After four weekends without hiking, I was in the mood for something more challenging to prepare for Massanutten. My friend Rose was also training for the Cocodona 250 and wanted to hike a loop with a lot of vertical gain. There was one mountain in particular that I thought could fit the bill, but it was the mountain that had eluded me for several years: the Priest. I had posted a Priest hike on DC UL three times, but every time, the hike had been cancelled or changed. The plan was to hike Three Ridges on Saturday and finish the day with a climb up the Priest. On the second day, we would continue to Spy Rock and double back. I half expected no one to sign up, but sure enough, James R and Sophie decided to join this crazy plan. The forecast called for gale force winds on Saturday night (the night we were planning to camp on the top of a mountain), so I messaged the crew for input. Part of me wondered if the Priest was cursed for me, and that the forecasted high winds were a warning to stay away. I was surprised that everyone had about the same response: “if it gets bad enough, we can just huddle in the shelter”. Plan A was a go!
Rose and I carpooled together to meet James on Friday and Sophie on Saturday morning. On the drive, Rose discussed how it would be a great idea to get breakfast on Saturday morning at Mac’s Country Store. I thought this was blasphemy. We can’t get into the car and drive somewhere after the trip has already begun! Rose argued that we were just camping on Friday night, so the trip didn’t start until Saturday morning. We agreed to disagree and decided it was a “hike your own hike” kind of day, so Rose said she would get breakfast. When we got to the campsite, I saw a lonely dyneema tarp upon our arrival and knew it had to be James. I pitched my hammock and watched the moon rise and set over my head all night. It was magical.
When I woke in the morning and tried to make coffee, I discovered that my gas canister had gotten too much sand in it from my Assateague hike, rendering it useless. James also did not have a stove because his plan was to cold soak his food. Being stuck without coffee, I reluctantly said to Rose “so how about that breakfast?” James looked at his cold soaked grits and also decided it was a good idea. We all piled into the car and drove to Mac’s Country Store.
We arrived at Mac’s Country Store at 6:08 expecting that we would be the first ones there. To our surprise, the store was filled with about 20 people all waiting for breakfast. There were some hunters and some anglers but mostly just people hanging out at 6:08am on a Saturday. Arriving 8 minutes past opening time delayed our breakfast by 30 minutes, but it was well worth the drive. We made it back and hit the trail shortly after 7am.
As we made it to a water crossing before the climb up to Three Ridges, Rose looked at her map and confidently said that we would cross once more and that she would get water at the next crossing. I hiked ahead and never saw another crossing. When I ran into Rose a few miles later, she said that she indeed had to turn back and get water. Instead of saving a few ounces of water weight, she ended up hiking an additional half a mile. Rose said that it wasn’t the first time that her ultralight optimization had failed her. The Girl with the Big Pack replied “I don’t think I’ve ever had that problem”. We ran into two other hikers who were amazed at our plan to hike the full 14-mile Three Ridges loop and follow it with a hike up the Priest. We made it back to the cars around 2pm and started to question all of our life choices. James said “adding the Priest to the end of the day is… quite a plan”. Rose said “It is just 3.1 Wachusetts. It is like Mt Carrigain!” For context, I must quickly tell the story of how I met Rose:
I was on the summit of Mt Carrigain in NH with my hiking friend, Faye (“Infomercial”), when we came across Rose cooking dinner. We asked about her hike, and she said that she had hiked 19.5 miles to the base of Mt Carrigain and decided to hike to the summit because it was only 1.4 miles away. However, she didn’t realize that it was also a 3,100 ft climb. I turned to Faye and said “3.1 Wachusetts in 1.4 miles? That is crazy!” Rose then asked “Mt Wachusett? Like the training mountain?” I went on to explain that my other hiking friend motivates himself by stating that every 1,000 feet of elevation gain is “just a hike up Mt Wachusett”. I have been using the phrase ever since, even though I have never hiked Mt Wachusett. Mt Wachusett is a relatively easy mountain (or so I’m told) with almost exactly 1,000 feet of elevation gain. When I reconnected with Rose a few years later, she said “You are the one who taught me about Wachusett as a unit of measurement!!” I learned that Rose has spread the phrase to her entire hiking network and even to a mountain guide in Bhutan. She said that her friends have a phrase: “You always, ALWAYS have another Wachusett in you!”
Weaving back to the main trip report now… We had 3.1 Wachusetts to climb to the summit of the Priest. I turned to James and said “This is a stupid plan. Who came up with this plan?” I remembered that the author of the stupid plan was me, so I started up the trail. About a third of the way into my climb, I started to feel the fatigue from the day hit me like a ton of bricks. At this level of tiredness, your brain starts thinking in Wachusetts. “One Wachusett down, just 2.1 Wachusetts to go… Every half a Wachusett is another 16% of the elevation gain…” My glycogen was completely depleted, and Rose caught up to me as I was taking a break to refuel. As we reached the two thirds mark, I felt revived. We both knew we had another Wachusett in us.
We made it to the summit with a beautiful view. To add to our good luck, the shelter was empty. James arrived shortly after. Apparently he took a brief nap on his climb, but he still had that last Wachusett in him. We started cooking dinner with Rose’s alcohol stove. Our luck ran out as the wind kept blowing out the flame. Even worse, the wind blew the alcohol flame onto the picnic table and left a small crescent shaped burn mark; a sin for which we confessed in the Priest logbook. As we began to give up, Rose (“Safety Second”) argued that my ramen was “mostly cooked” and claimed that I would not be able to stick my finger in the ramen for more than 10 seconds. I declined to do so and decided that getting giardia was not in my Massanutten training plan, so I built a fire. The wind worked in our favor this time. My ramen quickly came to a roaring boil. Just as we began to wonder where Sophie was, we got a text: “I am on my way. Only another 1000 ft to climb :)” At that point, I knew without a doubt that Sophie had another Wachusett in her and that I would see her soon.
The wind howled overnight, and we woke up in a cloud. James looked out into the fog and was certain that I would not do my planned sunrise hike. He was wrong. The summit fog made for a beautiful pink glow. As I came back to the shelter, Rose argued that it would not rain because it never rains when she hikes. I started to get upset because I love hiking in the rain. Just as we left the shelter, it began to rain. Rose insisted that it didn’t count because it was “just a drizzle”, but it was enough for me to try out my new TRDD in stylish blue silpoly.
We made it to Spy Rock and got an awesome cloudy view. Rose agreed that the view was great, and I enthusiastically said “this is why I love rainy day hikes!” We backtracked to summit Priest again and then descended back to the cars.
The fourth time was the charm for my plan to hike the Priest. We got great training for Massanutten and lots of vertical gain as planned. So while I have finally summited the Priest, I still have not summited Mt Wachusett, but maybe it is the perpetual goal of Mt Wachusett that ensures that I will always have another Wachusett in me.
DC UL Backpacking 
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