After what seemed like weeks of unrelenting heat with over 100F “feels like” temps and no rain, we got some relief in a form of slow, steady and surprisingly cool rain on Friday. That made the steep uphill trek to the Priest Mountain (3,000 ft up in about 4.3 miles) not just more bearable, but even pleasant. When our DCUL group: Aileen, Veronica, Dmitri, Taylor, Nathan and Himal arrived at the Priest shelter around 5:30 pm, the spirits were high! There were many great camping spots to choose from and the spring at the shelter was flowing well. We met a couple of AT thru hikers and hung out for a bit before turning in for the night, but not before thoroughly enjoying the new luxurious privy that was built in 2023 after the old one was destroyed. Sleeping was good with some rhythmic pattering of the rain and cool temps. Unfortunately, Dmitri discovered in the morning that a pesky mouse chewed a small hole in his tent.
We woke up before dawn the next morning and were ready to hit the trail by 6am. Pleasantly cool air that the rain brought the night before, was gone. The sun and heat were back with the vengeance. We had a full itinerary for the day: an out and back trek to Spy Rock, then off to see Crabtree Falls, the longest waterfall east of Mississippi, and finally, down the steep Priest slopes and up to our Saturday night camp at Harpers Creek. Altogether, right around 20 miles of up and down terrain. Dmitri said a few times during the trip that this was unlike any other DCUL trip he’s ever been to. I wasn’t sure whether to take it as a compliment or a complaint, but I guess it was just different. I purposely laid out the course for this trip as a double lollipop that involved passing through the starting parking lot on Saturday afternoon. It also allowed us to do the loop portion of the daily hikes without all the equipment that we left at camp and packed when we returned to it. The reason? Why rough it when you don’t have to :-)? There was already enough difficulty from steep elevation, heat and potential lack of water due to the severe drought we were in. All and all, I think it worked out well. I hope Aileen and I will not be banished from DCUL for spending a few minutes in an air-conditioned car while passing through the parking lot.
The views from Spy Rock were amazing. There are just a few places along the AT in Virginia that offer such expansive 360 views. The weather was gorgeous with some cool air still lingering at the top of the mountain. The sea of clouds on the horizon looked surreal, it felt like we were on top of the world.
After visiting Spy Rock, we walked to Crabtree Falls. Usually, it’s an impressive waterfall that cascades several hundred feet down slick rocks. Sadly, because of the drought, the normally rushing water flow was reduced to a trickle, and in a few places, disappeared completely. We have to come back after some good rains in the Fall to enjoy the waterfall in its full glory. We returned to the Priest shelter, packed camp, said goodbye to the luxury privy and started our way down the mountain. For some, like me, steep downhill is harder and slower than uphill. For others, like Dmitri, who must’ve trained with some mountain goats in Siberia, it’s an easy frolic all the way down, bouncing from rock to rock. All of us made it back to the parking lot safely and had a little break and a snack by the cars. We crossed Tye River on the way up to Saturday night camp. There were lots of people splashing in the cool water and hanging out on the rocks in the river. We were tempted to stay, and a few of us thought of coming back the next day for some water fun. The uphill walk was hot and felt steeper than it really was. We were pretty tired when we got to Harpers Creek. The campsites were good, but the normally well flowing creek was almost dry, with just a few small pools and trickles. We also discovered that we had some noisy neighbors. No, they weren’t bears or even mice. It was a group of some 20 teenagers on a trip with adventure camp. So, our night was definitely not silent, but we still got a pretty good rest.
Sunday morning was another early rise, leaving camp by 6am. The temperature was supposed to get up to mid-90s, with sun and humidity coming back. We had the Mau Har-Three Ridges loop ahead of us, almost 10 miles with 4,000 ft elevation change. For some of us, that sounded like great fun, but a few others opted for a more relaxing day by the cool Tye River. Dimitri, Nathan and I decided to hike, and Aileen, Taylor and Himal went down to the river. The hike up to Maupin shelter on Mau Har trail was probably the most pleasant part of this loop. That side of the mountain seemed less affected by the drought and the creek flowed well. There were many awesome pools of water and, if we had more time, it would be great to stay and splash in them for a while. We took a short break at Maupin shelter and, after another uphill, started our descent from Three Ridges. This part of the trail offers beautiful views in the Fall, but it was overgrown with vegetation and most of the views were obstructed. We found some awesome Chicken of the Woods mushrooms though; they must’ve sprung up after Friday rains. We got back to Harpers Creek, quickly packed and walked back down to Tye River, where we reconnected with the rest of our group. They looked rested and refreshed, having spent their morning splashing in the river. Note of caution: water from Tye River is not suitable for drinking, even filtered, do not rely on it as water source.
On the way back, we stopped at the Devils Backbone brewery, a Nelson County landmark. It was unusually quiet. Because of the heat, the outside was closed, and we were seated at the restaurant. AC felt good after a couple of days in the woods. The beer was cold and the food tasty, it was a nice end to the trip. And … Taylor finally saw a BEAR!!!
DC UL Backpacking 
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