Day 76 – Spy Rock Road to Reid’s Gap

Up at 5:00. Packed up all the gear I’m NOT slackpacking with and loaded it in the van to go to Waynesboro. Left the hostel for the trail at 6:20.

We got dropped off at 7:15 about 1.1 miles from the trail. There is a private road, Spy Rock Road, that allows hikers access but no vehicle access to the trail.

Today will be a tough hike. We have 6000 feet of descents followed by a 6-mile 3300-foot climb up to Three Ridges. 19.7 miles plus the 1.1-mile walk up Spy Rock Road. Temps might stay in the low 80s , so we got that going for us.

Got on AT at 7:52. Overkill realized she lost her water bottle with her Sawyer filter. My bet is it fell out in the shuttle. She has 2 spare water bottles and can use my filter today. She had enough cell service to order a new filter to get delivered to the hostel in Waynesboro tomorrow.

9:00 quick snack.

Stopped at Priest Shelter at mile 4.3 at 9:50. Had a snack and got water from the spring. This place had the best privy on the AT. Confessed our sins to the Priest. Back on the trail at 10:30.

To clarify, it is a tradition for thru-hikers to update the shelter log at the Priest Mountain Shelter with any sins they committed on the trail so far. Hence confessing to the Priest. There is some seriously funny stuff in that logbook.

Got to the Tye River at 12:40 and 9.1 miles. Passed an 80-plus youth group on the trail. Got cold water from their support team at the base of the mountain. Took a 10-minute good break.

Got to Harper’s Creek shelter at 2:00 and mile 11.8. This is the last water for the rest of the day.

And now for the fun part of the day for the next 3.4 miles. Back on trail at  2:25

Summited Three Ridges at 4:22. Texted the hostel with our ETA of 6:30 for a shuttle. That was a nasty climb. We knew it was long and steep, but good god the rocks! There were multiple places that were 80+ degrees of rock inclines. Wasn’t expecting that!

We hauled ass as best we could. The last 3 miles were a death march. We got to the parking lot at 6:20. The other pair of hikers we are with from Stanimals got there 20 minutes ahead of us. We all agreed that today was one of the hardest days we have had in a long time. We are all looking forward to a zero tomorrow. 

Shuttled to Stanimals in Waynesboro. Arrived at 7:00 ish. Showered and wandered into town for dinner at the Tailgate Grill about 3 blocks from the hostel. My kind of place. Great burgers.

Very tough day. Many people told us that this was one of the hardest sections in Virginia. This made 5 big days in a row…117.1 miles in 7 days and some of them were very big ascents and descents.

The vibe at Stanimals is interesting. Very much the commune vibe. Lots of pot and shrooms, but not obnoxiously so. Chill vibe from the other hikers and the staff. Lots of vortexing happening.

And again to clarify. Vortexing is when you get sucked into a hostel/town for several days instead of hiking out the next day. 

Technical Notes: 

• Pop-Tarts 380
• Little Debbie oatmeal pies 340
• Body armor 120
• Trail mix 200
• Peanut butter crackers 250
• Sausages 390
• Sausage 130
• Sausage 130
• Fig bar 210
• Bacon double cheeseburger 600
• Fries 400
• Twix 440
• Seltzer 300
• Chocolate chip cookies 300
• Water liters 5
• Miles 19.6 + 1.1
• Time 11
• Elevation gain 5473
• Calories consumed  4400
• Calories burned 8000