and lots of flat areas but once we left the last shelter and headed towards The Priest shelter we ran into 3 different ascents that went straight up. One was up to Spy Rock. You had to go off trail to see it once you got to the top. Coffeebean said ¢Do you want to walk over and see it?¢ I said ¢We live near here. We will drive our car over here to see it. Right now I just want to get to the shelter.¢ We had to stop because the pinkie toe on my right foot was causing me such pain. I pulled off my boot and sock and my poor little toe was red and the skin was rubbed raw. We covered it with a bandaid and put a piece of moleskin on the adjacent toe to cushion the sore one. It definitely helped.So we pushed on and came to a sign that said ¢The Priest Shelter 1 mile¢. I looked up and the trail was straight up. The words I said next were not very nice.After walking and walking we saw a big group of rocks and heard Cool Whip say ¢You kids made it!¢  Tin Man, GGnome snd Runaway were there too. Not far from the rocks was the shelter sign but turning right we saw a firepit and tent sites. Picked our site, set up the tent, and went over and sat with the group on the rocks and talked. Cool Whip and Tin Man told about a couple of the hikers in the shelter and they were kind of rude. After a bit GGnome and Runaway brought their stuff up and decided to camp where we were too. Coffeebean, bless him, went and got water. I filtered it while he made dinner of Lipton chicken noodle soup with 2 packages of Ramen noodles. I had had a craving for a chicken salad pack on a tortilla so I made that and ate it. Then I ate some of the soup and Ramen mix along with a small handful of Wheat Thin crackers and 6 strawberry sugar wafers. Not to mention guzzling 2 water bottles of Orange Crush mixed in water. Is ¢hiker hunger¢ hitting me now? Now, when we¢re getting ready to get off trail? Oh, great! Now I¢ll go home and eat like a pig and put back on the weight I just spent 210 miles trying to get rid of. :(The little cell reception that we could get up here is very weird. Coffeebean was sitting on a log making dinner and had one bar. I was right next to him and had none. Frustrating.As for the threatened rain, it never really came about. During the day we would have sprinkles for about 10 minutes and then it would stop and then an hour later would happen again. Nothing soaking though. Yay!We hiked 14.3 miles and are 15.5 miles from Reed¢s Gap, where we get off! Coffeebean¢s best friend is picking us up. Can¢t wait but will really miss the friends we have made on this hike. We have invited Smooth, Tin Man, and Cool Whip to stay at our place when they get to Rockfish Gap.