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Sunday, October 7, 2007 - 2:49PM

Appalachian Trail to McAfee's Knob

By DAN ROBINSON

Editor/Photographer

This weekend's backpack/camp covered over 8 miles and a 1500-foot change in elevation on the Appalachian Trail near Salem, Virginia. While strenuous, sweaty and painful physical exertion is not my idea of a way to relax, I survived - and had a good time nonetheless. We arrived late on Friday night and hiked 2 hours in the dark to the campsite. I was very impressed with the LED headlamp I bought for this purpose. This was also the first time I was using a parachute hammock - which I was also very pleased with. It is very comfortable, easy to set up and take down, and takes up virtually no space nor adds any weight to the pack. This was the first camp where I slept easily for a full night. In fact, I doubt I'll ever use a tent and sleep on the ground again if I have to carry camping gear for any distance from the car. Saturday morning, upslope rain showers woke me up early and forced me to pack up quickly. A small tarp would have solved that problem, and will accompany me on any future trips. We hiked up to McAfee's Knob on Saturday afternoon, as the rain and fog thankfully cleared out by midday.

The scenery was of course spectacular, with countless photo opportunities. So, I'm not holding back on posting pictures here. Larger versons of these (and about 30 more images) can be found on this page that I put up for the church.