• Kev McG
  • Kev McG

AT 2025 🥾🏕️

Hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine! Please pop by often to follow along and say hello! Meer informatie
  • 🌜Punchbowl Shelter

    24 april 2025, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Today started with an astounding sunrise off of an eastern facing ridge where we (me, Joey, Trickshot, Little Foot) were camped. It was an awesome backdrop to our breakfast rituals. We could see the colors of the sky reflecting in the bend of the river below. Quite astounding.

    We hiked an easy 4 miles or so down to the main road into Glasgow VA. We crossed the longest footbridge on the AT to get to the parking lot and kindly a local named Sarah Elizabeth brought us into town.

    We resupplied at a dollar general and had pizza at Scottos before getting back to trail. I saw a man dropping a $20 bill and informed him and he said it was mine for being honest😇 so we gave the server a nicer tip in cash 🙌. A city run shelter promised free showers but that seemed to be out of order so we splashed in the creek to cool down and tidy up before attempting the afternoon’s 4- mile uphill climb~so refreshing !

    On the way up we encountered a sassy rattlesnake, and at the very top of the day’s final mountain we encountered a couple getting engaged! (They said yes!) soooo that of course meant trail magic for us —gourmet charcuterie— before descending into our shelter area.

    Punchbowl shelter is the name? Is the punchbowl referencing the stagnant pond here? No. It’s the name of the mountain. Anyhow there are lots of frogs singing us to sleep and clear skies complete with shooting stars! Fireflies galore and an unsettling (yet gentle) late night visit visit by a family of local deer.

    AT mile 798.1
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  • Photos can’t do justice…

    25 april 2025, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    This was a small moment when I felt overcome by nature’s beauty… a photo will never do justice, but here is what I’m experiencing:

    It’s the end of a long day, I’m within 30-40 minutes of arriving to camp after already hiking over 20 miles. The trail swings to the right around a large tree-strapped mossy rock (small boulder?). Bountiful mountain streams hug this rock and water cascades alongside of it, undercutting and —as if by magic— the water disappears underground and the path of the trail continues, un muddied, towards the shelter. What is this little miracle?Meer informatie

  • 🌜 Seeley-Woodsworth Shelter

    25 april 2025, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Rolling hills in the afternoon but some pretty long climbs early in the day. The rain held off for most of the day and we really only started to get serious rain after arriving at the shelter.

    Hit mile 800 within the first hours of hiking and it was funny because 3 different people made “mile 800” markers with pebbles- did they simply miss each other? Or did they feel like this needed to be somehow more correct? Anyways, it only seemed necessary to document one of them 😂😂

    Covered 25.3 miles making this the 2nd longest day on trail in terms of distances. It felt easier though, maybe it was the weather, maybe the terrain, perhaps I’m just in better condition, stronger, etc.

    AT mile 823.4
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  • 🐸 Spy Rock

    26 april 2025, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    I spy with my little eye - OMG so many TADPOLES!! This was a side trail that seemed worth doing! Large rock formation with amazing views and perhaps more interestingly a whole generation of tadpoles!

  • Racing the sun!

    26 april 2025, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Around lunch time we had a great idea, but it meant a 15 mile haul with ultimate efficiency… we were essentially racing the sun to get to a local brewery before they close for the night. Nailed it 🙌

  • 🌜 Tent City @ Devil’s Backbone

    26 april 2025, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    We got a little bit of a late start today because there were rain showers in the morning, but we made it to Priest mountain for lunch… on the way we stopped by Spy Rock which was an incredible rock formation with large divots that pooled water. Frogs had laid eggs and there were hundreds of tadpoles swimming in them!

    At lunch we devised an ambitious plan for free camping and hot showers at a local brewery called Devil’s Backbone. Great, but we needed to hustle to make this work: 15 miles by 8pm! Game on!

    We finished Priest Mountain and the Three Ridges with full throttle effort to get to Reid’s Gap ASAP. In an impossible stroke of luck a grandmother and her grandkids offered us a ride to the brewery the moment we stepped into the parking lot 😍

    We arrived to a huge lawn with outdoor seating, fire pits, a high end restaurant and a live rock-cover band playing. 100% expected this to be a hole in the wall with a field for hikers out back but this place is actually a major destination! Camping (including hot showers) is totally free😎

    We had an awesome dinner and chatted with some local folks. Ran into a couple fellow hikers (54Cold was one).

    Awesome day folks! 👏
    22.1 miles on trail
    AT mile 845.5
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  • Intense Kroger Shopping

    27 april 2025, Verenigde Staten ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    We were shopping for resupply items at Kroger and the music was so intense. The gift basket didn’t make the cut- too many grams. 😭 the chocolate did! I’ve been looking for these everywhere

  • 🌜Quality Inn Waynesboro

    27 april 2025, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    We hit up Waynesboro Va for a resupply run and a hotel stay, laundry, etc. got a ride into town from trail with Brook who was doing some local hiking to celebrate his 50th birthday! He plans to do some larger sections of the trail in a few years…Shared some tips and tricks.

    We went out for a nice dinner - at an Indian restaurant, it was pretty amazing!

    …oh, and more face masks for relaxation / self-care 😂

    AT mile 864.6
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  • 🌜Primitive Camping near 881

    28 april 2025, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    It took a lot of willpower to leave Waynesboro. There was laundry to do, and 3 meals before noon: breakfast at the hotel, second breakfast at a coffee shop, and as we were leaving a kind hiker enthusiast approached us with $30 in gift cards for a bar across the street, so we had lunch there! A hiker named Preacher’s Son gave us a ride back to the trailhead.

    We hit the trail at about noon and did our best to get some decent mileage with the time we had.

    AT mile 880.8
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  • 🌮 Tacos for Nerds

    29 april 2025, Verenigde Staten ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Chocolate peanut butter and chewy nerds candy. This is not very different than the skittles recipe. Kind of like an intense PBJ but this time with chocolate too. I’ve got to say I liked it more than I thought I would but it’s not really something I would do at home. Score: 🌮 🌮 🌮 3/5Meer informatie