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!

Tuesday April 30, 21.0mi/33.8km

Campsite near Buzzard Hill VA (1000.2) to Four-mile tentsite WV (1021.2)

I accidentally got a late start this morning, and by the time I started hiking at 8:30am, it was already 75F/24C and humid. Ugh. And with the lower elevation, it really felt like a green tunnel.

I made slow progress all morning on the “roller coaster” a series of steep climbs and descents. I got to a road crossing at noon, and saw the trailhead information board. Some elementary school kids had put jokes up for hikers to read. Stuff like “I made a hiking playlist, I call it a trail mix. It has a lot of Eminem”. Amazing!

Across the street, I caught some trail magic! I hung out for awhile, and Oates and Groot (two other thrus) showed up as well.

After an hour of nice conversation, and some hot dogs, pop, and chips, I hiked on to finish the roller coaster. And then, I finally finished the Virginia section, and entered West Virginia! Woo-hoo, 4 states done!

There was one nice viewpoint all day, so I stopped and took a break there.

The rest of the afternoon was super flat trail up on a ridge, and it went by fast.

There were occasionally some view spots, but it was so humid, all I could see was a cloud.

What a shocking view. 🙂

I got to a campsite at 6:30pm, and quickly setup my tent as I could hear thunder in the distance. Tomorrow is Harpers Ferry, the “mental halfway point”!

Monday April 29, 23.5mi/37.8km

Denton shelter (976.7) to campsite near Buzzard Hill (1000.2) (VA)

There were only four hikers in this huge shelter last night!

I hiked out around 7:30, and it was a nice morning of meadows and forest.

History happened here!

After a couple of hours, I could hear a busy road. I crossed under the I-66 freeway, and took a break at the trailhead.

I met two thru-hikers, J3 and Shiner, from Arizona and Tennessee, respectively. They are two guys who met on trail and were so much fun to talk to. I finished my snack and started up the next climb. About a mile in, a dog came out of the woods and started following me!

After awhile, she let me get close enough to read her collar tags. I saw her name was Grace, and I called her owner. He was an older gentleman, who was down in the parking lot. So I turned around and walked south with Grace for awhile, and with the help of some other day hikers, got Grace back down the hill to her owner!

Back at the top of the hill, the forest suddenly became full of flowers.They are Trilliums!

Trilliums and Mayapples.

After this area, I ran into a guy who had just stumbled out of the woods. He was looking for morels (mushrooms) and now he couldn’t find his way back to his car. I showed him several maps, and walked with him until the correct side trail, where he turned off. The rest of the day had less people, as I entered Sky Meadows state park.

There was one more road crossing, highway 50. It was a familiar road, as our college XC team had run this road in 2004 as part of a transcontinental relay. (Google “RIT coast to coast run”, or check out Ryan Pancoast’s book.)

I ran into Turbo a few times throughout the afternoon, but no sign of the other thrus I have been hiking with recently. We entered a section called the Roller Coaster, which is 14 miles of many short but steep up/downs.

I hiked for another 5 miles, so I would have only 9 miles of roller coaster to do tomorrow, when the weather is hotter. I stopped at 6:30pm, at a nice flat spot and set up my tent. I think this is the first night I have camped alone in Virginia!

Sunday April 28, 23.6mi/38.0km

Range View cabin (953.1) to Denton shelter (976.7) (VA)

The day started early and went by quickly! We packed up our makeshift shelter, and we’re hiking by 7:30am. It was a cold-ish start to the morning, but quickly warmed to 60F/16C. The valleys had a cool undercast look.

Up at 3500ft, springtime is just starting…

Down below looks greener.

Looking down into the Shenandoah valley.

The last climb in Shenandoah Park was up Compton mountain, which had these cool volcanic columns. They looked just like the ones in Devils Postpile on the PCT!

And I finally saw a bear! Everyone else had seen one in the park.

Then the path started descending, and getting greener…

And greener…

Just before the road, there was a cooler with trail magic, from a local couple from Front Royal VA!

As the trail approached the road, there were more signs of manmade structures too.

At the trailhead, there was the usual trail information, but also some cute artwork from the local elementary school kids.

I stopped for a break and afternoon snack at a hostel, called the Mountain Home Cabbin. It was a very nice place, recently renovated, and with many kinds of snacks, ice cream, pizza, drinks for hikers to buy. It’s even a B&B too! From there, it was a quick 4 mile hike to the next shelter, which was a huge 10-person building.

I arrived at 7pm, and Turbo, Lightfoot, and Cedar were there. The temperature had already dropped to 50F, it’s a great sleeping night!

Saturday April 27, 23.4mi/37.7km

Rock Spring Shelter (929.7) to Range view cabin (953.1) (VA)

I woke up to a shelter full of people, apparently a couple more hikers arrived in the middle of the night. I left at 7:30am, and it was cold enough for gloves and a hat. The trail stayed on the edge of a steep ridge, so I had some views today.

After 4 miles, I got to the wayside cafe that served a breakfast buffet. My stomach was feeling a bit off, so I skipped it and had some cookies at a picnic table. There was a sign nearby, presumably for animals. But it also works for hikers!

The trail resumed from the picnic area in a confusing way. Blue AND white blaze?

After a few miles, the trail entered a more touristy part of the park. There were heaps of both views and tourists.

Apparently the Appalachian trail is only 2000 miles long? Haha!

At the next picnic area, someone had left a fork in the road… at a fork in the road! That had to be on purpose…

For two miles, the trail was packed full of people. Must be a weekend. Fortunately, the last 5 miles of the day was almost empty.

Flowers!

I think there was a bear here, though..

I stopped for dinner at the Elkwallow wayside Cafe, and Lightfoot was already there. Cedar showed up at dinner too, and we had salads and milkshakes and burgers. The last half mile to camp was a slog, with a full stomach. We made it to our planned camp spot, but there was a group of boy scouts there. They told us about a nearby locked cabin, and we camped on the porch to escape the rain forecast for tonight. Perfect!