McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 8/26/2024 | AT Mile 298.4 | Day Total: 6.8 miles | Gain: 1492 ft

Woke up fairly early this morning and ate some coco wheats. I’ve been carrying these coco wheats for 200 miles since Monson so they are aged. I’ve got just under 7 miles to hike today and I’m eager to get some real food in my system in Gorham.

I had two shorter unnamed mountains to get over this morning. They were both opened up to some amazing early morning views. The clouds were still tucked into the valley.

I got so some ledges and decided to take a pit stop and take a picture that wasn’t a selfie and propped my phone up on a tree branch. I’d say it turned out quite well.

I was hiking at a brisk pace up and down the hills while I finished off the rest of my snacks before town. I’ve been putting all my snack food in my hip belt pocket/fanny pack for easy access.

My shoes were still damp from yesterday and they got more wet as they brushed across the tall grassy sections of trail. I was also clearing a lot of spider webs from the trail. Multiple times I got a face full of sticky webs. It’s not the most comfortable feeling. I was quite excited when I saw a hiker going nobo because I’d be web free from then on.

I had to descend quite a bit before I got into Gorham. This is where I saw a few nobos coming through most of them are leaving Gorham after their resupply. I passed another mile marker today. Mile 1900! Meaning I’ve nearly completed 300miles, maybe I’ll see a sobo 300 mile marker tomorrow?

The trail has been nice, there’s stretches where I can actually lift my head up and hike. I don’t have to worry as much about roots and rocks. The trail is close to town so it’s generally better maintained than when it’s further away.

Tonight I’m staying at the Quantum Vortex. It a newer campground with 12 small gravel/sand tent sites. They also have showers, laundry, plugs and wifi. What makes it more convenient is that is directly on trail so no shuttle required. The AT goes along a road for a short stretch and crosses a bridge right before the Quantum Vortex.

I walked right up to the Quantum Vortex and there were a few hikers sitting around a fire and a few sheep dogs came running my direction. I put hand down to let them smell me and the one came and slammed right into me. His depth reception must have been a little off.

The caretaker, Jess, greeted me and walked me back to the tent site to get setup. There were six other tents already setup. I join them by the fire pit afterword then jumped into the shower. I picked out some loaner clothes but they all were a little large but I found something that would work while my laundry is going. My shirt has collected quite the dirt and has dark marks where my shoulder straps land on it.

I filled a cup of coffee and talked with a few of the north bounders by the fire. It sounds like my best option is to stop in North Conway for my next resupply. This means I need four days of food. A lot of them had slack packed the whites so it was hard to judge what to do.

I went on their 12 o’clock run into town which is just over 3 miles away and grabbed some lunch with 3 other hikers. We ate at Road Hog BBQ and I got a burger with pulled pork on the top. We talked a ton about other hostels and sections that I will encounter in the south. They were very helpful in terms of throwing out names of good places to go. I wolfed down the burger. The fries were also really yummy.

While we were eating we saw Quadzilla walk by the restaurant. Quadzilla is a crazy hiker. He did a CYTC (calendar year tripple crown) last year. This means he hiked the AT, PCT and CDT in one calendar year. That over 7500 miles of hiking. He’s a fairly well know person in the hiker community.

After lunch we went over to dollar general. We saw Quadzilla again but I didn’t want to bother him as he was packed up and about to leave. I’ve really never spent too much time in a dollar general before but after looking around for a bit I decided that I could do a full resupply here. The one thing I really needed was Vasoline for my dry peeling hands which they had. I bought a half gallon of chocolate milk with the intention of drinking the whole thing through out the day. We waited outside for the shuttle and I started drinking my chocolate milk.

Once we were back at the camp I organized my food under the tent area and I seem to have shopped a bit better as my food bag isn’t bulging with too much food as it was last time.

I didn’t do a whole lot this afternoon. I relaxed and scheduled a few more journals, went through some emails, and looked through the whites on FarOut. I keep drinking my half gallon of chocolate Mike through the day and it was gone just before nightfall. I have been snacking on food this whole afternoon and evening filling myself to the brim.

I FaceTimed my mom and dad and we talked a lot about their visit in just over a week for my birthday. I’m going to be in the Lincoln NH region just after the whites. I ended the night sitting around the fire and mostly listening to the conversations. There are some very unique characters out here to say the least. All very friendly people.