Day 65 - We Reach "The Priest"

Sunday, June 7th - Up at 5:30, our earliest in awhile. Thin overcast, and pretty chilly to start, 52 degrees, and my breath was actually fogging a little bit, which was a bit odd. Got out around 6:00; easy climb up to the Long Mountain Wayside on Rt. 60, where we ate breakfast at a picnic table. While there, Stooge showed up and started setting up another break point for Nanny Goat and Mofo, and whoever else came along (we chatted with him for awhile, but didn't snag anything from him at this point). He is leapfrogging roads, staying ahead of Nanny Goat (his wife), so indicated we'd probably see him again once or twice more that day.

We headed out after about 30 minutes, getting right into a 2,000 foot climb up Bald Knob; some nice overlooks but nothing special after all we've seen over the past 2 1/2 months (I guess we're getting jaded!) The trail itself was considerably more rough and rocky than what we've enjoyed the past couple of days, so tougher going. Continued on to Cold Mountain (not "the" Cold Mountain of literary movie fame, which is in North Carolina, but another of the same name). Lots of small yellow flowers on the balds on these two mountains (grabbed some photos). Another warm day in the sun, but with a cooling breeze. Pushed on to Hog Camp Gap, where we again ran into Stooge. There were a bunch of other folks there as well, mostly starting (or maybe finishing) various day hikes; also, a number of folks were riding trail bikes up and down the various Forest Service roads. Just past the gap-road, I headed down a long side-trail to get water at a spring, kicking out a nice buck (in velvet) along the way. Mark chatted with a fellow hiker (a section hiker) 'til I returned, then he went and snagged a couple of sodas from Stooge (I declined, and just stuck with water).

Continuing on, we again hiked through long stretches of fern-fields, covering many acres; again not a common sight in my experience. Later we again ran into a stretch of unusually large, flowering rhododendrons, actual trees, some 25 feet high or more. We kicked out another deer along this stretch. Stopped for lunch at Salt Log Gap, watered up at Seeley-Woodworth Shelter, then continued on towards "The Priest," a large and fairly well-known major mountain in this area. The trails improved significantly for the second half of the day. We were leapfrogging with Bon-Bon for much of the afternoon, and at one point she captured a fledgling Downy Woodpecker, and so we got a close-up view of it. Bon-Bon has a degree in Ecology, and is a self-professed "bird-nerd," so part of the A.T. experience for her was viewing rare birds. Soon thereafter she noted the distinct call of a Cerulean Warbler, apparently a rare bird that can only be viewed in this area. I wish I had her knowledge of all these bird calls; she's pretty amazing with them.

Eventually we headed up a rather nasty and rocky jeep trail towards the Priest and Spy Rock the latter is a distinct rock outcropping, about 40 feet high. We took about 10 minutes to climb it, enjoying the views from the top for another 10 minutes (as usual, it was a lot easier going up than coming down!) Once again, our fellow hikers bypassed this opportunity, and Mark and I both noted that a lot of people are "missing the trail" in the quest for more and more miles. Finally reached the Priest Shelter around 7:35 - only to find it once again infested with these small biting flies. So after a "quick" dinner, we went back up the trail about 150 yards and tent-camped on a flat that we had spotted on the way to the shelter (much more pleasant). It would seem that our sheltering days are just about over, unless we're willing to wear bug-suits for protection, or don't mind being eaten alive. Bon-Bon and another couple of campers also decided to pass on the shelter, and set up their tents (but near the shelter, not near Mark and I). It was just about dark by the time we finished setting up. All told, 22 miles today, a mixed bag of decent and rough trail. We're both pretty beat, but pleased to have made our goal for the day, especially since tomorrow is supposed to be pretty tough.