McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 10/29/2024 | AT Mile 1482.2 | Day Total: 20.4 miles | Gain: 4162 ft

Cooked breakfast and headed out towards Daleville. The wind has died down throughout the night. The smoke from the fire was being blown right into my campsite. I’m going to do a quick resupply there and continue hiking in the afternoon. It’s a quick 5 mile descent.

I was hiking along the ridge for the first portion of the descent. The leaves have been getting louder and louder as they pile up on the trail. It’s satisfying to find a section that is leafless and silent.

I passed the thorn brush area that my dad Nate and I had camped in two years ago. Daleville was a short walk later after walking through a few grass fields. One of which was pretty steep.

Just before I crossed under interstate 81 I passed a sign in a power line pole. It marked the 2/3 point of the trail!

In the grassy field/land after the interstate I ran into a gentleman and a women with pickaxes digging trenches on the trail to divert water prevent erosion. I recognized the gentleman to be Homer. He had previously drove my dad, Nate and I when we did our hike here. I talked with him and his wife for a bit. He’s 82 and still throwing a pickaxe around doing trail work! Amazing!

Once I made it to the road into Daleville I turned right to the Kroger. There’s a Wendy’s that I stopped at for lunch and to charge up my electronics a bit. I’m not generally a fast food fanatic but I didn’t have many other options nearby.

After a bite to eat and catching up on real life stuff, I headed over to Kroger for a resupply. It was just after 1 before I got back on trail. I want to hike another 15 miles to the shelter just before McAfee’s Knob so I can do a sunrise hike tomorrow.

Fairly steep climb right out of the gate. There was a small black rat snake in the middle of the trail that made me jump. I remember this climb and the power lines at the top. Just as it was two years ago the view hasn’t changed a bit. I can feel a static charge when I’m under the high voltage lines on the handles of my trekking poles.

Not long after I came to multiple views of Carvin Cove Reservoir. The terrain up here is pretty neat. Most of the trail is made up of sand/small rocks. It has desert like qualities that I haven’t seen much.

While along the ridge with the views to the reservoir I walked under a massive rock overhang called Hay Rock. Shortly after, a 200 yard section had massive rock formations that peaked at the ridge.

After some more climbing and a few view opposite of the reservoir I made it to tinker cliffs. I could see the mountain which McAfee Knob is on but I couldn’t make out the rock itself. The sun was low in the sky now and it was just begging to turn pink. It was a beautiful sight.

I continued down along the ridge up to the shelter. At one point there was a neat bolder crevice that I walked through. I was a little past sunset whenever I arrived, but it was still a little light in the sky. There were three hikers here doing a little section hike of the Virginia Triple Crown.

After setting up my tent, I went over and ate dinner with them at the picnic table. Had a nice small fire going. Had some good conversation while we ate. One of the gentleman that’s here had taught English in Ukraine. He had brought one of his students with him to the states a year ago which he is also hiking with.

After come fun conversation I headed back to my tent and journaled. Got my alarm set for 5:45am. Looking forward to the sunrise. I just hope there are not too many people up there.