Friday May 10, 18.8mi/30.3km

Hertline campsite (1201.1) to Hamburg (1219.9) (PA)

It was a short day before town, and I was excited about all the food options, so it was easy to wake up early. Bob and I packed up and hiked out at 7am. The miles flew by on easy trail, with a pretty flat elevation profile.

Of course it was foggy again. This seems to be the pattern in PA.

There really wasn’t much to see in the green tunnel, and the one viewpoint was just thick fog. By the end of the morning, the rocks that Pennsylvania is famous for had started.

The last couple of miles were rocky, and then there was a steep descent to town.

The trail goes right thru Port Clinton, which seemed like a depressing little town.

I picked up my new shoes at the post office, and then Bob and I got a ride into nearby Hamburg. It had every chain restaurant imaginable, a couple hotels, walmart, and more. We went to the Cabelas first, a national chain of outfitters for hunting/fishing. This one was fuccillo-sized (huuuge)!

Afterwards we went to resupply groceries, and eat dinner at Red Robin (bottomless salad and fries!). People often ask what hiking food I buy, so here’s a photo. Lots of variety!

It was a nice night in town, and staying indoors at the Microtel while it drizzled outside.

Thursday May 9, 23.6mi/38.0km

Rausch Gap shelter (1177.8) to Hertline Campsite (1201.1) (PA) + 0.3mi side trail

I woke up last of everyone in the shelter, and surprisingly got started hiking first. Immediately there was a detour around a flooded section of trail, due to beaver activity.

The trail stayed low in some fields in the morning, and went thru Swatara Gap state park.

There was a cool old bridge at the end of the park. It looked like it used to be a car bridge, since it was so over-engineered for hiking use.

I caught up to Bob, who had passed me earlier, and also met Beth. We took a quick break, but didn’t linger as it wasn’t that warm out today. But, I warmed up quickly, as soon as we passed under the interstate (I-81, one last time), there was a big 1000ft climb.

Up on the ridge, the fog was even thicker. There really wasn’t much to see in the green tunnel all afternoon.

There were these bright orange salamanders crawling all over the trail. They didn’t seem to be bothered by people, or attempt to flee at all.

As the day went on, the fog started to thin, and by 5pm, there was almost a view!

Just before camp, an actual view. Looking south.

At camp, the remaining available tent platform was a little small, so Bob and I squeezed our tents (Big Agnes fly creek, Tarptent rainbow) onto the single platform.

Hopefully tomorrow’s forecasted rain holds off until we get to town!

Wednesday May 8, 29.0mi/46.7km

Duncannon (1149.1) to Rausch Gap shelter (1177.8) (PA) +0.3mi side trail

I woke up in the church basement, and had a nice hot shower to start the day. There was even a little kitchen to prepare breakfast, but I only have non-cook foods for breakfast. I walked out of town shortly after 7:30am, crossing the Susquehanna River.

There was a climb back up to the ridge, which was surprisingly not rocky, just had a lot of rock steps!

Up on the ridge, there were only a couple of views all morning.

Looking northwest.Also northwest, but with powerlines!

I passed a shelter early on, so I didn’t stop, but it had a funny sign. Someone has been putting these eyes on signs for the last 500 miles!

Most of the day was a green tunnel.

Even when the trail followed a nice mulch road for a mile, it was still a tunnel.

I stopped for an early lunch at a shelter. This one was huge, two floors!

I hadn’t seen any people all day, so in the afternoon I listened to podcasts for some human voices. It was mostly a nice walk in the woods, with surprisingly smooth trail. I know the rocky trail is coming, but I’m grateful for every day that I can cruise along on a smooth one.

There was a trail junction, and it had pink blazes! Now I know what all this “pink blazing” is about… 🙂

Many of the water sources in the afternoon looked like this. Kinda orange, maybe some kind of mineral?

And there was a cool landmark at the end of the day, a monument marker for the western terminus of the Horse-shoe trail. It’s a 120-mile trail that starts near Philadelphia, in Valley Forge NP. I had spent some time hiking on it like 10 years ago, and forgotten it existed.I cruised another 5 miles, and arrived to the shelter at 6pm. There wasn’t any flat spots for a tent, so I slept in the shelter with 4 other dudes. One of which was Bob! I caught up to him!

Tuesday May 7, 26.1mi/42.0km

Boiling Springs Backpacker camp (1123.0) to Duncannon (1149.1) (PA)

I was excited about breakfast, so I was out of camp by 7am, and sitting at a table in the Cafe 101 by 7:30am. The trail goes right thru the village of Boiling Springs, with a large pond along the way.

After a delicious chorizo breakfast burrito, I was on my way. Today was another warm humid day in the green tunnel.

Today was mostly flat walking through farm fields, as the trail crossed the Cumberland valley.

The trail also crossed many small roads, railroads, and even a couple of interstates today.

I-76, looking west (toward Pittsburgh).

I-81, looking towards Harrisburg.

One of my more exciting moments of today was walking through a field of cows. Hi cows!

There was also a long marshy section along a river. The boardwalk was definitely appreciated.

The water sources weren’t great today, mostly streams with agricultural runoff, and the occasional cow trough. CDT style!

Towards the end of the day, the trail re-entered the forest, and climbed up a ridge. The views are kind of obstructed by the leafy trees.

The view from Hawk rock.

Looking down on the village of Duncannon.

I descended down into Duncannon. It felt a little depressing, kind of a sad old place.

Of course, I had to stop by the famous Doyle hotel, known for its dilapidated state. I had dinner at the bar, but didn’t spend the night.

After a surprisingly good meal, I continued on another half mile, and stayed at a local church that welcomes hikers. Long day!

Monday May 6, 22.5mi/36.2km

Tom’s Run shelter (1100.5) to Boiling Springs Backpacker camp (1123.0) (PA)

I said goodbye to the other three hikers in the shelter, and hiked out at 7:45am. I was in no hurry, since the General store and AT museum opened at 9am and they were only 3 miles away. It was a nice warm sunny morning, such a change from yesterday’s weather!

When I got to the Pine Grove general store, they were closed! Apparently they are only open on weekends until mid-May. This was the store where hikers celebrate being halfway done by trying to eat a half gallon of ice cream. Given how much I love ice cream, this was pretty much the saddest thing ever.

In hindsight, starting the AT in mid-march was bad advice – many things are still closed for the season! Starting April 1 would be much better…

At least the AT museum was open. It was pretty neat, with lots of displays about the trails history, early hikers, and the gear used.

After 30 minutes I continued on, and just in time too. A school field trip had just arrived with a hundred kids!

The trail was nice all morning as it meandered thru Pine Grove Furnace state park.

At lunch, I stopped by a general store in Mt Holly Springs.

They even had Birch beer, which I love and used to drink all the time on road trips thru Pennsylvania. So I had pop and a milkshake, haha.

In the afternoon, there was a short bit of roadwalk, maybe a quarter mile.

And then a short rocky bit, but it was fun scrambling over the big rocks.

The trail smoothed out again after.

I came around a corner, and there was a massive rattlesnake. It was mortally wounded, but still half-alive, poor thing.

After the snake, I was watching out for more of them. But, the trail left the forest and went thru farm fields for the last couple of miles of the day.

It reminded me of the Te Araroa, farm fields, cow smells, and no camping allowed. I camped just outside of the town of Boiling Springs, at a campsite they have setup for hikers. Three older guys from Kentucky were also camping there, and it was fun to talk to them at dinner. They had thru hiked together in 2016, and had lots of good advice. The campsite is nice, and free, but it’s also only 150ft/50m from train tracks, so it will be interesting to see how late the trains run tonight!

Sunday May 5, 14.3mi/23.0km

Locust Gap Rd (1086.2) to Tom’s Run shelter (1100.5) (PA)

It felt great to sleep in late until 7:30am, and even better to not have to put shoes on to get breakfast! After one last shower and some final packing, we drove back to the trailhead. It was 11am and lightly raining, so it was a quick goodbye.

It was a quiet day on trail, and I saw almost no one. I passed by a shelter after a mile, and it was one of the nicest ones I’ve seen in awhile. Cooking pavilion, benches, flowers, multiple campfire rings, etc.

I continued on, and it started to rain more steadily.

I met one couple at the next shelter, who had stopped early at 2pm. I grabbed a snack and a break there, under a dry roof. The next shelter was only 6 miles away, so I continued on. Along the way, I passed the halfway mark!

It was last year’s marker, so it was off by a few tenths of a mile, since the trail changes slightly every year. But close enough!

There was a burn area at the top of a hill. The sign said that Pennsylvania’s DNR had done a prescribed burn here in the Micheaux forest.

I got to the shelter at 5:15pm, and one other guy was there, Max from Toronto. Another couple showed up at 7pm, and we had a full house! The rain should stop tonight, so hopefully it’s a dry day tomorrow.

Saturday May 4, 0mi/0km

Chambersburg PA (1086.2)

Today was a fun relaxing day! After a couple of errands to the post office and buying a fuel can, we visited historic downtown Chambersburg.

The old county jail offered tours, and it was a cool way to explore the history.

The jail had huge thick doors, with a 200-year old key.

The yard was used for prisoner exercise, and the occasional execution by hanging.

After the tour, it was time for dinner, and the Kentucky derby.

I also did a quick resupply at Giant (mediocre grocery store). It’s only 2.5 days to the next town of Duncannon, so it’s a nice small amount of food to carry.

It has rained all day and night, and it’s supposed to stop tomorrow afternoon. It’s been a great weekend of relaxing with the fam, and staying dry indoors!

Friday May 3, 20.9mi/33.6km

Campsite S of Penmar Park MD (1065.3) to Locust Gap Rd PA (1086.2)

My family is coming down to visit today! They were planning to arrive at 3pm. Thunderstorms were also forecast to start at 3pm, so I had plenty of reasons to get an early start!

It was another warm morning, with very dense fog. The trail was quite and smooth nice again.

After a half mile, I walked through Penmar Park, which sits on the state line, and was the site of a small amusement park until the 1930s.

I continued on another few minutes to… the Mason-Dixon line! I had officially entered the north, and Pennsylvania! 6 states done, 8 to go!

It was only 7:30am, so there were no other people around, good thing I packed my selfie arm.

There were many small road crossings all morning, and Pennsylvania has these cool signs at each crossing.

I stopped for a 2nd breakfast break at a shelter, since they always have nice places to sit.

This one actually had two shelters! One labeled “snoring” and other “non- snoring”. Haha!

There was one lookout point called Chimney Rock. Because of the dense fog, there wasn’t much to see.

Finally, around noon, the fog burned off, and I had a sunny ridgewalk!

It quickly got hot, so when I got to another park a couple of hours later, I took a quick dip in the river. Caledonia state park also had a pool, but it wasn’t open for the season yet.

I was ahead of schedule, so I continued on another 1.5 miles, so I would have less to do on Sunday. Unfortunately, the “road” I was planning on being picked up at, wasn’t a road any longer. It looks like it hadn’t been a road in 20 years!

Oops. So I walked on a side trail a half mile to a trailhead parking lot, and it all worked out! I hadn’t seen my parents since last September, so it was a fun reunion spot! We went into town in Fayetteville, and had a nice dinner as the forecasted storms started. Perfect timing, and a great day!

Happy birthday Jeff!

Thursday May 2, 24.4mi/39.3km

Rocky Run shelter (1040.9) to Campsite S of Penmar Park (1065.3) (MD)

The day started out very foggy. At 7:30am, this is what the trail looked like:

By 9am, the fog was starting to burn off, but the air was already so humid.

The Maryland DNR says the fire danger is low. Also, I find it disturbing that Smokey wears pants and a hat, but no shirt.

A couple of hours into the day, I came to the Washington monument state park. It was built in 1827, long before the famous obelisk in DC.

Unfortunately, it was currently under construction, so I didn’t get to go inside.

All morning, I had been seeing these caterpillars. Not sure what kind they are.

Just before lunchtime, I crossed another interstate. I-70 is the main route from Baltimore to the west (goes all the way to Denver!), and for some reason there was standstill traffic at 11am on a Thursday.

I stopped for lunch a couple miles later, at Black Rock viewpoint. It was sunny and 70F/21C – perfect weather.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, just lots of hiking in a green tunnel. The only two hikers I met all day was the duo of Totem (from Texas) and Snail Mail (Connecticut).

At the very end of the day, there was another viewpoint called High Rock ledges. It was covered in graffiti, and felt kinda trashy. Probably because there was a parking lot 100ft away…

I descended from the ledge and hiked on another couple of miles before finding a spot suitable for camping. The next shelter was another 5 miles, but I opted to stop here after a 24 mile day.

Wednesday May 1, 19.7mi/31.7km

Four-mile tentsite WV (1021.2) to Rocky Run shelter MD (1040.9)

The rain had stopped after midnight last night, and the wind dried off the tent nicely. I was hiking by 7:30am, to make it to the ATC headquarters by 9am when they opened. The trail started off very rocky.

It wasn’t far to town, only 4 miles.

I crossed a bridge over the Shenandoah River, it felt like the grand entryway to town.

I got to Harper’s Ferry a little early, so I did some tourist-ing around town.

I walked over to the ATC (appalachian trail conservancy) building, and they invited me in and gave a tour.

They also take a photo of each hiker for the archives/yearbook, which is pretty neat. I was hiker #838 in Georgia at the start, now I’m #71.

I got my resupply box, washed up, and continued on to finish exploring town.

I stopped at a deli for lunch, and of course also had an ice cream sundae. The walk out of town was over another bridge, over the Potomac River.

And with that, I was in Maryland! The trail followed the river on the C&O canal towpath for 3 miles.

Then, up up up to a ridge. Since it was so foggy today, there were no views. I did get to walk through Gathland state park.

The trail was mostly smooth, but would have occasional brief sections of rockiness.

I arrived to the shelter at 5:30pm, and found a couple of other hikers already there, Molasses and Redwood Rambler. Dominique (Netherlands) arrived a few minutes later. A couple other flip-flop hikers from NYC arrived too. Seems like I will be seeing more hikers now, since there were many flip-floppers starting in Harpers Ferry this week. Good thing all these Maryland shelters are huge!