McAfee Knob Hike - Catawba Mountain

Photographs: © Lauren Johnson | Instagram: @laurenbexplorin_photography

(a photo gallery is at the end of the story)

So, after my dad and I hiked Little Stony Man last weekend, I needed something for my mom to do with us as well once she got into town. After about an hour or two's worth of research on pretty scenic lookouts in VA, I decided I was going to take them to hike to McAfee's Knob on Catawba Mountain. AllTrails said it was not too long, moderately difficult, and most importantly, DOGS ARE ALLOWED. I packed/prepared the night we returned from Little Stony Man hike, I was really excited!

We had also planned to do Natural Bridge State Park afterwards, but we were DEAD tired. We had to save that adventure for another time.

We drove the 2 hours and 48 minutes to get there, and I was really hoping the trail was actually there, (we ran into a situation in Hawaii, where we drove 3 hours and found out the trail was non-existent), and luckily, it was! Very well marked too, and the parking lot wasn't that full! We arrived a little before 12:00pm, and over half the lot was completely empty. Also, everyone we did meet ended up being super nice!

Once we got about 0.3 miles into the hike, I was taking a photo of my parents. I had taken a total of about 10 photos on my Canon camera, and all of a sudden, my memory card was full! I had no idea how that was possible, since I can take up to 200+ photos with my sized card. So, guess who forgot to put their spare card in their bag of equipment? Me. Guess who ran back to the car to get a spare card? ME.

It took me about 15 minutes to run back and get the card, as my parents waited patiently with the pups on a rather large boulder. I still have no idea what happened with my camera. Either way, it's whatever.

After that fiasco, we continued on our journey to the top. The entire way up, you can see the mountains that surround you along the entire trail. You are literally walking on the ridge the entire time! Along the way, you will see giant boulders jutting out of the earth, all are climbable, and some are rather difficult to get on top of/get back down. This guy from VT asked me if he was good to jump down. He was not, he was a good 20+ ft. off the ground. I told him to go a little to the other side, as the ground was higher. He made it down fine, but the ground sounded completely hollow underneath him upon impact. Now, I'm not a geologist or anything, but I would be careful about where you jump.

Once you see the sign that says "McAfee Knob 1.3 Miles", that is going to be the longest 1.3 miles of your life! Don't worry, you'll get there. Just keep on pushing upward, it's TOTALLY worth all of the effort. You'll climb up to an open area where the power lines run up and down the mountain, and once you get across, you'll see a smaller boulder sticking out of the ground, giving you a very nice view of the open space where the power lines are placed.

Now, for the moment of truth, the knob itself.

It was astounding! Marvelous! Magnificent! Majestic! Whatever other words mean beautiful in a sense, all of those words will describe the view that you will see.

Now, for the record, I did warn my mom that I was going to be sitting on the edge of a cliff with my feet dangling off for a particular photo, and she said, "OK fine, I just won't look then!"

That was 3 days prior to the hike, a pretty fair warning I think.

As soon as she saw some girl sit on the edge, she turned to me and said, "Oh my god do you see that girl over there? She's crazy." and I told her, "Mom, I warned you before we even came up here, that I was LITERALLY going to do the EXACT same thing." ....she was not happy....but she wasn't mad either lol...i'm not sure what she felt, but hey, I got my photo, and she loves the photo.

It was pretty crowded, but not too bad. Everyone was super nice and everyone got a turn or two on the edge for the main photo-op spot. The only things that really got to me, was some college kids that wanted to take a giant log and chuck it over the side, but after I warned them that they could possibly murder somebody below, they decided that it was in fact a dumb idea.

Also, this chick drug her dog to the very edge, (where i'm sitting in the cliff photo), and the dog was trying as hard as it could to get away, so finally I said to her that her dog was afraid of heights, and did not want anything to do with her stupid dangerous photo. She did not appreciate my words, but I don't care, I probably just saved that dogs life. Poor thing, I would never put my dogs in that kind of position. I know when it's too dangerous for pups, and that edge, was definitely too dangerous for pups.

Other than those morons, the hike was a blast, and I would totally do it again!

Now, what's the next adventure?