McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 11/22/2024 | AT Mile 1840.6 | Day Total: 20.9 miles | Gain: 4203 ft

Got some snow last night! Had to nudge it off the walls of my tent this morning. Looks like 5ish inches total. Plenty warm in my tent. My thermometer reads 29 degrees – a bit warmer than outside. Made some breakfast in my vestibule and kept my quilt over me. The condensation has frozen to the walls and when I packed up my tent I had a whole snowball of condensation snow.

I started the day not knowing exactly how far I was going to hike. I stationed myself 100 yards from a road that can take me into town last night just incase I was blocked in. There’s a few other bailout points today on other roads if the snow and blowdowns are too difficult to get through.

The snow is beautiful! It was still coming down a little as I packed up and walked out this morning. I was able to move at an okay pace so I walked on. The blowdowns were minimal to Clyde Smith Shelter about 3.5 miles away. Took about little over 2 hours to get there in the snow.

I stopped about 10 min into my hike and shed a layer. You begin to feel a bit clammy when your skin can’t breathe well.

After about little over 2 hours I made it to Clyde Smith Shelter. I had a good 800ft climb over to get to it. The blowdowns weren’t bad in this area which was nice. I took a break at the shelter and ate a snack.

Next goal was to make it to Greasy Creek Gap 2 miles away. This would be another bail out point if I needed it. At this point I was confident I could get through the snow but adding blowdowns into that mix would be extra challenging. I was happy to see that crews have been out here cutting some blowdowns – makes it 1000 times easier to hike through.

Made it to greasy creek Gap in good time and continued on to Iron Mountain Gap 4 miles further. The sky’s began to clear up here and I could see some neighboring ridges.

About a mile in I began to navigate around some blowdowns. I eventually encountered a field of blowdowns. I was able to slowly weave my way through the blowdowns. There was flagging tape marking the trail so it was easy to keep track of. I was happy to see the field end and trail continue with only a few navigable blowdowns.

About a mile from Iron Mountain gap crews had cleared the trail. I’m very glad they had because this would’ve been impassable otherwise. Every few feet there would be a freshly cut blowdown across the trail. It’s crazy how I go from nearly no blowdown to fields of them. I filled up my water bag at the reliable spring just border the road because I was unsure how far I’d be able to get before I set up camp. Thats the other challenging part – because nobody’s hiking this section the FarOut comments are 2 months out of date.

The pictures don’t do a justice. When the sky’s clear up I’m able to see across the valley and the snow really highlights every blowdown tree and root ball. It’s hard to depict the scale of the destruction in an image.

I ate lunch behind the Pisgah national forest sign to get away from the wind. It didn’t work very well but it was something. The trail appeared clear after Iron Mountian Gap. I hiked about 100 yards on the trail and it revealed complete destruction. It was a field of blowdowns like the ones I had just seen cut on the other side. I tried to get through but between the snow and the steep bank it was it would’ve been nearly impossible on a good weather day with no backpack. I didn’t have another option but to road walk to Beauty Spot Gap.

The road to Beauty Spot Gap was an additional 2 miles further than the trail would’ve been. But it was clear of blowdowns… about 8 miles of the road walk was on an unplowed gravel road that climbed steady for that whole time. In the 3+ hours I was on the gravel road I saw less than a dozen “cars”. About half of them were side by sides playing in the snow covered backcountry road.

As I reached the top where Beauty Soot Gap was it began to get dark. It was super windy and “dusty” snowing. There were two large trucks next to each other talking through their windows. I walked up to them and they asked “you lost or crazy?!?!?”. I explained what I was doing and they offered me a ride into town but I declined.

I continued down the road for another two miles before I reach Beauty spot gap. I spotted the AT and walked about a half mile. It this point is was pitch black and I was wearing my headlamp. I found a flat spot on the trail near Beauty Spot gap and pitched my tent. It was a little windy but I thought it would be okay.

After settling into my snow covered tent (it hadn’t magically dried/de-snowed itself in my bag today). I got settled in and just as I got comfortable a stake came flying out of the corner and my tent collapsed a bit. I was fussing around for the next few minutes getting it back in place. The wind had really picked up and my tent was flapping dramatically in the wind.

After reinforcing my tent I cooked some dinner in my vestibule and called it a night. The wind only picked up more and more. The flapping of the fabric was very loud. I propped my pillow up against the wall to help reinforce it a bit but it only helped a little. Not sure if I’ll get much sleep tonight.