McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 8/04/2024 | AT Mile 0000.0 | Day Total: 00.00miles | Gain: 0 ft

Started the day at Bradbury Mountain State Park. Woke up around 5:30am and jumped into the only currently working shower. This is my last official shower until we’re out of the 100-mile wilderness.

Once Nathan and Cole were up, I cooked up some pancakes and sausage on the Coleman stove. We then cleaned up camp. We left a little after 7 a.m. and drove 2 hours to Shaws in Monson, where Noah and Maddy were staying.

The five of us then packed into the car and made the 1-hour 30-minute drive to AT Hostel & Outfitters, where our shuttle is. We sat in the bunk house for a bit to kill some time, and a recent NOBO finisher (Quick on the Draw) was staking out till his flight later this week. He not only journaled his whole trip but also drew with pen and watercolor various sights/plants/animals on the trail. Not going to lie, I was extremely jealous of his beautiful trail documenting method. 

2:30 PM rolled around, we brought our food up for a food drop, and we packed up the shuttle. Our driver, Woopiepie, did a SOBO AT hike in 2010 and recommended a few short trails at Roaring Brook Campground. She took our picture at the rock as we approached Baxter State Park.

I’ve got to say, we GREAT welcome to K-stream site 21 today. We were dropped off a bit before 4, to thunder rumbling in the distance. Tents were the first to come out of the packs, thrown on the sand, the rapidly set up to keep dry. The sand is not soaking up the water well, so I’m currently sitting in a 1/2 inch puddle of water as I write this, but my bathtub floor is doing its job.

Whilst screaming at the top of our lungs over the rain, we relay messages with each other even though l’m only inches away from Cole, Maddy, and Noah. Noah airdropped me the image below of his and Maddy’s tent mid-downpour.

The rain ended up being over in 30ish minutes. We decided to hike an out-and-back to Sandy Stream Pond, .4 miles from the campground, and got the first glimpse of our climb up Katahdin tomorrow. Apparently, the moose tend to swim in the pond, but we didn’t see any today.

Last time we checked the weather at AT Hostel, there was an elevated risk of thunderstorms, and we don’t want to get caught above tree line during that time. So Noah and I picked the ranger’s brain on our plans tomorrow, particularly regarding the weather. He said it was unpredictable, but storms generally roll through in the afternoon hours, which is good considering we’re planning on being above tree line for sunrise. He was fairly vague but said to continue with plan A unless it becomes dangerous. Both mine and Noah’s hopes for a clear hike tomorrow were much better after that conversation.

We closed the night early with arguably the best dinner: steak, onions, peppers, and rice.   Looking forward to the 2am wake-up call tomorrow morning!