McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 10/26/2024 | AT Mile 1424.6 | Day Total: 12.6 miles | Gain: 4850 ft

Nice slow start to the morning. Rip, the sobo I met in town yesterday passed by this morning. Once 9 o’clock came around I woke Megan and Seth. Megan was stirring but Seth was still out so I just open his sleeping pad valve. Sorry Seth…. We made some breakfast and packed up. We were hiking a bit after 10.

Lots of climbing today. We passed by the volunteer trail maintainer for this section this morning. She had a super small Jack Russell that squirmed everywhere. He couldn’t be anymore than 10 lbs. He sure was cute.

Megan spotted a very large black beetle on the trail this morning.

We climbed 2100 ft some of which was along the ridge. There’s a large burn area that we walked through. On the bright side it offered up view nearly all day through the trees.

We stopped for lunch on a side trail on the ridge. Had some Nutella and dehydrated apple wraps for lunch. Thanks for the dehydrated apples mom!

Had a short flatter stretch after lunch. We stopped at a spring and filtered some water before we climbed up to Highcock Knob.

The climb up to Highcock Knob was probably the steepest climb of the day. It was a quick up and straight back down.

The downhill was short lived and we climbed another 1200ft to a Thunder Ridge Overlook. This was by far the best view of the day! There was a little stone throne at the view to take pictures from. A couple was also there and took our picture.

After the overlook we had a gradual climb up to Thunder Hill Shelter. There were a few tents pitched nearby and three gentleman wondering around about to start a fire.

We looked around for some tent sites and pitched them downhill from the shelter. The springs conveniently 20 yards from the away between the shelter and our tents. It’s not flowing but there’s a large deep puddle that I can scoop water from.

Once we were settled in we headed over to the picnic table and cooked some dinner. There’s a big golden lab named Doc roaming around. He loves sticks and lots of pets. Sure does shed a lot.

We sat around the fire and made some conversation with the other hikers here. They’ve got the fire roaring and it’s kicking a good amount of heat. It’s cooled off quite a bit already. The low tonight’s 40 and it’s going to be a chilly morning. Headed to bed at 10.