Date: 2003-07-22
From: The Priest Shelter

To: Maupin Field Shelter
Miles today: 13.6
Weather: broken clouds

Erin says:It rained on and off last night and the sides of the tent got a little muddy. Craig and I slept in this morning for a while to give the tent a chance to dry out. It was cool out and breezy this morning. Nice hiking weather.I set out ahead of Craig and finished the climb to the top of The Priest (4,063'). Then it was a 3,000' descent to the Tye River. On the way down, I stopped to pee. I took my pack off to enjoy the overlook off the trail. Somehow in the process of taking my pack off or attempting to put it back on, the ziplock on the top of my water bladder came undone and leaked EVERYWHERE. Now, normally it wouldn't be a huge deal because my pack has gotten wet before. But of course in this case my bladder chose to leak on a day when I had a sugary Capri Sun drink mix in it. Sticky and gross. I had to pull everything out of my pack because I lost half of my 2-litre bladder. Craig arrived to find me frantically trying to sop up the mess with my pack towel. He helped me to hang my pack on a nearby tree to help dry it out. We decided that he would continue to descent to the Tye River and then try to hitch into the nearby town of Tyro to get me a new trashbag liner for my pack. And maybe some beers. I remained with my stuff to give it time to dry. We'd meet back up later at the Tye River.I was so bummed that my stuff was all sticky. You'd think I'd learn my lesson by now and not put anything sugary in my bladder. However, this is the first time my bladder has ever leaked from the ziplock. The manufacturer (Platypus) says that you should be able to stand on top of your full bladder and it won't explode or leak. Hmmmmm. As I was waiting for my pack to dry, I started to notice that miniature ants had begun to attack my belongings that were strewn across the rocks at the overlook where I had originally stopped. So I spent the next hour and a half playing ant patrol. I had to bag up any sticky clothes, discard ziplocks that had gotten covered with Capri Sun, pick ants out of the first aid bag, and scramble to find tree branches to hang my stuff off of so that the ants wouldn't crawl all over everything. It wasn't fun. It sucked.A really nice father/daughter hiking pair passed by and noticed my distress. They offered me a new big leaf garbage bag to use to line my pack since my old bag was sticky and not drying. Very cool of them! I finally got my pack reassembled after it had dried out and continued my descent. I found Craig swimming in the Tye River. I could tell he was enjoying himself because he'd been wanting to find a place to swim along the trail for a while now.He had gone to town and brought me back a V8 and Starbucks Vanilla Frappucino to share with him. And he'd found an unopened Coke by the river. We hung out and I relaxed for a while after my stressful morning. We crossed the suspension bridge over the Tye River and began a 3,000' ascent back up into the mountains. It started to thunder and rain right as we started climbing. It got dark, windy, and chilly very quickly. Soon it was pouring. We were planning to spend the night at the first shelter-- Harper's Creek -- but we'd learned from people passing us on the trail on their way down that there was a family staying there for the night. This was the same family that had stayed at the Priest Shelter the night before. We were bummed because with the rain, we wanted a shelter to ourselves. We got to the Mau-Har trail in the pouring rain and decided on a whim to take the blue-blaze. We could go just .9 of a mile more to the shelter, or take the blue-blaze further, see a neat trail that we'd heard people mention in the shelter registers, and stay at the next shelter. We were soaked and figured it was better to keep hiking and hope that the rain would pass.We ended up psyched that we took the Mau-Har trail. It felt like being in NH. It was fun to suddenly be hiking on a trail that we had no idea about. We knew from other people that it was steep and rocky, but that was it. The trail climbed for a while -- very steep -- and then plummetted into a gorge of sorts that reminded me of The Flume. We ascended over rocky outcroppings and boulders along a sluiceway that had running streams and waterfalls on both sides of the trail. The streams pooled up in basins and water spilled out from underneath huge boulders. It was gorgeous! The wet environment provided lush greenery all around us. By the time we climbed out of the gorge, we were tired but psyched that we'd done it. We kept climbing higher over a steep and rocky trail until we finally came upon Maupin Field Shelter. The rain had subsided and it appeared that noone was there. Oh, but there was. We frightened the pants off a guy staying at the shelter who was on leave from the Navy. Our late arrival at the shelter had thrown him off. Craig and I decided to tent afterall. The Navy guy turned out to be really nice, telling us about how he is stationed in Spain and had some time off and wanted to be in the woods. I made a noodle meal with veggies while Craig set up our tent at a nearby tentsite. Once our chores were over, we hung out by the tent and enjoyed a little beer that Craig had procured during his jaunt in Tyro. I am so glad that my day turned out to be really interesting and rewarding on the Mau-Har trail after the horrific bladder incident in the morning.Tomorrow we will rejoin the A.T. We've heard people mention that the Mau-Har trail used to be the A.T., but somehow the trail got rerouted. We wonder if it is because the Mau-Har is really steep? Sometimes I think the A.T. doesn't do the best job of bringing a hiker to the most interesting scenes in the area. I think blue-blazing is a great way to get a different view of the land. It is sort of liberating to be able to depart from the A.T. The way I figure, I am out here to enjoy myself and experience the land. For me the A.T. experience isn't just the trail itself, but the land surrounding it, the people we meet each day, and the towns we pass through. The Mau-Hau gave me a sense of excitement about hiking that I think I'd forgotten about. It was challenging terrain and fun to not have any idea where we were going or where we'd end up.