McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 11/05/2024 | AT Mile 1593.4 | Day Total: 24.0 miles | Gain: 3571 ft

Drizzly start to the morning. It lightly rained last night and the shelters sitting in a cloud this morning causing the trees to drip water onto my tent. Made breakfast in my tent this morning and packed up.

Started hiking just after 8am. Shoes are definitely gonna get wet this morning. Climbed up a little hill out of the gate through some Laurel. I cross paths with a past thru hiker hiker, finishing a little section she skipped. She had two tiny wet long haired dogs with her.

A few miles later I walked up to Sugar Run Mountain. Some blowdowns were across the trail here but none that were impassable. There’s a view here but it’s all fogged in. I can’t complain because I’ve had a month stretch of nearly no rain or bad weather.

After Sugar Run Mountain I descended down to the ridge and eventually down to Wapiti Shelter. Lots of laurel tunnels in this area. Ate some lunch in the shelter to get away from the drizzly rain. I passed two hunters just before the shelter.

A few paces past the shelter there’s a pond that the trail goes around. I began walking along the ridge of the pond to realize that the trail was down to the left. There was a blow down right in the middle of the trail that misdirected me. I backtracked and placed a pile of sticks to help direct other sobo’s behind me.

Down in the valley, there was a ton of storm damage. Crews have definitely been out in this area clearing the trail. The amount of lifted root balls is crazy.

The trail down in the valley was cruzy. I continued to pop in and out of laurel tunnels and see into blowdowns. Helene’s rain hit this valley pretty hard.

After some little up and downs I made it to Kimberling Creek. There’s a cool cable bridge spanning across it.

As I made my way up the mountain I walked through a grassy field. It had some good views because it was low enough to avoid the clouds.

Near the top there was a root ball and tree that had rolled 30 ft down onto the trail. It’s impressive that it was able to roll after breaking free.

After a short time on the ridge I descended down to VA 608. I walked along the road for a moment before hiking up to the shelter tonight. It’s going to be dark by the time I get there but that’s okay.

Once I was at the shelter I made my way down to the spring. When I turned the corner to walk down a bird was seeking shelter under the faucet of the shelter. The spring is hardly flowing but with some leaf engineering I was able to get a little spout.

I made my way back up to the shelter and cooked some dinner. I’m going to stay in the shelter tonight. I don’t feel like setting my tent up in the rain. As I journaled I noticed a few cockroaches wondering the crevices of the shelter… I just hope they leave me alone tonight.