22 Miles

Today started off so lovely. We opted to walk the Blue Ridge Parkway instead of the AT for a few miles because they are adjacent but you get spectacular views if you take the road so we did.

Coming up to one of the gaps, we run into a man that goes by the name of Kamper, who did the AT in 2020, doing trail magic. He’s got a coffee pot set up in the back of his truck with donuts, bananas, baileys, and chocolate milk. He’s such a cool guy. We sit and enjoy our breakfast for a bit and as we are leaving he says, “I’ll be at Jennings Creek later today with dogs and beer if you guys want more trail magic!” Of course we do. It also just so happens to be where we planned to stop for lunch. I asked Kamper since he was going there already if he didn’t mind taking out packs with him so we didn’t have to carry them the next 8 miles. He was more than happy to help us and we were more than happy to not have that extra 15-20 pounds on our back for the walk. What will take us 2.5 hours to hike, will be a 15 minute drive for him.

We cruised through the forest light on our feet and in great moods. Might have been the Baileys I put in my coffee but it doesn’t matter. Every day is a great day when you’re on trail.

After a swim and As we are sitting enjoy our hotdogs and beer, an older woman thruhiker, starts to tell us someone fell 40 feet off McAfee knob this morning into the rocks below. If you recall McAfee knob was one of the most photographed stops on the AT that we passed just days earlier in the fog and got no view. Obviously this is a horrific incident but as far as she knows the hiker is in still alive with just some internal bleeding. She mentions his name finally. “Grandmaster” she says. Holy shit this is that Dutch kid that we met just 2 days prior. We are all a little rattled but at least he’s okay right?

We finish our lunch and head off once again. About half an hour into our walk we come across the same older lady. She takes one look at us and begins to cry. “He died” she says. Grandmaster succumbed to his injuries.

This kid was so full of life when we met him. Sad about his grandfather passing but excited to see his family. He’d just done 700 miles on the AT in a foreign country and was one day away from seeing his family. Apparently, he was going to go up to McAfee knob today since the weather was better and you’d actually get a view. One last hike before he caught a plane home the next day to see his family.

I don’t know the details of how or why he ended up over the edge of that cliff. All I know it wasn’t intentional and the world is a little less brighter without him in it.

It was hard to keep hiking after receiving this news. I’m not sure why it’s effecting me this much. I’d only spoken to him for just a bit but we weren’t close by any means. Idk. Still processing the whole thing. Life is too short and shit can happen good or bad at anytime is all I know right now. Tell your friends and family you love them today.