McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 11/25/2024 | AT Mile 1888.6 | Day Total: 22.3 miles | Gain: 5542 ft

Slept okay last night. Coyotes were chirping in the early hours of the night but didn’t bother me much. A hunter, I assume, came up the side trail around 5:30am with a headlamp beaming around camp. Otherwise, beautiful sunrise this morning!

Got 1.3 miles of blowdowns this morning up to Little Bald and after I should be clear till the end! I’m tired of tall step-up’s and deep squats, I’m already doing a ton of exercise. I wonder what a doctor’s reaction to my answer for “how many hours do you exercise a week?”. That would be 56-70 hours at the moment.

The higher I got the more snow that was unmelted. Today’s high is 65 and I’m wearing shorts walking through snow. Doesn’t seem right. Unfortunately the snows heavy and wet so my shoes are soaked.

I took a snack break at Bald Mountain Shelter before the last push up to Big Bald. I searched for a logbook and didn’t find one. I’ve been checking them all the past few days to see if anyone’s been through recently. Most of them have little or no comments since the end of September when Helene hit.

Bald Mountain had phenomenal views all around! Most of the snows melted because it’s exposed but there’s a lot of mud instead.

After Big Bald I had a very long 2500ft descent with a few bumps to Sam’s Gap. Sam’s Gap is where most of the sobo hikers are getting dropped off after shuttling around the Helene impacted section from Elk Garden. I may be seeing some sobo’s I passed earlier on during my hike because they jumped ~180 miles.

The hike down from Big Bald was pretty slow. Because people have walked on it during the previous days the layer of snow has been compacted and refrozen into a layer of ice. I was sliding all around but managed not to fall.

At one point on my way down I was along a ridge and there were a bunch of snow drifts. It must have been pretty windy here because my pole would sink as much as 2ft into some of them.

I ate lunch near some power lines with a view trail west. As I began walking afterwords I went through a clearing with a wonderful view and a few log benches. I wish I would’ve stopped here for lunch – oh well!

When I was less than a mile from Sam’s gap I gentleman who was adjusting his bandana ask me a few questions about my hike. He’s lived in the area for a while and had managed a park/forestland nearby. I was a celebrity for a moment, he asked if he could take a picture.

There were a few cars parked at Sam’s Gap. I’m guessing most of them are from the half dozen hikers I saw hiking up as I was coming down.

I climbed up a steep 850ft ascent afterword. There were lots of cleared blowdowns! Had descent views looking back at Big Bald as well.

Had another little bump with a 800ft climb. On the way down I crossed Sugarloaf Branch multiple times. Had some neat water features – not quite a water fall.

Passed through a small grassy field and a few barbed wire fence gates before reaching Devil’s Fork Gap. There was a truck parked here so I wondered if I would have company tonight.

The sun was beginning to set as I steadily climbed up towards Flint Mountain Shelter. I’ve still got 2.7 miles to go so I’ll be doing a little night hiking. I want to get to the shelter because it’s supposed to rain later tonight. It should stop on the morning so I should avoid getting drenched – fingers crossed.

The chilling feeling while night hiking never seems to go away. I don’t enjoy hiking in the dark. I only had about a mile to do under headlamp which wasn’t too bad. The other downside is that I don’t get to see my whole surroundings at the shelter.

I grabbed some water from the creek 100 yards before the shelter. I took my pack off and began cooking some dinner. There’s a bearbox so I’m going to put my food in there tonight.

Once fed I setup my stuff in the shelter. The mice are running through the walls and I can see them every once in a while in between the link-in log joints. I’ll be hanging most of my gear and hopefully they don’t bother me to much tonight.