MacAfee’s Knob by Ashton Ratliff

            I remember being awakened early in the morning by my dad’s alarm.  Slowly beginning to get up I adjusted myself to the light and got dressed into my hiking clothes.  It was the day that we had planned for several weeks.  Time to go on our long-awaited hike up to MacAfee’s Knob.  Before even getting out the door I had to wake up my brother who was in a deep sleep. Shaking him to even get him to open up his eyes, he began to slowly get up to go get ready for the hike as well.  All three of us were ready now, just patiently waiting on my uncle to meet us. After about twenty minutes of waiting he finally arrived. We all got into my dad’s car and went to have breakfast at Bojangle’s.  After Breakfast we drove for about thirty minutes to our parking location for the hike. On the car ride there I, said I can’t believe we are finally getting the chance to go on this hike.

            We started hiking up the hill and already it began to get steep. We climbed up many rocks, and my brother was beginning to get tired so we all sat down had a drink and some snacks. Then we began climbing up the mountainous trail excited to see the beautiful views.  As we hiked into the higher altitudes, we started to see many beautiful views such as the mountain range and the valley.  We passed a few people including one man who was running the entire trail.  My uncle was impressed, saying “Wow!” as soon as he came into sight. All four of us saw the beautiful fall leaves on the different trees and we were all amazed by the view.  We began to get hungry although we were close to our destination so we just waited.  We arrived at the first view and we were stoked taking a variety of different pictures to get the most beautiful view you could imagine.

            We grew closer and closer to the top of the mountain.  We heard the wind blow and we all felt a good breeze.  We finally reached the top of the mountains and saw all the beautiful views, but before we reached the very top the same man who we saw running while we were further down the mountain passed us again and it surprised all of us. Then we hiked up the final part to make it to the top of MacAfee’s Knob.

We were astonished by the views that we saw and how high up we were.  We were hungry, and happy that we brought lunch for our day hike.  There were surprisingly many people at the top of the mountain and many of those people seemed to be dedicated to taking the perfect picture.  My family and I sat down and enjoyed our lunches. We were happy about the view and agreed that it was a hundred percent worth it.  We sat at the top for about an hour until we knew it was time to go back.  The same runner passed us for his third time, making his way back up the mountain. We were amazed by the fact of this man who had just passed us for his third time and we began to think, “This guy is indestructible, like the terminator”.  On the way back down the mountain it felt as if it was taking years to get back down.  After the longest time you can imagine we finally reached the parking lot.

Reflecting on this moment in my life I realize how important it is to live your life while you can.  Nature is full of beauty, and you shouldn’t be inside all day sitting around. You should go out somewhere with your friends or your family to see the beauty of the world and the beauty of nature.  In the long run you will be so thankful of the memories that you gain from going out to see the world and all for its natural beauty. These mountains beauty is as beautiful as your vision of a promise land.