McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 8/23/2024 | AT Mile 261.6 | Day Total: 19.0 miles | Gain: 5786 ft

Thought we would have a dryer night last night but it was far from the truth. It rained for the majority of the night. The rains splash back caused a bunch of dirt and crud to stick to the outside of my tent. I think I may have a new enemy, slugs… the love to stick to the smooth surfaces of my tent floor, rain jacket, and backpack. Wherever they go they leave a trail of goo behind and they stink.

I set my alarm for 6 this morning to have some more time to setup camp and settle down. I still have that bug that’s making my throat sore and nose congested.

I hiked up the last bit to Old Blue Mountain and it was fogged in. The descent was fairly steep towards the end with the occasional rebar ladders and railings.

At the bottom of Old Blue there’s a road and there was a truck setup with a few chairs and a three guys around a propane grill. I first thought it was trail magic but it was friends of a nobo cooking him a steak. I talked with them briefly and they asked about my late sobo start. They gave me an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie that the hikers mom made. It was yummy.

On my way down from Old Blue I felt a stinging pain on my left thumb. Turns out because of the rain the hands are shedding a layer of skin and they got dry enough that the skin broke open from being so dry. I’m going to pick up some vasoline when I got into town next. For now I’ll use chapstick.

I went up and over an unnamed mountain then descended into Sawyers Notch. There was a tall waterfall in the Notch that was pretty neat. The fog cleared up and the sun came out shining for try first time in a few days. I’m looking forward to sleeping when everything’s not damp.

The climb out of the Notch was steep and awful. A ate part of a snickers bar as a power up to the top. The most awful thing about it was the fact the I was breathing through my mouth which irritated my throat. It was pretty uncomfortable. On my way up I heard a guy shout a “whooooo whoooo” it turn out there’s a group of freshman from Harvard hiking the trail for their orientation. I also saw another non pet-able caterpillar.

Unfortunately all ~12 of them were sitting around the shelter with gear scattered everywhere and I had planned to eat lunch here. I ended up going down the trail to the water source to eat. I sat on a large log and ate lunch while my tent was out drying.

As I wrapped up my lunch the group of them came down the trail sobo with their 50+ lb packs. They had all sorts of randomness hanging from their packs. The trails a bit muddy and one of the last guys fell pretty hard into the mud pit. He was okay but had mud all over his pants and the spray sunscreen he was holding.

I still had a few hundred feet of climbing before I get to the top of Wyman Mountain. This peak was wooded but had a gorgeous view down the trail a bit. I forgot to take a picture up here.

The descent down was cruzy. It was a nice grade and I was able to move fairly fast because the ground a nearly root and rock free.

At the bottom there is a waterfall called Dunn Cascades. It drops in two tiers a total of 60ft. The trail goes right across the top just before it the water falls down.

As I got further and further into today my shoes were beginning to dry out. They have been soaked for the past 3 days. On my right shoe there is a fairly large rip that I tried stitching a few days ago but has now come undone and ripped more. Tomorrow morning I plan on stitching it with dental floss to see if that hold better.

The ascent up the next mountain was draining. My throat didn’t hurt as bad because there were sections of flat every so often. The grade was also not terrible either. Once I made it to the top I had to descend quite a bit before I got to the shelter. There were already a bunch of people tents pitched and in the shelter so I had to search for a site.

The whole camp pretty slanted but I found a short trail that leads to an open patch. This ended up being the best option but I would have to squeeze my tent in. There were rocks a roots all over so I tried to find the flattest option with limited roots and rocks. There’s a large rock in the dead center covered in moss that’s smooth so I placed my tent over top it and hoped that my sleeping pad would absorb the lump. Even with this setup I had to get rid of one of my vestibules and do a “skinny pitch”. If I pulled out the vestibule it would go up a slope a foot higher than the rest of the tent causing it to be really saggy.

I ate dinner next to all the nobos at the shelter. We talked a bit about what I’ve got ahead of me and what they’ve got ahead also. It was cool listening to all their stories.