The Way I Go Along The Appalachian Trail

Todays forecast is calling for showers all day but the radar does show a break in the rain so we are trying to take advantage of that window. Mor ning temperature was 43°. The rain will definitely effect the snow pack we experienced yesterday making it easier to hike. The snow should be completely gone by tomorrow.  We are hiking today, continuing from the Blackburn AT Center (1013.5 NoBo) to Snickers Gap (1006.1 NoBo) which is in a section called the “roller coaster” because  of the continuous tightly packed ascents and descents (13.5 miles total length). We will hike the northern 3.5 miles of it today. Then if we have time and depending on how much wetter we feel like getting, we will hike the remaining section north from Route 340 Bridge in Harpers Ferry (1025.1 NoBo) north through Harpers Ferry and past the Appalachian Trail Conservancy to the Potomac River, Byron Memorial Footbridge (1026.3 NoBo) which is also the WV-Maryland state border. We finally started hiking at 11:...

The morning   temperature was 35° and it was overcast. It rained throughout the night. The forecast is 45% chance of showers in am; freezing rain in higher elevations but it is expected to clear in the afternoon and get into the high 50’s. Today we are hiking from Route 340, bridge over Shenandoah River in Harpers Ferry, WV (1025.1 NoBo) to the Blackburn AT Center, VA  (1013.5 NoBo) for a total of 11.6 miles.   We will complete this segment of the trail in West Virginia and enter Virginia at 1023.6 NoBo. The AT is in West Virginia for only 4.0 miles but crosses  the VA-WV state border twice.   We began hiking at 9:51 am.  We had a late start due to parking. We had to hike a mile from below the Blackburn AT Center as there was 6”-8” of snow and we couldn’t access the upper parking lot. The AT Handbook neglected to mention that access is seasonal.    I thought bears were in hibernation this time of the year? Just to give you an idea how big the bea...

We are finally getting back on the trail - hallelujah!   Due to the past winter storms we were forced to abandon the AT in Glenwood, New Jersey and then  a secondary system delayed Jim getting his second vaccination for nearly a week.  Fortunately the snow pack was not as extensive as we originally thought and thanks to some warmer weather we are able to resume our hiking at Harpers Ferry, WV; which consequently is also the site of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Headquarters & Visitors Center.   So today is a travel day. Traveling  6 hours to Charles Town, WV.  Our  vehicles are packed full with all our equipment and provisions to stay out for the remainder of the thru-hike.  As much as we are excited to be back on the trail, I am dealing with an annoying physical issue.  While biking in Florida last week passing the time off the trail, I had to stop unexpectedly (or didn’t stop rather).  I didn’t release my right foot from my ped...

The state’s of  New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and parts of North and South Carolina experienced a winter storm from January 30th to February 2nd. These areas received anywhere from 6”- 24” of snow. This storm severely impacted the Appalachian Trail Corridor’s hiking.  We suspended our thru hike to evaluate  where we can reasonably resume hiking.  It appears that we may have to jump to Virginia to continue our thru-hike, then complete the sections we skipped when we flip-flop.  We are planning on resuming around February 20th.  Till next time... Happy Hiking 🥾  😋