Dragons Tooth-McAfee Knob-Tinker Cliff T rip Report

“Thursday I arrive at Andy Lane trail head approx 1:30 pm and soon SunnyDayz and Cocohead and Marko arrive and Cocohead shuttles us to Dragons Tooth Trail head approx 3PM.

We arrive at the AT intersection and set up our shelters , soon Wild Bill , Billy and Hyway arrive. Everyone heads up to Dragons Tooth to take in the Views while I get a fire started and pull in a small amount of fire wood for the night.

Later on, late evening dusk, Mocs strolls and we all set by the fire doing the Trail Talk thing. I head to bed early while Cocohead and Marko and SunnyDayz charm all with music and song. I occasionally would throw in a request but they never submit. When they all finally did go to bed they must have had some impact on a Whippoorwill. ALL night long this bird sang his or her song too us.



Early Friday we pack up to head North along the AT crossing Catawba Creek where we all tanked up with H2O. Then we started our accent up Beckner Gap and along Catawba Mountain all the way to the Parking area for McAfee Knob some 9.1 miles, where we all re hydrated while Hyway begs a day hiker to take him to the local store for Mountain DEW.

After an hour we finally get our packs on to head to Catawba shelter some 2 miles up McAfee along the AT. Here we stayed the night with more Song and Music. Yotaman shows up and Sweet Pea Stew with Tater/ BackpackerBrian. When dark set in Creek Dancer and 32oz Gatoraid with his lady friend. I asked MS lady friend her Trail Name and she replies , I don't have one. I also notice she is wearing Ear Rings, Her fingers has approx 3 rings on them and nicely painted fingernails. Hmmmmmm I'm thinking of a trail name at this time. Hyway has this nicely built fire roaring and wee all take in some beverages and listen to SunnyDayz and Cocohead and Marko JAM and occasionally Hyway spittin his song. We must have has a thousand laughs that night. Thanks Hyway.

Saturday morning we head to summit McAfee Knob and take in the views and Pics for a hour or more. We then head down to Campbell Shelter to Tank up with H2o for the long accent up Tinker Mountain.....


I'll be back later and anyone on the trip please go ahead and throw in your experiences too. Jump in.
last edited: 4/20/08 12:19:17 PM”

“Wow that was quick Refrigerator. We had a great time. A little sore, but it's the good kind of sore. It was great meeting everyone and ending up with a great meal to end the trip. I got Hyway home around 5:30 pm and I got in about 6:10 which was perfect.”

“Did you take the Interstate, Bill?”

“LOL, you got it.”

“Thanks for posting the trip report.

Any good meals on this trip?”

“Nice read”

“got any pictures”

“That really was one of the prettiest hikes I've been on and the weather was great until Saturday afternoon.

The spring green in the valleys was that glowing color and with little to no leaves on the trees we could see forever.

Does anyone remember how many people we had?”

“I think we had 14 total. We had 13 at the Home Place. Too bad you missed out.
last edited: 4/20/08 5:41:00 PM”

“I was some kinda hungry when I got to my car.
I little to eat for lunch and had a banana and a beer at my car.

Saturday evening was a bad time for a starving guy................1.5 hour wait!”

“TR from a TT Vrigin...

This was my first trip with anyone from TT and it was Awesome... Fridge runs an awesome trip!!!!!!!!!

TTers on trip included Fridge, Hyway, Creekdancer, Mildbill, Billy, Mocs123, Mark_O Cocoa, Sweatpeastew, tater(or is it backpacker Brian) Sunnydaze, Yodaman, myself and the newly incarnate HIGH MAINTENANCE. (sorry if I mispelled anyone!!!!!)

Creekdancer, High Maintenance and Myself didn't arrive at the Catawba Shelter until 9:00 Pm friday.. By that time the festivities were under way. Hyway had done a superb job at building a fire and the musicfest had already begun.. The weather was awesome!!!!!!!!!

Up and on the trail early Saturday for the climb up to Mcafee knob. This was my 3rd time up there, and the clearest day that I have ever seen... We lingered up there for a while before beginning our descent through Devil's Kitchen...

We then had a nice stroll along the AT before beginning what Sweatpeastew called a 'gentle climb' up to Tinker Cliffs. HM CD Yoda Mocs and myself got there first and hung out for a while...

It was about this time that the weather started to get threatening with clouds and wind picking up. We descend the AT to Scortched Earth Gap and on to Lambert Fields.. They are starting to reroute the AT a little through here, and the .6 miles is starting to be more like 1 mile.

We hit the shelter and were soon followed by the rest of the group and some rain.. this was no deterent to highway who had a bonfire going in minutes... It was here that High Maintenance received her name, and we tried to figure out just who the heck Forf Lift Elvis is...

Shelter Dwellers that night were myself, HM Highway, yoda mild bill and billy.. the rest braved teh wind and rain and tented.. Joing the group was a drug addicted racoon who ran off with Sunnydaze belongings..(I didn't quite get what all he took, so I'll leave it up to her to fill in the blanks..)

Up early sunday with Fridge hitting the trail early, and the rest of us in tow... HM and myself met fridge at the Andy LAyne trail head by 8:55 for the drive back to 311 to pick up a shuttling vehicle.. By the time we got back to the trailhead, the rest of the group had arrived..

Got to the Home Place at 10:30, and started to pig out at 11.... Roast Beef, Chicken, VA ham, home made mashed potatoes, corn, green beens, biscuits, and CHERRY COBLER on the menue..

Took group photos and said our goodbyes at about 12:15...
An awesome trip with an awesome group of people.. Couldn't have asked for a better weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'fool”

“Just want to say thanks to all for the fun, laughs, encouragement, tips, creative beverages,(Fridge, you are an Artist and my hero!). For my 2nd bkpg trip ever it was all I could have hoped for. Marko and Coco, you guys were GREAT-many thanks for taking long breaks and good pics.”

“Sunny, I was thinking of you as I descended the Andy Layne Trail Saturday afternoon.

Those STEEP sections were a mother bear.”

“Hey Marko.. We were all thinking about about you as we pigged out at the Home Place!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was great meeting you!!!!!

'fool
last edited: 4/20/08 6:39:48 PM”

“Lol to the coon! I went to my tarp which was a good ways from the shelter in a nice little downpour. Crawled in, got ready to do my nighttime clean-up routine, and my bag with all my toiletries, toothbrush, Percocet (in case my stress fx hurt too much) and 1 ambien (for sleep emergencies) was MIA. I thought maybe the young people that showed up late had heard me talking about the ambien and decided to help themselves. I was a bit miffed, but got over it and fell asleep. During the night it rained pretty hard, and after a while I woke up and all was quiet. It was also light out, and I knew I wanted an early stat to Homeplace. I got up, got dressed, packed up all except the tarp and sleeping bag. Got out to pee, and noticed that No one else was stirring. then the moon came from behind a cloud and i realized it was NOT dawn! Back to bed, but half hour later was sure it was dawn and repeated it all over again! Back to bed again, and finally, birds singing let me know it was the real thing. When I came out the last tome (3's the charm) saw my bag on the other side of the creek, all torn up by an animal! the only thing missing was the Percocet and ambien. Some Coon had a good sleep while I was being nocturnal!”

“LMAO at the drug-addicted 'coon!”

“Nice mix of ups and downs, some scrambling plus some awesome views I got some great pics too It was great meeting everyone
Got home before 8, found a mouse, or was it that racoon? had chewed a hole in my waistbelt pocket on my new pack sometime last night during the storm
Thanks Fridge”

“Coco..

Glad you made it home safely... I look forward to some PAhiking this summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'fool”

“Gosh Fridgy, when you're not accusing me of stealing from you, you do a pretty good TR. Everyone should read these posts. These are the kind of posts the new owners of TT want. They do not want the usual static of that only ties up bandwidth and serves as no benefit to the general BPing community, not to mention the bottom line. They want to be as good or better than backpacker.com. They want to be thebackpacker.com.”

“SunnyDaze = Puxatawnyhiker. : )

Great report. Cant wait for the pics”

“Forklift..

Yeah it was really great to get out on the trail with everyone and act civilized to each other instead of wading through all of the BS that pervades this board..

You shudda been there!!!

'fool”

“I should have my pics up in a few days.”

“Wow, what a great trip. Thanks to Fridge for putting this together. I enjoyed meeting more TT'rs, and catching up with old friends.

This is truly a beautiful section of the AT. The vistas from McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs were great, and the trail varied greatly which kept things interesting. I think the bluish/purplish woodland wildflowers that we passed toward the end of the Andy Lane trail were Virginia Bluebells.

”

“That's Andy Layne, lady.

And how about those "dogwood-like" trees with the little flowers?

Yeah Fool, I was thinking about you lucky ducks eatin' big as I was preparing my homefries and eggs over easy about 10:30 Sunday morning.”

“Oops, apologies to Andy.

I think those were Mountain Ash, but not sure. I have to look it up.”

“Ahoy.................HOI!!”

“If anyone is interested, here is Cowboy Killer's Trail Journal

http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=7402”

“I had a great time on this trip. I know I need to get in better shape than I am, although I suppose ROUND does roll downhill better.”

“Hyway... you're right, but it's the uphills that suck!!!!!!

'fool
last edited: 4/21/08 12:29:50 PM”

“ha, you didn't even notice if there were uphills or downhills. You just hiked on like it was level ground. I guess thats whats comes from hiking every weekend :)”

“Yeah, I'm feeling better every time I go out.. Almost 100% again.. A couple more months and I'll be good as old...

'fool”

“nice to see that you are back hyway”

“Dang Fool, you out-hiked 100% of my sorry arse.

Welcome back HyWay!
Long time no see.”

“Fool and High M you guys kicked butt!
Bill was passin people too.
This was only my 3rd real hike of the season, a couple more weeks of this stuff and I'll be ready for Yosemite”

“I treat every hike, including day hikes, like a backpacking trip... I either use my back pack loaded with tent sleeping bag etc or load up a few extra Nalgene Bottles with water and carry them.. (Nalgene bottles are still good for something.. LOL)

If the hike doesn't go well I can jettison my water...

My 2nd hike after the accident I was literally crawling up the hill my hip and back were so bad.... I'm pushing 175 miles hike since Jan 15, which isn't a lot to some people. but if you could have seen me hike miles 7-12 you could see how far I've some...

If all goes well I'm slated for 61 more over Memorial day weekend with another 50 before then...

'fool”

“It was a great trip. the 2 miles into atawba shelter was pretty easy although alittle warm. The partiers stayed up until about midnight and then the snorers, you know who you are, came out. I should have slept in my tent.LOL
Saturday was a great day and even though I took a long detour, mistook the old AT with the new one, I eventually came out to the new AT and soon found the Knob. What a wonderul place with great views.
the hike to Tinkers Cliff was no that bad except for that one steep but thankfully short uphill climb. The views again was fantastic. Most of us tried to wait for the rest of the group but darkening skies chased us down to the next shelter. We made it by 3:00 and beat out the rain. Hyway once again had a great fire going inno time but on and off rain kep us close to the shelter. Fridge and Sunnydaze finally showed up and we were once agin a family. We all went to bed early to the sound of rain. Sometime during the night a big wind and raistorm blew through but we all survived dry.
Sunday we got up early and heading out 4 miles to the vehicles.
it was a great weekend and eveyone was awesome. i really enjoyed it.
Thanks for leading this trip Refridgerator.
Here are some pics. srry about the sideways pics.

http://s223.photobucket.com/albums/dd9/trlhiker/Backpacking%20trip/”

“You guys brought back back some good memories for me...of the area, not you:)”

“I second what nimblefoot said. There are three areas on the AT that I want to go back to and spend more time. This is one of them.”

“Yeah, especially The Home Place:)”

“My pics are up:

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/563177634miYPdH?vhost=outdoors
last edited: 4/21/08 7:21:33 PM”

“you must have put them at teh end of the Mt Rogers trip?
This is teh link to dragons tooth http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/563177634miYPdH
last edited: 4/21/08 7:22:46 PM”

“Here are a few of my pics

”

“Great Pics Mocs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is it me, or do these pictures just scream out, come back and hike this again!!!!!!!!

hmmmmmm....... summer is just right around the corner.. hehe

'fool”

“mocs, great pics. I am ashamed of myself that I couldn't catch up to you on the Andy layne trail even with you stopping to take all those nice pics.”

“great pics, bill. where are the rest of them :). The sunset from dragons tooth was awesome as well as the group shot (minus the bailer marko)”

“whoops, didn't mean to be hyway to hell. I am back to sweet little ol me.”

“Next time I propose we continue on the yellow blazed trail back up to the North Mountain Trail and then back to Dragon's Tooth...

Heck its only another 10 miles.... We could be done by 1 and off to The Home Place...

Can I sign you up Hyway?

'fool”

“We did yellow blaze back to dragon's tooth ;)”

“Hey, who let you back in hyway????

Nice pics Mocs! Man, I want to get back out there.”

“I wanna do it again!

Eat it, HyWay To Hell!!”