We heard everyone moving around and packing up, but I swear there was an elephant in our tent sitting on us. I managed to move the elephant completely to Bunny’s side of the bed so I could get up. By the time I had gotten the bear bag down and had water boiling, Bunny had chased the elephant completely out of camp. Needless to say, with all the pachyderm interference, we were the last to leave camp at 8:15.
It had lightly rained over night. The humidity was high and everything felt damp. We were walking in a fog (both mentally and literally). We had a short climb to the top of Priest Mountain with a few overlooks on the way. By the time we made the top, we were above some of the clouds and had partial views. What goes up must go down. We had almost a 3,000’ drop to the gap. The corollary statement applies now—what goes down must go up. We still had one more mother of a climb to get to the brewery.
Of course it was raining. It’s still preferable to having the insects swarming and the high hear. Plod Along passed along word that Monday had been an all time record high for the area (records from 1912). We heard they got off trail for a few days to let the heat pass. It’s gone and been replaced with rain. Seriously, I’ll take rain in any form over the bugs and heat, especially since we got the umbrellas. They are part of our “must have” equipment from here on.
We crossed the Tye River and climbed 2.5 miles to Harpers Creek Shelter where we stopped for a lunch break. We checked the log and saw that Stickers and Lady Bug camped by the river last night and stopped here for second breakfast. They were probably getting close to the brewery by the time we finished. Chili Dog and Goldilocks (both men despite the name) stopped in while we were eating. They camped with Patches and Gnome last night and told us they were not going to make the brewery tonight.
There was still a 2,400’ climb looming. The river, oops, trail, was very slick so the old folks were going slow. One of the guys we passed at Spy Rock last night passed us and we noticed he didn’t have a pack. He said the whole group was slack packing today and the rest of the group had taken a lower blue blaze bypass to avoid the climb. Double cheaters. We made it a point to get a picture at the top in front of the sign to show we are purists (and obstinate).
While we were climbing in the rain, it occurred to me that it has been raining ever since Noah had gotten thrown under the bus. Can we expect 40 straight days of rain? My dad told me he had heard of sections of the trail ahead that have gotten washed out by heavy rains. As long as we don’t have to swim to finish the AT, I’m still happier than minus the bugs.
We didn’t make it to Reid’s Gap until 6. We called for the free shuttle only to find out that it stops at 5. Here we were in a dense fog and rain and their response was to “just hitch in.” If there would have been traffic, I wouldn’t object. We tried for 15 minutes before calling to plead again. They said they were too busy and didn’t really need any more business—hitch or give up, they didn’t care. Places that pretend to be hiker friendly, but really aren’t, really tick me off. Like Top of Georgia Hostel with free rides to town but they don’t tell you when until you’re late and then want to charge. I was ready to give up and hike on.
Bunny had her heart set on a beer and wanted to try another 10 minutes. Up to now, only 3 cars had passed and they all gave us the emphatic “hell no” by switching lanes to pass us. It all happened at once: 3 more of the slackers emerged and an SUV stopped. We didn’t feel obligated to help the others (since they were cheaters) but one was Spenders with his dog, Murdock, that we really like (both of them). She agreed to cram us all in and go out of her way to take us to the brewery.
Elizabeth has a 17 year old son that wants to hike the AT when he graduates from high school next year. She is building up good karma for him by picking up hikers. Her dad is also a builder in the area that put up several of the structures at the brewery. When we got there, she decided to go in and have a beer since her son wasn’t going to be home for another hour. This trail angel saved our sorry, wet butts and kept us from having a miserable night on the trail. We were still going to have a miserable night camping in the rain, but at least it would be with beer and burgers in our stomachs.
We went into the restaurant and Stickers met us at the door. Lady Bug was trapped in the tent waiting for the rain to lighten up before she attempted the crossing from the camping area. We saw probably 20 people we knew including all the cheaters (“hike your own hike” doesn’t mean we can’t smugly judge you). Savage is the only one I’ll cut slack with her fused discs. We of course gave them crap and showed our picture from the summit in the fog and rain. They in turn showed us all the beautiful water falls we missed.
We ate supper with Stickers. They have been at the brewery since about 1:30 so he was not feeling any pain. The place was amazing. Anheuser-Bush InBev has recently bought the place and they are dumping money into the place like mad. The former owner is now the CEO and they are letting him call all the shots for at least 5 years before the place goes completely corporate soulless. In the mean time, they still plan to cater to hikers, but the showers still aren’t ready—not until June 1.
Lady Bug and Stickers led us to the camping area and we set up camp in dark and rain. It wasn’t that bad with the umbrellas. It was possible to get everything in the tent and stay dry, but the humidity was terrible in the tent. It poured most of the night but we could stand it with our beer/burger bellies.
EFG