Spy Rock to Maupin Field Shelter (837 miles)
KBar, Paperweight, and I got up around 5:40 to see the sunrise on top of Spy Rock. The climb up the rocks were tricky, but fun to traverse something new that early in the morning. When I made it up, Gulliver and Cruise were sitting there as well. No view just clouds blocking the sunlight. We sat there well until 7 just talking, listening to some funny songs, and laughing about waking up early to no sunrise. I headed out to the spot where Paperweight and I were planning to go .6 off trail to see a waterfall. I got there first to find a note saying the guide book was wrong. He still wanted to check it, but I left heading to The Priest shelter to confess my trail sins… The walk up wasn’t too bad and it was fun to find Barticus, Seabiscuit, Cruise, and Gulliver there thinking of what to write in the journal. Every shelter has a journal where you can’t write or draw something, look at the dates of when friends were here, and be updated on what’s ahead. If you would like to know the two sins I wrote down hike up to the shelter and enjoy because they are good ones. 😉 Most of the sins were about not digging a hole to poop in, having no sins, sexual related, and many people wrote about the trail. Here are some of my favorites- I think it is a sin there are no coconuts on the trail, Dear Priest, I’m a Jew, I had a wet dream about the Chinese buffet, I jacked off in the hotel room with five other people around, I got picked up on the BRP late at night by a girl I met on Tinder for a one night stand, and many others. There were few pages left in the book so we had to add notes to the end of the book. Spent too much time there thinking of what to write and enjoying reading them to one another. The hike down from the Priest is 3,093 feet. At the top, it was hazy so there were no views so I started the 4.8 mile downhill hike. After two miles of hiking, I came to a view point and the clouds had cleared so I stopped to snack. The hike downhill really wasn’t as rough as I expected, but my knees were feeling it a bit. I enjoyed saying hello to hikers climbing to the top smirking because I was flying down compared to their uphill speed. Passed by Cripple Creek which made me listen to that song on my playlist and smile. After we made it to the bottom, it was time for lunch. We hiked over the suspension bridge to find a nice rock along the Tye River. Paperweight and I dipped our feet into the river and ate enormous amounts of food. Peep Show, Seabiscuit, Canyon Man, and a few others stopped by. I even laid out on the rocks and closed my eyes for a bit. Since we just climbed downhill, it meant time to hike back up. Within a few minutes, I was drenched again and content to be going uphill for a change. After stopping by a shelter to filter water, it was time to keep climbing. I found Cruise, Mecca, and Gulliver standing by a side trail they were taking to cut off 3 extra miles of uphill. I gave them a hard time about being cheaters and how I have to follow the white blazes. They didn’t convince me to join them as I walked on telling them I’ll see them much later tonight since I had over 2,000 feet to climb. Paperweight caught up as I was taking a break and we climbed up together until I broke into a nice stride and lost him. We took a break at Chimney Rock on rocks to hydrate and eat some snacks. Then it was time to conquer the last few miles. We made it to the top to see no views just another downhill. We hit the viewpoint of the three ridges which showed all of the mountains we had climbed today. Time to eat dinner on top of the rocks as the sun began to set. I still can’t comprehend how we can cover so many miles as I look back in awe at where we had been. It was windy and peaceful as we ate smiling at our conquest. As we finally left, it was getting dark and we had two miles to go. We got there at dark to quickly set up our tents in a grassy area. Many hikers were there that I hadn’t seen all day meaning at least seven of them had skipped the climb. Cheaters! It makes me angry that they consider themselves thru hikers when they don’t do the work. I came to hike the AT not find shortcuts. But they say hike your own hike and don’t worry about other people. I loved the hike today even as I may have cursed under my breath, but I fell asleep proud and smiling knowing I am a true AT thru hiker! 😀 Sas
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PCT Thru Hike 2015 