Old Daddy

This trail is a fairly basic fall-line trail that foot traffic uses to get into and out of the Ledgeview trail network. A local group has called it "Old Daddy" for 15+ years in honor of Sam - a local that has been hiking and trail running and trail “tidying” on McKee since about 2000 – so pretty close to 20 years.


Some more info on Sam:

Over the 20 years, he has hiked with friends and family, trail run by himself and in groups and gone on many adventures with his grandchildren. For years now, Sam has been leading a group of friends on regular weekly walks and hikes all over the mountain – this group is known as the Artificial Hipsters. His family has come up with a lot of their own names for different sections of the mountain, including the Thunder Mountain Railroad up along the cave wall which they named after the Disney ride. That’s on Upper Ambidextrous and they are sure to make the train ride sound effects when out for Sunday morning trail runs. That’s sisters in their 40’s with their Old Daddy pretending they are on a roller coaster while out trail running.

Sam has always loved treasure maps and treasure hunting, pirates and Indiana Jones – his family loves how that part of him never grew up and how he has passed that love of adventure on to his children and grandchildren. There have definitely been some fun times for this family on McKee, such as Indiana Jones adventures with the grandkids, trail runs that truly feel like an adventure or a ride instead of exercise and even a birthday treasure hunt for the Old Daddy himself earlier in 2019. The Old Daddy trail was named about 15 years ago by Sam's Grandson during one of the Indiana Jones adventures. That section of trail used to have a rope to help pull yourself up in case it was muddy or slippery as part of it was fairly steep. I guess his grandson thought the rope was pretty cool and figured this small, steep section of trail should be named after his tough old Grandad. Old Daddy, another name for Sam is what his grandson called the trail and that just stuck. And since the trail never had an official name show up anywhere, Sam’s family and friends all know it to be the Old Daddy too.

This trail is unsanctioned.