I stayed at Three Springs Hostel last night.  What a dream!  Oma and Marsha took great care of me; laundry’s all done and I am clean and rested.  I’m hiking with only a day pack today.  My regular pack will be delivered to me in the afternoon.  That’s Slackpacking!

Here are some pics of the hostel.  

   
 
And Skitty.  
And from the trail today. 

  
 
Another milestone passed today.  It’s 800 miles to Springer Mountain, GA.  

 

Hike Statistics:
Day #23
Miles from Mt Katahdin, ME – 1,393,7
Miles from Harpers Ferry – 227.1
Miles to Springer Mtn, GA – 795.5
Avg daily distance – 9.9 miles

You’ll never find a rainbow if you’re looking down. – Charlie Chaplin

I’m still hoping for enough of a signal to post the last video from The Priest, but not yet! 😂

I’m headed to Buena Vista, VA to a hostel to clean up and rest.  Don’t fret if you see anything from me for a couple of days.  I hear there’s no internet connection there.  I’ll post the video and more pics in time. 

 

 This is “Rat Dog”.  He’s 10 and is section hiking the trail.

 By the way, in addition to being on the trail 3 weeks and hiking The a Priest yesterday, I have now hiked over 200 miles.  Yeah!

Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts. – Charles Dickens

In celebration of three weeks on the trail and the big elevation gain today I’m doing my blog in a series of videos taken during the 3000 foot ascent. 

  
   
 I was having trouble loading the last video, but I made it!

 Daniel and Mason are NOBO section hikers.  They’ll finish at Harpers Ferry this summer.  That’s half the trail over 3 summers.  Way to go guys!  

God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple. – Chanakya

It’s another beautiful morning! ☀️  I am currently half way up Three Ridges and am planning to hike 9.5 miles today to the Tye River at the base of The Priest.  I’ll tackle the 3,000+ ft ascent tomorrow morning with fresh legs.

Here’s The Priest from the overlook.  

And the elevation profile.  

Wish me luck…

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. – Confucius

The weather is finally stellar today.  Left P Wolfe shelter about 7 am after sleeping in the shelter because of storms last night.  Going to do 15+ today but have another 500 ft and 1 mile to finish Humpback Mountain.  

I met L’L Bean on the trail this morning.  She is NOBO with a great laid back attitude.  Happy trails! 

I’ll post more later with an update on my mileage for the day.

Update:  It turned out to be a long grueling day. After summiting Humpback Mountain I still had 10 miles to go with all the gas out of my tank. To make matters worse there was a section of trail that was the rockiest I’ve seen so far.  But I still made the 15.8 miles to Maupin Field shelter before dark.  The “brothers” rolled in about 10 pm after hiking the 25+ miles from Waynesboro.  Crazy guys!

Hike statistics :

Day #19

Miles from Mt Katahdin, ME – 1,348.4

Miles from Harpers Ferry – 181.8

Miles to Springer Mtn, GA – 840.8

Avg daily distance – 9.6 miles

There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self. – Benjamin Franklin