Category: Hiker Trash Romance

The Shelter at McAfee Knob

Post author By cleanshave
Post date November 16, 2025
Categories In Fiction, Hiker Trash Romance, Writing
3 Comments on The Shelter at McAfee Knob

It started raining the way fatigue creeps in, soft at first, then relentless. The fog thickened on the ridge, swallowing my headlamp beam into a haze as dense as milk. Each white blaze looked like a ghost ahead of me, urging me up toward Campbell Shelter. Thunder rolled somewhere over Catawba Valley, low and guttural, […]

The Purist vs. The Slackpacker

Post author By cleanshave
Post date July 13, 2025
Categories In Fiction, Hiker Trash Romance, Short Story

I first saw him near Neels Gap, sitting barefoot on the steps outside Mountain Crossings like he’d been born there, smiling at nothing, sipping Gatorade like it was champagne. His pack was a joke. I clocked it at twenty-five pounds, minimum, probably with a camp chair and full-size toothbrush inside. And I was right. Later, […]