McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 9/09/2024 | AT Mile 505.9 | Day Total: 16.7 miles | Gain: 3407 ft

Headed out pretty early this morning and walked over to Starbucks for coffee and to upload a few journals. I was there for an hour before I headed to the bus station where the bus leaves at 8:15 towards Killington and the trailhead. Bus driver was kind and dropped me off right where the trail crosses the road!

This morning I’ll hike to Killington’s peak, another four thousand footer. I filtered water on my way up at a creek. I’m not sure I’ll be able to refill on top of Killington. I’t nice having gravity doing all my filtering for me, I can just sit back and relax.

I hesitated when I stepped because I saw a bright orange spec on the ground. It turned out to be a super small newt no bigger than a dime. I’ve seen them before on other trails but this is the first one I’ve seen on the AT.

Near the top of Killington is a more run down than usual shelter. I’m sure it was super nice a few decades ago.

The AT doesn’t actually go over the top of Killington so I had to take a side trail to the peak. The peak is .2 miles away but it’s 350ft up (aka super steep).

The views (featured image) were the best I’ve had since Moosilauke. Otherwise there’s not much at the top. Just some weather instruments. I could hear the gondola running as I walked a bit down. There’s a lodge at the top that’s sometimes open but not today. There’s plenty of seating outside and I decided to eat lunch there. A few people that came up the gondola were checking out the peak. A couple of mountain bikers also rolled by.

I had to hike the steep .2 back down to the shelter where the trail continues. The AT coincides with the Long trail here for a while so I’ve seen a few hikers thru hiking that throughout the day. The descent after the .2 wasn’t bad at all. After a mile or two I was able to see the peak again in a little window between the trees.

I was hopping to get to the shelter before it rains this evening so I was moving fairly fast the rest of the day. I passed Governor Clement Shelter where I meet another AT sobo named Reroll. He started July 23 and is moving a bit slower than I am so I probably won’t see him much, if at all again. I filtered water at the stream just after the shelter.

It far after the shelter I hit Mile 500!!! It doesn’t feel like I’ve hiked that far. Crazy!

Not much elevation gain this afternoon which was nice. There’s just a small hill named Beacon Hill that I go over just before I get to the shelter tonight. It was sunny and now the clouds are starting to roll in. I’m really hoping to get there before it rains. I was about a mile away from the shelter when it started to sprinkle. Fortunately it didn’t last long and I hardly got wet. I think it’s just scattered rain clouds…

As I walked up to the shelter I could tell it was a little more rundown that it had been in previous years. The description and picture showed mowed grass and flower pots outside. It’s been a little unkept. There’s chew marks all over the shelter where porcupines have chowed it away.

Not a minute after I walked into the shelter another hiker walked up. He’s section hiking the LT a week at a time. I went to setup my tent and afterword went to cooked dinner by the shelter while I talked with him. He’s from Massachusetts and owns a hearing/ear office. (There’s an actual name for it I just can’t recall the name of his title).

As I was cooking dinner I saw a glimpse of what seemed like an owl fly by in the distance and land on a tree. I walked closer and there he was perched on a branch.

The rain seems to come and go with intermittent sun peaking though. As soon as I got settled into my tent it started to rain again. It’s pretty early so I journaled and I plan on watching a movie I download yesterday.