Day 26 - Sunday, March 21, 2021

Today is going to be another good day to hike. Morning temperature was 25° and skies were clear. It’s going to be a brisk start.

The trails will be busy again with day hikers. We are also seeing more section hikers as the weather improves.


Today we are hiking from Skyline 90, Riprap Parking Area (881.3 NoBo) to Skyline 99.5, Beagle Gap Parking Area (869.7 NoBo) totaling 11.6 miles.


We began hiking at 8:25 am.



Trail to Calf Mountain Shelter.



Stone cairn trail marker. Strategically placing the white marble in the middle for a “blaze”.





Spring trail marker at Jarman's Gap. Locating reliable water to replenish our supply will be critical on warmer days.



A little something left behind by a Trail Angel. Usually, they are not empty though 🥴.




Another beautiful day for a walk in the woods...



We finished  hiking at 1:55 pm and the temperature was 54° with sunny skies. 

Todays hike completed  the AT along Skyline Drive. Sunday we will continue hiking along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Till next time... Happy Hiking  🥾 

😋

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 163 - Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Image
Looks like we may get wet the next couple days but short of a hurricane we will be hiking to stay on track for an October 8th completion of our thru hike 🙏🏻.  Today was not quite a “Nero” but it was a coincidence that it was shorter aligning with our slack packing parking 😉. We hiked  from  PA 645 (1194.0 NoBo) to Pass Under PA 72 & Across PA 443 (1183.2 NoBo) for a total of 10.8 miles. We began hiking at 9:00 am under threatening skies. Pre-gaming thanks to some Trail Magic left in the parking lot. Since before I have been on the trail I can’t recall the last time I drank a real Coke or any soda for that matter; it’s nearly the norm now as you want to consume all the carbs you can 🤭. And it was too early for the PBR 😂. Crossing the old canal at Swatara Gap. Going underneath I-81. The trail wasn’t as rocky today… and I’m not complaining 🥵. Turtle Power is doing his part to save the environment as he has a new aversion of killing every Spotted Laternfly  he ...
Read more

Day 95 - Friday, June 25, 2021

Image
There are definitely pros and cons when you compare sleeping in a shelter vs sleeping in your tent. Some pros are:  you will stay drier in inclement weather in a shelter (notice I didn’t say “dry”,  just drier or not as wet 🙄) , you can break camp quicker in the am - not packing up a tent, you have more room (if shelter isn’t crowded) and a biggie is -  you can take a chance and hope to always use the shelters and not pack a tent optimizing base pack weight (this could also be the #1 con if you had to sleep outside in the rain w/o a tent 🤭) just to name a few.  Some cons are: sleeping on a hard floor - which I believe is the #1 con against shelters (getting a good nights sleep is key to rest and rejuvenate your weary body), could be noisy, the little varmints 🐁 sneaking around in the middle of the night,  some hikers don’t have a clue about maintaining their “personal” space or they just don’t care, on occasion you have to deal with some “personalities” (I ju...
Read more

The Final Chapter

Image
My favorite scene on the Appalachian Trail near Petites Gap/Highcock Knob, VA, March 26, 2021 (Day 31). Reaching Springer Mountain, the Southern Terminus, June 13, 2021 (Day 90). Summiting Mt. Katahdin, the Northern Terminus, August 25, 2021 (Day 131). Completing our thru hike at Harpers Ferry on October 9, 2021 (Day 174). In the Beginning … This adventure actually started about two years ago in the fall of 2019 when Jim asked me about how I’d like to hike the Appalachian Trail with him. I gave it a good 2 seconds of consideration before I wasn’t politically correct at all in my answer telling him NO…LOL. I was just getting over an injury with my right Achilles tendon as I ruptured it a couple years prior and long distance hiking was the farthest thing on my mind to do.  Now lets back up about 57 years when Jim and I first met. His dad owned and operated a local campground, Coldbrook Campsites in Port Leyden, New York. Port Leyden was also the home of my father and he knew Jim’s da...
Read more