McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 10/04/2024 | AT Mile 977.1 | Day Total: 15.1 miles | Gain: 2280 ft

Woke up quite a few times last night for no particular reason. Was able to fall back asleep quickly though. Ate some breakfast and heading out around 8. Got a pretty steep climb this morning for which I’ll eventually get to the Pinnacle.

I passed a side trail to a spring on the way up. I was very impressed with cleverness of the “sign” for it.

The trail up to the Pinnacle was pretty rocky as expected. There’s a massive rock pile at the top and a decent view around the corner. I stoped and sat down for a snack at the view.

Shortly after I walked to Pulpit Rock. The trail was VERY rocky on the way over there. Tons of day hikers here as well. It seems like a good place for a day hike.

At one point today I passed a trail intersection and a dad and few young boys were backpacking. The dad knew about the AT but the kids weee shocked when they heard that I had hiked nearly 1000 miles from Maine.

I ate lunch on a downed tree about 4 miles from Port Clinton where I plan to resupply. I saw another big black rat snake today. This time I saw it before I was mere inches from it. Not quite as big as the one yesterday but still a little over 3ft long. Haven’t spotted any rattlesnakes surprisingly.

Passed a few treed in views as I made my down the rocky path into Port Clinton. Kill Bill made it into town a few hours before I had because he took a shortcut. He wanted to get in early to print a form he has to sign and mail. He’s a got a ride scheduled into town with a local AT shuttle for 2:15. Walmart and a bunch of other restaurants are two miles down the street in the neighboring town of Hamburg.

I made it to the post office at 2 and the shuttle driver was already there. He had just dropped off a few other hikers so he just came straight to us. We were next a grey suv so I figured that was his car but when he walked over to the bright yellow taxi convertible down the street I was shocked. What an amazing ride!

Re-supplied at Walmart and headed over to Five Guys will Kill Bill. This may be the second time I’ve ever been here before. I got a bacon burger with fries, lots of fries. Shuttle back was a normal car because it was sprinkling a bit. Still glad we got to ride in that amazing taxi! Thanks Brian!

Headed over to the Port Clinton Hotel and Restaurant for shower and dinner. Shower was very refreshing! We hung out for a while before we ordered food to let Five guys digest a bit. I got a chicken ceaser salad. It was delicious!

Walked to the pavilion down the street. going to pitch my tent and crash… they let hikers spend the night in the pavilion or in their tent across the street.