McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 10/08/2024 | AT Mile 1051.2 | Day Total: 20.1 miles | Gain: 2618 ft

Chillier morning today, 47 degrees. Plenty warm last night and it makes for great hiking weather. Began packing up just as the sun was rising around 6:30. The sky was a beautiful orange color. With all the leaves falling off the trees it makes it easy to see through them.

Hiking along a ridge for the majority of the day. About 3 miles into my hike this morning I came to Kinter View. It had some nice rocks to sit on and a good view.

I’ve been having some trouble with my points getting sent to my mapshare (live location). It’s been acting up for a few days now and I’ve tried everything I can think of so I sat down and had a short chat with Garmin Support. He recommended that I reset the device and try again. I did a full reset and have it a shot. In order to test it I have to walk a few miles and see if it’s tracking which makes it a slow and tedious process of troubleshooting.

Meanwhile I got to Table Rock and had another nice view from some power lines.

It’s easy hiking along the ridge. There’s section of rocks but they don’t last very long and are not like the ones from northern PA. I crossed over Peters Mountain Road and took a lunch break shortly after on a rock.

I check Mapshare and found that it still wasn’t working properly… I jumped onto another chat and went back and forth with another person from Garmin support. After a hour we came to the conclusion that it’s either tree cover (which I find hard to believe because the leaves are nearly off them all) or just the location I’m in currently… either of which is not very helpful but I can still send messages on it, just no live location. I’m going to wait a few days and see if it resolves itself…

After that endeavor I continued down trail mind racing thinking about why it wouldn’t be tracking until I happened upon this little fellow waddling down the trail.

He watched me a moment the. Turned around and very gradually picked up his pace until he reached a downed tree and stuck his face in it. I’m guessing it did this as a protective measure. I scooted a few yards behind him and continued down the trail quill-less.

I passed another set of power lines with a view. I could see the bridge I was going to walk over a few miles from now as well as the town I’m going to walk though. It’s pretty neat seeing exactly where I’m going to be a few miles from now.

Before I had the easy road walk the trail decided that I needed some more rocks. The kind that if you step just out of place your whole ankle is toast.

I eventually made it down all the switchbacks down to the bridge over the Susquahenna River. There was a nice walkway on the side and I recognized the view I had from the power lines a few miles ago.

The walk through Duncannon was nice. Kids were getting dropped off from school and were all outside spraying each other with silly string.

Theres a larger grocery store up the road about .7ish off the trail. I decided to head over there for a resupply. The main roads got little to no shoulder so I took the route through the neighborhood as it was much safer. I passed by a pavilion and charged my portable charger there while I shopped.

Resupply done, sandwich eaten, I headed back to the trail. Between the resupply and time on garmin support I’m going to be hiking in the dark a little. It’s about 3.5 miles to the shelter and a 1000ft climb as well. At least I won’t have to cook dinner when I arrive.

The climb wasn’t terrible. After a nice dinner and refresh I was ready to go! The sun is starting to set and looking beautiful! I can see it through the trees but I’m hoping to get to the view at the top before it’s gone.

The view at the top is called Hawk Rock. And I got there just in time! Beautiful sunset!

I continued in the dark for another 2 miles to the shelter. Uneventful as hoped. I could smell smoke as I got closer to the shelter and Kill Bill had made a fire. The shelters got a lot of molding junk in the other bunk so I went back up to find a spot to pitch my tent. It’s a pretty slanted area but I think it’ll work for the night. Once I was setup I headed back to the shelter where the bear box was to put my food away.

As I’m writing this journal there’s a baby coyote (I think) wining near me. Kinda freaky… and not going away when I yell… it’s going to be a long night if this continues…