McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 8/10/2024 | AT Mile 76.8 | Day Total: 17.1 miles | Gain: 4572 ft

It dumped rain all night until about 3 in the morning. We had a short day previously so we were able to stay in the shelter thankfully. I guess it’s the leftover rain from hurricane Debby. This shelter seems to be a popular stop for most and there were probably around 15 additional tents set up throughout the camp. There were a few nobo’s that said it’s the busiest they seen since Georgia.

I didn’t sleep much the first few hours between the short day (didn’t tire myself out) and the thundering of the rain made it difficult to get comfortable. I can’t complain though because if we were in tents we would definitely be wet. The camp seems to have puddled up quite a bit to the point where people were just sitting in the shelter at our feet waiting for it to calm down to move their tents during the night.

We planed for a larger day today so we wanted to get an early start. We set the alarm for 4am. That may sound early but we went to bed around 8pm. We packed up in the dark and you wouldn’t believe it… all our hanging gear was still wet. As you can imagine putting on wet socks, wet shoes, wet shorts and wet shirt isn’t the most pleasant. We were hopeful because rumor had it that the storm was over and the rest of the day would be clear sky’s.

Started the day with a climb up to Little Boardman Mountain. The climb wasn’t terrible, just a warm up compared to what’s coming later in the day. Also not the most exciting peak but beats Shawnee.

We encountered lots of mud and water today. It gets to the point where you don’t give effort to avoid the puddles and just embrace it.

The big goal today was White Cap Mountain. It goes just above tree line, this will be the first time since Katahdin that we’ve been above it which is exciting. We’re entering the range that we could see in the far distance from Table Lands.

I had my first more sketchy water crossing today at East Branch River. The water was stronger than normal because of all the rain last night. Had to keep the shoes on to get traction so they got a nice washing. We also grabbed some water to filter and took a shoes off packs off break at the shelter a short ways down the trail.

The climb up White Cap was steep. Our heads are looking down while we walk for proper footing around roots and rocks. If you try to look up and walk you just trip over yourself. That being said, we saw lots of toads today.

We stoped midway up at Logan Brook lean-to for a lunch break. I threw Leuko tape on my heels that were getting “hot spots” from the wet shoes. We got the chance to dry out our tents which lightened our load a bit. Also dunked my shirt in the stream for a wash, it was getting some dirt stains out and lessoned the stink.

The last mile up to White Cap was all staircases of rocks. Special thanks to all the trail maintainers, there were a few freshly placed rocks.

Above tree line is like being on top of the world. It’s a whole different reward when you climb the whole mountain and not take a car or ski lift up. We were able to see Katahdin in the distance on a clear day like today. Unfortunately it’s probably the last time we’ll get a view.

The Sun was cooking today! I just checked my thermometer and the high today was 102F. That’s the temperature in the sun of course, the black portion of my bag heats up easily.

After White Cap we had a few more “bumps” to get over before getting into the valley where camp was for the night. We were taking it slow down the wet rock stairs. There was a group of AMC group camp at the site so we had slim picking of acceptable spots. I think I found a flat enough spot but we’ll find out in the morning.

Waters 200 yards down hill from camp so I filled everything to avoid having to make a second trip. The waters coming from a nice cold spring so it’s yummy. Maddy took a tumble on the way back up but is okay.

We planed our last few stops before Monson. We’re hoping to have a 3 mile hike to the road the last day to we can spend some time at Shaws. I’m planning on getting these first 10ish days of journals posted then as well.