The week leading up to the day McAfee swallowed my GoPro

The best week on the trail

 It all began after a nice snow storm blew through. Luckily I was taking a zero, and slack packed 12 miles in the cold. A day later it all melted. It was quite hot all week with blue skies, incredible views with some difficult climbs.

Dragons Tooth

 My week began strong. Started pushing 20 mile days. The early April snow was melted, really started cruising. Camped with a really cool family, ages 8 to 12. They loved doing sections on their time off from school. We were all excited for Dragons Tooth. Got up early, started the climb. The trail through this section is very rocky. Not flat in anyway. After a few hours I had finally made it to the top. It was incredible. I then scaled the huge rock to the very top to a 360° view! Couldn’t help my self but to scream as loud as possible. I knew that the next stop was McAfee Knob.

Pushing on to the Knob

 The climb off Dragons Tooth was very intense. Scaling down sharp rocks with a full pack proved to be difficult. Once I was through with that it was a bit of a hike to the knob. I have seen pictures of this knob for years. I was ready. Pushed hard through the day. The sun was shining. Sweat pouring off my face. A couple falls later and I was at the parking lot before the climb. I was surprised how many people were out on a Thursday afternoon. Once I got to the knob I was blown away. I had finally made it. Took my pic, talked with some cool people for hours. Then I made the biggest mistake of my life.

McAfee was hungry that afternoon

 So after hours of talking to everyone on the knob, I found my self just staring off into the distance. I over heard someone wanting a picture. Didn’t realize I was in the way. Got up fast. GoPro fell from my pocket, took 2 bounces. Fell over into the abyss. Everyone on the knob saw the event unfold. I turned to everyone ” I just made a very expensive mistake”. I was certain it exploded on the rocks below. Figured I would at least get my card from it. A male stripper that I had met helped me climb down to find it. We found it sitting on a ledge, very close to another huge drop. Not only was it still working. It didn’t even have a scratch on the case. I was blown away, yet relieved all at once. I was ready to move on.

Tinker Cliffs

The final day to an interesting week led me to tinker cliffs. The climb was quite steep with once again tons of rocks. Some how after following the blazes it led me to the bottom of the cliffs. Just kept on walking. Soon realized I hadn’t seen any blazes. After 30 mins I knew I screwed up. I could here people on top. To late to turn back. Then the trail just ended. Figured I could climb to the top. Scaled a few rocks, knocked over a tree. Few cuss words and finally made it to the top. Kinda mad that I missed that .5 mile so I walked back to the first view, took some pics then moved on to camp. I was over this section.

 After all that I really did enjoy those climbs. It was a very beautiful section. Tons of views. Sketchy rock climbs. Tons of cool locals. Memories I won’t forget.