McAfee Knob

Over fall break I made the 40 min drive to McAfee Knob on the AT with a friend from back home. I had been on surrounding hikes but I had never been to McAfee Knob before. About a half hour into the hike we decided to take a shortcut about 200 ft. up this rock that was sticking up out of the ground. It was slanted enough to climb up without gear but also steep enough to cause uneasiness and a sense of danger. We made it to the top of the rock which stuck up out of the trees and there was a nice view from there even though we had an hour left to go. Later on the trail we got off-track somehow on what seemed to be another shortcut except we didn’t mean to take this one. Somehow we ended up right where we needed to be and it took less time to get there. The view at the top was beautiful as you could see all of the Roanoke valley, but what was the most exciting part for me was getting lost or overcoming the steep rock. The sense of excitement and adrenaline connected me to the place more than normal. It turned out to be one of the best hikes I’ve ever been on.