Day 168 - Monday, September 27, 2021


It wasn’t as cool this morning as it was yesterday, but if it gets much cooler a second layer and a pair of gloves would be standard equipment to begin my hikes.  I’m hoping we will be able to complete our thru hike before I have to use them 🥴🥶. 

Doing the 19.8 mile hike today will definitely make our hiking schedule much easier too. Tomorrow’s forecast has slightly improved so we might even dodge that bullet as well, but I’ll have my rain gear just in case ☔️. 


Today we are hiking from Pine Grove Furnace SP, AT Museum (1104.6 NoBo) to US 30 (1084.8 NoBo) for a total of 19.8 miles.

We began hiking at 7:15 am.





Local stream in Caledonia State Park.



Rhododendrons.




 
Quarry Gap Shelter.




The Forest Gnomes have reappeared.





Birch Run Shelter.



AT Midpoint (2018).  The trail length and alignment is always subject to change due to emergency detours, realigned for reforestation purposes, etc. The trail length has increased by 12.1 since then to it’s current length of 2193.1 miles. 



PATC Milesburn Cabin; they can be rented by the public.





The trails were milder today but there were sections of rock. 




Toms Run Shelter. This section of trail must be popular and get a lot of use as the shelters are closer to each  than normal. 





We finished hiking at 4:45 pm. We hit another couple trail milestones today. With today’s hike we exceeded 2100 total trail miles  (2103.9 miles) and we have less than 100 trail miles remaining (89.2 miles). This journey is starting to get real which makes me even more cautious as I know  “you are always just one step from leaving the trail.” 



Appalachian Trail Countdown:
Total trail miles: 2103.9 miles
Trail miles left to go: 89.2 miles

Till next time... Happy Hiking    🥾 

😋


“Acts of generosity in this wild and primitive setting…where basic amenities…are intentionally absent–are often received in a heightened sense of wonder and gratitude by hikers. These acts of generosity are referred to as “trail magic.”

                   (Appalachian Trail Conservancy)



Comments

  1. Joe ArcuriSeptember 30, 2021 at 6:22 AM

    Dang, Splinter! Those are some decent looking shelters! MILES REMAINING 89.2!!!! 💪🏼🎉🎉🍻🍻

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 107A & B - Sunday/Monday, July 18-19, 2021

Image
Sunday’s “Zero” was a nice break. We took  this time to  do laundry and finish our tentative hiking itinerary that takes us through the Whites, over the President’s and into Maine. New Hampshire and Maine have their own system on the AMC website where you need reservations to stay at Huts and Lean-to’s aka shelters. But of course their on-line reservations is not working, let’s blame that on the pandemic, and they are not open on Sunday’s. We have to call tomorrow to finalize our reservations. Hopefully the Huts & Lean-to’s have vacancies for the dates we need?   Out next hike will take us over three days & two nights continuing from Franconia Notch (1820.0 NoBo) to RR Tracks, parking, Ethan Pond Pond Trail (1847.4) for a total of 27.4 miles. Due to the parking logistics we are hiking this section SoBo. This hike will also complete our approach to Mt. Washington.  We wake up today, Monday, and it’s pouring…. still, again 😵‍💫! So we decide to drive to the Et...
Read more

Day 71 - Friday, May 21, 2021

Image
We ended up staying  another night  at the Mountain Inn & Suites... even Turtle Power is a great supporter of  the “Platinum” Slack Packing Package. I was shocked when he suggested that we stay another night in the hotel rather than go camping 🥱. Who am I to never not take advantage of 4 walls and a roof over my head, an actual real and comfortable bed, indoor plumbing and a hot shower; not to mention WiFi, TV and breakfast? My Momma did not raise no fool 😉.  I think we are going to camp at a hostel tonight. Spring is definitely here. Daytime temps are now forecasted to be in the 70’s & 80’s with nighttime temps not dropping below the 50’s. No rain is in sight for the next several days - but that could always change. 🙃 Today we continued  hiking from  Sam’s Gap, US 23, I-26 (319.7 NoBo) to Devils Fork Gap, NC 212 (311.0 NoBo) for a total of 8.7  miles. We began hiking at 10 am and started off with a 3 mile long climb of nearly +1400 feet cha...
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