I hiked to McAfee’s Knob on the Appalachian Trail in Southwestern Virginia. Yep, I can say I hiked the Appalachian Trial, ok well like 5 miles of it.
Many of you probably don’t know, I spent my formidable middle an high school years in this area.
Catching up with some good high school friends, two of us realized we had never hiked the Appalachian Trail (“AT”) even though it was in our backyard.
Clearly, we need to hike it!
About McAfee’s Knob
We debated between doing Dragons Tooth and McAfee’s Knob in Catawba, Virginia about 20 minutes from Roanoke, VA (no not the lost colony that is in North Carolina).
We decided on McAfee’s Knob for the view and we thought the trail might be a tad easier with a 7 year old in tow (or leading us as it turns out).
The two areas are close together (5 minute drive between parking lots), but hiking the trial between the two I think is about 10-12 miles.
McAfee’s Knob is one of the most iconic views from the AT, as seen in a recent movie.
McAfee’s Knob, Tinker Cliffs and Dragon’s Tooth make up what people call the “Triple Crown” of the Appalachian Trial (yes, I lived 45 minutes from these and had no idea until last week).
I hope to hike the other to when I head back to VA this summer.
The Trail
The hike from the parking lot to the McAfee’s Knob is about 5 miles (4.7ish if you don’t do any wanders) with a climb of about 1700ft.
At the beginning of the trail, a sign helps you prepare. The highlight being common sense.
As you can see, I am ready to go.
The walk up to the McAfee’s Knob is a wander around the woods on a well maintained marked trail.
Along the way you can enjoy some of the wildlife. P.S. I am not sure why they are all orange (not pictured an orange cat, not a mountain lion a domestic cat).
There are a couple of shelters and one outhouse (bring toilet paper) along the path up to the Knob. The parking lot does have outhouses as well.
You can also walk up the fire road which is less windy and more of a steady wide climb (we walked down it because it started raining).
The View
Like this post, it seems like it takes fooorever (about 2 hours) to get to the view, but once you are there it is amazing.
It was pretty hazy and rain was starting to roll in, but we spent probably a half an hour having a snack and taking pictures. We had a few other hikers up there at the same time, but it was not crowded by any means.
Even Jake enjoyed the view.
Recommendation
A great hike!! Highly recommend doing this one, if you are ever in the area. It you are adventurous or have a few days, you may want to do the whole “Triple Crown.”
One last photo, this one made me nervous and I couldn’t hold the pose while looking off the cliff.
