.November 6, 2006
I am looking forward to 12 days of hiking. My arm that I broke just over 3 weeks ago is about 90% healed and shouldn't hold me back.
Today is a big hike, 25.7 miles. It will be the most I've ever done in a day. I was originally going to go north on this but changed my mind at the last minute. The weather was supposed to be cloudy by late afternoon and I didn't want to miss out on views from the Priest and Spy rock. The cost of this switch was an extra 1,000 feet in elevation gain. I knew I would pay for this later.
However, My nemesis today was not the weather, but time. This was a big hike and at most I had 11 hours of light, one of the drawbacks of going so late in the year. Lynn dropped me off. I decided not to take Madison today, but will take her tomorrow. I started the long climb up to the Priest with an elevation gain of 3000 feet over 4 miles. It was still a little dark when I took this picture.
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I quickly realized I over dressed and had to take a couple of layers off.
A little over halfway up I had a great view to the north and east. Here are two photos stitched together.
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The trail became more difficult as I neared the summit of the Priest
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I made it to the top of the Priest which is 4,063 feet. The Priest is part of the Religious Range (no kidding). The other mountains are Little Priest, the Friar, and the Cardinal although the AT doesn't go over any of these. At the summit, I couldn't find a view from the AT but climbed some rocks and got a great view.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I thought this rock was interesting. It was located near the side trail for the shelter which I skipped.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I will be going over and through a lot of stiles the next two weeks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I passed two hunters who were hiking right on the AT. I would see many, many more of them as well. Shortly after, I passed my only hiker of the day.
I climbed up to Main Top Mountain, my 2nd of four 4,000 footers today. From here the trail drops down and I met the short side trail for Spy Rock. It's located slightly off the AT and worth the extra time. Here are a few pictures from Spy Rock.
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Through another stile.
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At this junction I missed the trail. The AT here was hard too spot especially covered with leaves. I probably went a quarter of a mile up the trail when I started noticing blue blazes instead of white ones.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I would have to increase my pace if I wanted to get done before dark and this little detour up the wrong path didn't help. With the leaves off the trees I had better views but it made following the trail difficult. Worse than that I was constantly tripping over the rocks and roots that I could no longer see. I had been hiking for hours and this was the first time I could actually see the trail.
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I reached Wolf Rocks and climbed onto this rock.
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Here was the view. I could see all the way back to Spy Rock. I guess I've covered some ground today.
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I had great views from Tar Jacket Ridge.
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ This grassy field was nice on my sore feet.
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Hog Camp Gap was beautiful.
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I climbed up to Cold Mountain (also known as Cole Mountain). It was my first southern bald. In the north, many of the mountains are above treeline offering great views. In the south, the mountains are not above treeline but many of them have nice grass fields that are either mowed or used for grazing. What a beautiful place.
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ As beautiful as this was, I wish I could have been there in the summer. Here is a photo from Runtrails' journal Day 50. The mountain was even more beautiful then.
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Just under 4 miles to go.
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I dropped down into a gap and had one more climb. I was very tired by this point. All I could think of is that if I had gone north I would be done with my ascents and working on my final descent. It ended up being a nice day all day so by switching directions it didn't help. But I made my way up to Bald Knob which ironically was not bald and had no view. Now for the 2.5 mile descent. I quickened my pace and ran most of the way down. I didn't want to be hiking in the dark. As I neared the bottom I heard Lynn's voice. It was great to see her. I was dead tired. I gave her a hug, Madison a hug, hiked the remaining 10 minutes, and gave the car a hug. This had been one long hike at least for me. I finished just as darkness was approaching although the flash went off on my camera and made this picture look like it was darker than it really was.
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Interesting note. The side trip to Spy Rock and the half mile I did when I took the wrong trail put me up to 26.4. This is the first day I have ever hiked over marathon distance. I should sleep well tonight.
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