McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 11/12/2024 | AT Mile 1672.8 | Day Total: 9.8 miles | Gain: 1738 ft

It’s day 100!!! Last night I relaxed and watched the first Harry Potter movie. I’ve been listening to the audiobooks for entertainment while I hike. Nearly done listening to the series now. I first read the series in middle school, but there’s so many small details and connections that I missed or had forgotten since then.

I had my alarm set for 7 this morning but was up around 6:30. I’ve got another meeting later this morning and don’t want to be rushed to get out. I made some pancakes this morning on the hotplate while sipping on some coffee. I cleaned up, packed up my backpack, and reviewed some things before heading to the library for the meeting.

Between my free time last night and this morning I scheduled 10 days worth of journals. Most of which were the rewritten ones. Still upset they vanished.

After the meeting I walked back to the hostel to grab my backpack. Bunny, the caretaker, let me leave my bag there while I was gone. She has a dog that she rescued a year ago. She’s super sweet but her hair gets everywhere, particularly my socks.

Before I went back to the trail I stopped by the local coffee shop called Better Coffee Co. Carrie, my shuttle driver recommended them and specifically their apple filled donut. I ordered a pumpkin coffee drink the barista recommended and the apple filled donut. They were delicious!

I called Carrie for a ride back to the trail but I’m had no answer. I also messaged another shuttle driver Marion Outdoors recommended but has no reply after 15 minutes. I decided to walk over to the road that goes by the trail and try to hitch. Just as I turned the corner I saw the Mountain Lynx bus! It’s a free bus system around Marian but the comments said they usually don’t run outside the summer months. The driver pulled over and I asked if he was heading to the Mount Rogers Headquarters and said he was! What great timing.

For the 10 minute drive up the road we talked. He’s done some hiking himself and still thinks about hiking the trail himself someday. I was dropped off a little after 2pm and I plan on hiking about 10 miles to the next shelter.

I passed by Partnership Shelter again and went to check the log book to see if anyone I knew had passed me while I was in town. The logbook was nowhere to be found. I had just signed it two nights ago? Weird…

I continued hiking along the pretty flat trail. Not many blow downs in this section.

After a gradual descent I climbed up along a ridge which had more blowdowns but they were all recently cut. As I made my way down off the ridge there were a TON of cut blowdowns. A crew put in a lot of work to clear some of these. There was also a good view of Rye Valley up here.

I was going to be hiking in the dark for the last mile or two. I took my headlamp out ahead of time and made it to the bridge over Holston River. The bridge was in tact but the water level definitely rose a lot during the storm.

Shortly after the bridge I was hiking in the dark. It’s only 5:30… On the bright side the sunset was making the sky pretty.

On the way up to the shelter I walked the better part of a quarter mile through a cow pasture. I was dodging all of the cow patties on the ground.

A mile later I made it to the side trail to the shelter. It’s .1 off trail and had over a dozen blowdowns across the trail. A domino effect definitely happened here.

I decided to pitch my tent in the flat area just below the shelter. Wasn’t feeling like a mouse free shelter. I spotted a rather large salamander (that’s what I’m calling it at the moment until I can research it)

I got settled in and cooked some dinner. It may get below freezing tonight so I threw my pants on in preparation. I can hear a dog barking and a cow mooing not very far away.