McAfee Hikes

Date Written: 11/29/2024 | AT Mile 1955.6 | Day Total: 7.2 miles | Gain: 1437 ft

Lazy start to the morning. Didn’t start moving till it was light out. Walked the rather far distance to the bear box to make some breakfast.

Last night that mouse made frequent visits skurrying across the head of my sleeping pad. The pittering was amplified through my sleeping pad and up to my pillow. Super bothersome. For the first two hours, I’d wake up every few minutes to this mouse. It got to the point where I whipped out my handsaw and had my flashlight in hand. Never got him, but he eventually stayed away or I fell into deeper sleep.

Short 7 mile day to Standing Bear Hostel. Got a 1400ft climb out of the gate then I descend a long ways. The Shelters spur trail diverges from Deep Gap. I made that rather long .2 miles back to the AT.

The climb takes me to Snowbird Peak. Theres a dusting of snow on the ground and leaves as I climbed. It’s nice hiking in the cold when it’s not raining. I passed a massive tree that had been hollowed out.

As I neared the top I walked through some grassy balds blanketed in snow. At the tippy top there’s quite an odd looking FAA tower.

It was along ways down. Over the course of 5 miles I descended 2600ft. As I got closer to the bottom I had some views through the trees of the Smokies. Or more so the climb up to them.

I came upon the dirt road that takes me to Standing Bear. A short inclined walk brought me to their property. It reminds me of Boots Off with all the separate buildings and unique housing.

I walked up and checked in with Maria. Undecided on a room option, I told her “a place where there’s heat!”. She recommended the tree house and I thought it would be a fun experience.

She told me that she would have a plate of brunch for me in 5 minutes after I got settled in. I dropped off my pack and took out a few things bride heading over. It was a very full plate of yummy food. There was some avocado I ate a few fork fulls of but remain not a fan.

Belly full I grabbed some loner clothes and went over to the shower. It’s a tankless gas water heater so one moment my skin is boiling and the other it’s cool. It was still one of the best showers ever!

Cleaned up I headed over to the treehouse and pulled out some stuff to dry before doing some laundry. They don’t have a washer just a dryer and washboard. Never used a washboard before but I got the job done and my clothes in the dryer.

Relaxed and did a few miscellaneous things in the afternoon. I grabbed a few more things from the resupply store they have here. It’s limited and everyone seems to be expired… didn’t get much but I may be able to get through the Smokies without stopping in Gatlinburg depending on how fast I’m moving. While I resupplied I talked with a sobo that got off when Helene hit. He’s come back to do a section nobo he missed. We talked for the better part of 20 min before I went to FaceTime the fam!

Made some dinner and had some snacks before uploading some journals and writing today’s. Very nice relaxing day out of the cold.

At one point the breaker tripped in the treehouse. At first I thought the all power went out but there were still lights outside. I rember seeing a little box outside and sure enough it was the breaker box. I filiped it back on and a few minutes later it tripped again. This time I unplugged a few outdoor lights and turned down the heat. I think the hiker below me just turned on his heater so that why it tripping. Hasn’t tripped again since I unplugged the outdoor lights (as I wrote that I tripped again…). I discovered two watt settings on the side of the small heater and turned to 1000w instead of 1500w. Maybe that’ll do it…