THE PRIEST

AT Day 051: Sunday May 28,  2023

Mile 809 + 21 miles / 33.8 km

Total Distance Hiked: 830 miles/ 1335 km

Lexington – US Route 60 – Bald Knob – Cow Camp Gap – Cole Mountain – Wiggins Spring Rd – Tar Jacket Ridge – Salt Log Gap – USFS 246 – Seeley Woodworth Shelter – Spy Rock Road – Spy Rock – Cash Hollow – VA 826 – Priest Shelter – The Priest 

A: 6043 ft /1843 m  D: 4075 ft /1243 m

We slept so soundly last night in a very  comfortable bed. It was hard to rouse this morning.  So unusual for me, it was almost 6:00 when I woke, well after Hammer.  

So it was a bit if a rush for me to get everything packed and ready to go.  Marc had offered to drive us back to the trailhead on US 60. We were grateful for Marc and Lauras generosity  in inviting us to their home.  A couple of cups of delicious coffee while two of the Huskies dozed at my feet and we were ready to go.  

The overnight in Lexington, the late afternoon walk through the local street on the way to the store, the evening conversation with Marc and Laura and the playfulness of their four Huskies was such a lovely respite from our hiking life on trail. Lexington is a beautiful town. The little bit we saw on-foot while walking from Marc and Laura’s house to Kroger’s store, which was about a mile away, left us with an impression of a beautiful community in a really nice town. It would have been good to have had time to explore the town a little bit more, especially the downtown area. But hiking the trail is like a job. Marc dropped us off just after 7am and it was back to work.

Back on trail  trail we faced the usual uphill slog and it wasn’t long before sweat was breaking out. We were looking forward to being able to see the sky through the trees knowing that we were heading to the ridge line. It took an hour and a half  to reach the top of Bold Knob, a 3 mile – 1,880 foot climb.  

The sky was overcast and grey,  a cool breeze was blowing,  the predicted rain was holding off, the  birds were singing and the forest look lush and green.  Perfect hiking conditions to kick off this 55 mile leg to Waynesboro.  Throughout the morning, shafts of sunlight would break through the grey sky illuminating the thigh deep grasses lining the trail.

We made the summit  of the next mountain Cole Mountain, which was an open grassy meadow during one of the brief sunlit periods.  Amazing distant vistas from the summit in almost all directions, framed by darkening skies.

We stopped for lunch at a spring.  Hammer filtered water and I made lunch and caught up on the morning journal. Time somehow seemed to get away from us and we ended up taking a much longer lunch break then intended. 

From the spring,  the trail flattened out for very some very easy hiking. I don’t know if this is going to persist heading north. The rain arrived right on cue at 2.30pm. Light sprinkling at first then it  came in heavy gusts, for a couple of hours. The woods became really quite misty and mysterious,  not unpleasant to hike except it was a little bit cool. About 5:00pm  the rain eased off a little bit and we realized that if we pushed we could make the campsite on the summit of the Priest and get the tent up  before the rain is expected to return.  We finished the day with a steep climb from Cash Hollow to the summit of The Priest.  Nice to get the tent up before the rain returned.