McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 9/24/2024 | AT Mile 799.5 | Day Total: 17.7 miles | Gain: 4188 ft

Nice start to the morning. I packed up and headed a mile down to the Appalachian Market for Breakfast. I got “The Works” that includes french toast, sausage, ham, bacon, and 3 eggs. It was better than I expected for gas station food.

Stony and Bun were here eating breakfast as well. They stayed at a stealth site a quarter mile north last night.

I’m really looking forward to two things in particular today: the Hudson River and the trail side zoo. I’ll pass both later this morning which is good because the zoo opens at 10am.

I walked mostly through grassy forest morning until I was able to get a glimpse of the Hudson River. It’s hard to make out in the trees but it there!

As I made my way closer I could hear trains pass by frequently. I had a short roadwalk leading up to Bear Bridge where I’d cross the Hudson.

The bridge was lovely aside from the fact that the pedestrian walkway was skinny and right next to the edge of the bridge. I looked down once and got that tingling feeling…

Right after the bridge I walk into the Trailside Zoo. It caters to injured or rehabilitating local animals. It’s small but a neat experience. It also holds the lowest elevation on the Appalachian trail, 160ft above see level.

A variety of animals stay here: Painted Turtles, large frogs, snakes, and bears to name a few. Yes, my first bear sighting was in a zoo.

Next up was Bear Mountain, a very popular hike or drive up. There’s probably 100’s of little signs on the side of the trail describing this plant, that rock staircase, etc. the entire trail up to bear mountain was made of small gravel and rock staircases. Lots of day hikers passed me even on this random Tuesday.

There’s a lookout tower on top of Bear mountain along with benches and vending machines. Unfortunately there’s not tap water up here just vending machine bottled water. I climbed up the tower and I could see NYC’s skyline! It stands out as it’s not too far as the crow flies. I ate lunch up here and took in the view. There’s a decent amount of people up here but not enough to be crowded.

The descent took me past many other views. The AT circles back around and nearly crosses paths with itself. It’s get as close as 200 ft to the ascent I just went up.

At one point I saw a buck! It must be used to seeing people as it had no survival instincts.

Another climb up a mountain the AT takes a long detour to avoid a dangerous road crossing. It was deemed too dangerous in 2022 and they have temporarily rerouted 3.5 miles of the trail to a quiet overpass. Some comments FarOut said they got across just fine on the original route with patience. The downside to the reroute is that you’re missing out on some views and a good water source which the reroute doesn’t have. At least I won’t be playing frogger.

The detour was an okay nice view although it was much lower than the original AT took.

A lot of the labeled water sources have been dry. The shelter that I’m planning on staying at has a small stream right before it but the comments say it’s barely flowing. If that’s dry I’ll have to make the half mile hike down to the water source for the camp that’s reliable.

Once I was back on the AT from the detour I made my way to Black Mountain. It had a clear view towards NYC.

Shortly after Black mountain I came across another view towards Silvermine Lake. The short descent after this view takes me to the water source I’m hopeful is flowing so I don’t have to do the half mile trip down to water at the camp. Sadly the only thing to show was some mud and an old mining road.

The shelter is old and made of stone. I’m going to pitch my tent so I can stay away from the mosquitos though.

I made the 300 ft half mile descent to the water source and filled up my bottles and bag. I won’t have to make another trip on the morning which is reliving. I really didn’t enjoy the climb back up. I did see a mama deer and her two grown fawns on my trek down.

Once I was setup I cooked some dinner and organized food for tomorrow morning and snacks. No one else has showed up here tonight. It’s dark now so looks like it’ll be a solo night with by bear friends to keep me company.