Hiking the Cascades and McAfee Knob.

As I was walking to campus today with the wind freezing my face off, I thought about how glad I was that I wasn't hiking. So naturally here are my thoughts on the Cascades and McAfee Knob hikes. 

Cascades: I've actually done the Cascades hike twice now, once with my sorority and once with my parents. I made the mistake of calling this a "short hike" to my parents. Apparently a short hike is supposed to be about twenty minutes... not an hour. If you know my parents it's needless to say my dad was not pleased and my mom was thrilled. The perk of this hike is that there is a walking path option. I like taking the trail up and the walking path down, but that's just me. I'm sure my dad would have preferred the walking path in both directions, actually he made it very clear. 

 The waterfall is completely worth it though. The first time I went it was (barely) warm enough to swim. The water was freezing, but I couldn't resist sliding into the basin at the bottom of the falls. The second time was two weeks ago, so obviously not warm enough to even think about getting in the water. 

My parents and me at the waterfall

 McAfee Knob: While I'm glad I can cross this hike off of my bucket list, I can't recommend it to anyone in good faith. As with most hikes, the view from the top is fantastic but the trek up the mountain barely seems worth it. You basically just wind up through patches of woods that all look the same. The mile markers are more depressing than they are reassuring as each mile feels like five and you can never tell whether you're getting close to the top or not. I went on this hike with one of my sorority sisters and we basically just complained to each other the entire way. All I can say is I'm glad I packed some snacks because otherwise we wouldn't have made it.

Oh, did I mention it was cloudy?