McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 9/08/2024 | AT Mile 489.2 | Day Total: 17.5 miles | Gain: 4422 ft

I didn’t sleep great last night. While the cabin sheltered me from the rain it also sheltered the mice. All night I could hear their footsteps across the beams of the cabin. I never actually saw one, though I was turning on my light periodically attempting to catch one. It really paranoid me, I didn’t want them to chew through any of my gear or get to my hanging food bag.

Luckily when I woke up nothing was damaged. I had hung my food on one of the lines on the ceiling to prevent easy access by the mice. It seemed to have worked well. I’ve still got the little rumble of their feet running across the beams stuck in my head.

I packed up fairly quickly and ate a bunch of food for breakfast: 2 packets of oatmeal, ensure, breakfast kind bar, and a poptart. I’m hoping to get into Rutland this afternoon so I’ll have to do a little over 17 miles there today. My phones nearly dead so I’m relaying on my little paper elevation map to get me there. There a lodge about 13 miles away that I may try to charge at. I’m going to try to take a few pictures with what battery I have left…

I left the cabin just after 7am, Sweeper was still getting packed up so we exchanged goodbyes. I’m expecting to see him later today, he seems to be moving fast. I climbed a little and went down to a few roads. Where there was a bridge that crossed the stream next to it. This was the only picture I was able to get before my phone completely died.

I didn’t stop hiking until I got to Stony Brook where I filtered some water and ate a protein bar. I climbed up another 1000ft to where I got a view of Killington. I would have taken a picture but my phone, you guess it, was dead.

After this view there was spotty rain. Not enough to get me wet under the forest cover but enough for me to hear it hit all the leaves in the canopy. The wind was also fairly gusty this afternoon especially as I was near the higher ridges.

As it drew closer to lunch I crossed a bunch of roads and parking areas for Thundering Falls, a large waterfall. Once again. No picture… but there was a nice board walk for a quarter mile that I enjoyed. About a mile past the waterfall is where I had seen the mark for the lodges where I may be able to charge my phone. It should be near Kent pond. I crossed another road and saw the pond so I decided to peak around the turn on the road and sure enough there was a lodge. The restaurant attached was closed for the time being but they had an open patio with outlets that I charged up at and ate lunch.

After lunch at the lodge I had just 4 miles until I reached the parking area which would take me into Rutland. But I also had to climb over another mountain before I did so.

Those four miles went really fast and now that I had my phone I was able to see that there was a bus that come pass the trailhead 25 min past every hour. Once I got to the road I went up to Pico Mountain’s entrance where the bus stop was. I waited 10 min before the bus appeared coming down the hill.

I didn’t have much of a plan for town. So I just got off near the Walmart. I spent a minute on the bus figuring out how many days I’d need to resupply for and determined I needed 4. They charged extra for bags so I just stuffed all the food into the pockets of my backpack for the time being.

There’s a hikers hostel around the corner that I ended up staying at. I took a shower, did laundry, and organized my food. Once that was done I walked over to chipotle for some dinner. I got a steak bowl and chips with salsa.

Once I got back I packed my bag for the morning and started journaling for today and transferring yesterday’s handwritten journal to my notes. It’s a bit hotter in the room than I’d like, 75 but I have a feeling it’ll cool off as it gets darker.