McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 11/14/2024 | AT Mile 1702.2 | Day Total: 9.3 miles | Gain: 1614 ft

Lots of sleep last night! As expected it rained beginning around 2 in the morning. My thermometer reads 33 degrees this morning. That’s about the worst combination ever… Rains supposed to continue through out the whole day unfortunately.

Ventured into the freezing rain at 8am. I’ve got all my rain gear on and everything important sealed inside my backpack. I’ll start my day with a 4 mile 1000 ft climb to Mount Rogers. To get to the actual top you can take a .5 mile side trail but on a day like today I have no hesitation passing it.

The shelter I stayed at last night is barely inside the boarder for Greyson Highlands. I walked by a sign containing info about the wild ponies in the area a few feet from the shelter.

Passed a few creeks, including Quebec Branch on the way up. Flowing quite well now that we’re getting some rain.

The higher and higher I got the more and more ice I began to see not only on the beaches and bushes but also the rocks. While pretty looking, I had to start taking it slow especially when I was on rather large ice ridden rock slabs.

Near the top where the bald opened up there was a gate. The latch was frozen shut and I had to use my trekking pole the smack it loose.

Not long after I reached Fatman Squeeze. It was a small crevice through some boulders. The boulders offered some protection from the wind and rain so I took a short break before going through.

It got really breezy at the top. The wind wicked some of the warmth off my body but my rain gear acted well as a wind breaker. As long as I kept moving I would not need to put another layer on.

I can only assume the views are amazing up here. The whole ridge was through grass or bushy plants with massive boulders every 100 yards or so. Nearly everything was frozen over up here. I only took my phone out once along the ridge for a picture. It was too cumbersome to do so with the cold, wet, and wind.

It was before 11 and I walked by Thomas Knob Shelter. I decided to eat a really early lunch because this would be the only cover from rain for the rest of the day. I could eat lunch in the bathroom at Elk Garden but that wouldn’t be appetizing. On second thought, that’s exactly what a thru hiker would do.

After a 30 min lunch break away from the wind and rain I hit the trail again. I’m not quite off the ridge yet but I will be descending soon. I’m looking forward to when the rocks aren’t iced over.

After descending through a few meadows I made it to Elk Garden. It was raining pretty hard the last mile or so. After 1702.2 miles of pure Appalachian Trail this is where I encounter my first official closure. In the covered privy I thought through my options. I can attempt to walk through the closures (will inevitably run into 100’s of uncut blowdowns), road walk the closure and connect sections that have been cleared, or shuttle around the closure.

I knew I must see the damage for myself before I skewed off the trail. I walked .6 miles sobo into the closure. I walked, or rather parkour-ed around blow down after blowdown. After some time I ran into a field of them. I had seen enough. With the poor weather conditions this is no place to be hurt, stuck or lost.

There’s been some hikers who have hiked through this section of trail and made it to the next shelter only to find even worse blowdowns after and having to bail. I backtracked to Elk Garden and decided I would road walk into Damascus tomorrow. It’s only 2pm but I’m not sure where’d I’d be able to spend the night if I began today.

As I mentioned before there’s a group called “The Handsaw boys” that are road walking the whole closure hitting sections that are opening up. I’m going to give this a shot. This means I could have continuous footsteps from Maine-Georgia just not all on the AT.

I pitched my tent near the parking lot and began changing into warm dry clothing. For the next hour I was looking at roadwalks and developed a plan, a very flexible plan. If the road walks become unsafe then I’ll shuttle down to open trail.

The rain comes and goes. I cooked dinner under my tent and wondered social media for more information on sections of trail that may be clear. Eventually I journaled and headed to bed.