Tag Archives: Appalachian Trail

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Meeting Up with the Southbound Niblings!

Thru-hiking the 2190 plus miles of the Appalachian Trail is a grand undertaking and surely a test of mind and body! Catnap and Sweet Tooth, my niblings, are completing a thru-hike this year. They started at Katahdin, in Maine, and are hiking south. I planned to meet up with them as soon as they came within range of my area. Last week they appeared on my radar! We were messaging back and forth and planned in advance to meet up on Sunday. The morning dawned bright and beautiful, a wonderful day to meet up with Catnap an Sweet Tooth, as they passed through Pine Grove Furnace State Park, approximately half-way on their southbound AT journey!

You might be asking yourself…what is a nibling? Nibling is a non-gendered term for niece/nephew. There are three great people in this story, who are all adult children of my siblings, and they all have different pronouns, so niblings it is!

The first nibling, Izzy, my nephew, had stayed overnight at my house. We were up early and headed out the door just in time for an 11:00 meet up. Pine Grove Furnace State Park is about a two hour drive from my house in western Maryland and it was great to have Izzy as company for the drive!

Reaching Pine Grove, we spotted and joyously celebrated with Catnap & Sweet Tooth (because of course they got there first)! They had toured the little AT Museum and highly recommended it for anyone who has not been to visit. As we talked, we walked. Right back to my car where the requested goodies were. Bananas and chocolate chip cookies were on the requested list…but I threw in some salmon jerky and powdered electrolytes, as well. Nothing was refused! …nom, nom, nom…😍

The Niblings

*Sidenote* – my hiking pal Queen V now volunteers on the weekend at the museum and is a GREAT person to tap for information regarding the trail!

Ok, back to the niblings! We all moved on over to the Pine Grove store for lunch. This is the home of the “half-gallon challenge” where some thru-hikers will eat a half gallon of ice cream. Catnap told us the evidence of this could be found at the first north bound shelter past Pine Grove. 😝 Interestingly, Catnap and Sweet Tooth abstained!

As we sat down, Catnap told us she had lost her wallet along the trail, so that was a point of concern. She had posted on the FarOut app. I assured her that things get found and told her about my friend, Roxanne, who had lost her phone a couple times along the trail and has gotten it back every time! I loved sitting there on the porch of the store listening to trail tails as they retold harrowing experiences of the crazy flooding in the northeast and the male hikers that had been dubbed the “dude bros”(not a complimentary term, fyi)! 😂I hated to wrap up lunch but it was getting late and these thru-hikers needed to hike! We made a plan for Izzy and me to drive up to the Michaux Road trail crossing and hike in to the half-way point sign to wait for Catnap & Sweet Tooth to CELEBRATE!!!

At the Michaux Road Crossing with Izzy
Easy and lovely walking along the AT to the Half-Way Point Sign

It was amazing to meet up and share part of their AT journey with them! The day after meeting up with them I received a message on Instagram, tell Catnap to check her dm, we found her wallet!!!!! The BEST kind of trail magic!

Sweet Tooth & Catnap!

Catnap & Sweet Tooth are now long gone and moving fast through the easier terrain south of the half-way point. They took 80 days to hike from Katahdin to Pine Grove and that was the hard part! I assured them they weren’t going to hit any of the big mountains for quite awhile, so picking up speed and miles per day is assured. Last I heard they hit a personal best of 28 miles! If you are on the trail, don’t blink or you might miss them!

Love you Catnap & Sweet Tooth! Hike on! ❤

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Weekend Do-over Needed ASAP!

Currently immersed in Teacher Week…or “administrator week” as my partner, who is also a teacher, called it this morning. 😏 So…after a day of attending professional development sessions that our admin thought might be useful, I am cooked. The last session was on health and wellness … I skipped it … for my health and wellness! 🤣 Time to exit the building and start home. My commute was spent reminiscing on a quick overnight trip I led for Trail Dames last weekend along the Appalachian Trail.

This was truly a quick, low mileage, backpacking trip giving us the opportunity to relax and unwind. Another teacher, besides me, came along and I bet she is also holding the weekend close this week as she prepares for her incoming 5th graders!

We started at the Appalachian Trail crossing on Rt. 233 near Caledonia State Park. A very small pull off with space for two cars. We had a group of five, so only one car and one spot needed. I crossed my fingers that no one would block the car in overnight (no one did).

A jolly bunch of Dames we were as we started down the trail just after 8:00 AM. The last of the cool air was dissipating as we started the climb to Chimney Rock. The change in temperature as the sun rose above the ridge was palpable. Ohhh, it was going to be a hot day! Many a break was taken as we plowed uphill to the overlook. Mostly in the shade, the trail takes a gentle uphill path, but when temps rise into the upper 80s and humidity increases without bound, it is a butt-kicker!

Chimney Rock has a lovely view, but you have to climb to the top of the rocks for it. One Dame was a little fearful of the climb so she stayed down in the shade eating her lunch. By the end, however, fear of missing out overtook the fear of the climb! And while she did not go ALL the way to the top, she did push her own boundaries and got close! 🎉 That is what Trail Dames is all about…providing a safe space for women to get out there and try things…climb that mountain, cross the creek, camp, backpack, and have a great time!

The descent to Tumbling Run Shelter was as long as anticipated. When I arrived at the shelter, there was already someone there with a big tent (like a car camping tent) set up by the creek and music blaring. Ohhhhh nooooo, I had wondered about weekend party campers since this shelter area is close to a road crossing. Hoping this would not be a loud night, and ignoring the camper, I turned away from the creek and headed back to check out the group camp site.

Amazing site!!! We quickly set up while exclaiming our sheer delight at this site. Six nice tent pads, picnic table, benches, and firepit. It was better than a lot of car camping sites I’ve seen!

We lounged around the site all afternoon. Absolutely wonderful! In the later afternoon, we had a visit from Kurt, who is a member of the family that maintains the shelter area, and has maintained it since 1991. He gave us the history of Tumbling Run Shelter, how he and his family keep the weekend party campers away, and how the creation of the beautiful group site came to be! What a treat to have him take the time to chat with us!

Once he had left, I headed up to the shelter/privy and noticed that the camper with the music blaring was gone, along with the big tent. Much applause for Kurt!!

Kurt also made sure we knew storms were forecasted (we knew) …and sure enough right about 11:00 pm the wind whipped up, lightning lit up the forest, and thunder rolled through the mountains. We were never in the bullseye, just a good ole storm! It stopped before dawn giving a nice dry pack up and walk out. 🙌

The sunbeams through the raindrop laden trees was a perfectly magical sendoff.

But, yeah, I could go for a do-over right now! 🥾🥾Hike on!

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AT – NJ Sunrise Mountain to NJ 284

A whirlwind of a weekend! As Chair of a community college math department I have been BUSY. Scheduling my auto-response email message Friday morning, I let out a sigh of relief. This weekend was mine. 🏃‍♀️

Bear Spray, Akela, and I made High Point State Park our base camp. Akela would be hiking with me; Bear Spray offered to camp and shuttle us to trail heads. If you section hike, you know the time suck that accompanies moving cars every morning. It was a treat to have Bear Spray as our shuttle driver!

Friday we hung out at the campsite on Sawmill Lake. Bear Spray and I had camped here in 2019. My dog, Sidekick Pauli, had been along for that adventure. Since she was not able to hike long distances anymore, I had shuttled Bear Spray to a trail head. What comes around goes around! I loved Sawmill Lake then because it felt remote and the campsite we had that year was pretty nicely secluded. I believe it was site 4, if you’re interested. This time, I came away not so enamored! We camped at the only site left at the time I registered, site 11. This site would be good for a group also reserving 10 and 12 because they were all connected. Zero privacy. Friday night wasn’t too bad. Perhaps because site 10 was unoccupied OR because there were storms and all I could hear was rain on the tent…went right to sleep! But holy mother of…Saturday afternoon/night was a disaster with loud music, loud talking, extra cars that took up all the spaces, AND after dark…one of the guys must have a medical issue like sleep apnea or something…the sounds that came out in the night…AND THEN HE STARTED TALKING CRAZY SHIT IN HIS SLEEP! 😲

If I had been camping alone, I would have left. That whole group was just…no words.

Regardless, the hiking was GREAT!

Saturday, we hiked from Sunrise Mountain back to High Point State Park. This was a pretty easy trek. There were some small climbs, but nothing really crazy. Although, there is one down that was unexpected and it goes straight down! Might be a good idea to channel your inner mountain goat at that spot!

Mountain Goat it downhill to the left of the Pine

The thing that almost did us in were the mosquitoes. OMG, those blood-sucking little feckers got in our ears, eyes, neck, arms, EVERYWHERE. I literally had one stuck to the rim of my glasses and when I took a selfie (at the bottom of mountain goat drop off) I found there was one on my nose! Our skin was on fire!!

After getting to High Point, we booked it to our campsite to pick up shower supplies and head to the camp showers in hopes of extinguishing ourselves. Arriving at our campsite to the sound of the blaring music and no place to park did not help our moods. I am sure we set the tone for the weekend with our less than welcoming looks to the site 10 inhabitants. 😂😂😂 Don’t care…they were just that bad!

A word on camp showers…a curtain is not enough. Locking doors need to be installed on the showers. That is all.

Hanging at camp later, Bear Spray told us about her day…and she saw a bear!! We saw no wildlife other than mosquitoes and she saw a BEAR. LIFE IS UNFAIR!!!

Saturday night…I knew what I was up against with site 10, so I popped a Benedryl to 1) help with the bug bites which had left little welts all over my freakin body, and 2) help me sleep! It worked for a while, but as I have already stated above, there was no silencing the horrific sounds coming from site 10. 😖 I thought the guy might need an ambulance called at some point! Sleep tests can be a lifesaver…just putting that out there.

High Point Monument

Sunday, our section started at High Point and ended at NJ 284. Shuttling to place our cars at 284, we went through a little piece of New York, Unionville to be specific. What a quaint town! Very cute!

Bear Spray took us back to High Point and off we went! The first part of the trail between NJ 23 and High Point Monument is a little rough. Lots of rocks and some climbing. It was already started to warm up and whew! That piece made us sweat! After that it was downhill to the High Point Shelter, then the trail leveled out. My favorite part of this section were the meadows. 🌻 All the summer wildflowers are in bloom right now. A feast for the eyes and the nose! I could hear a tractor across one of the meadows and it was a nostalgic moment as I thought back to my childhood on our farm in Indiana…my dad on his tractor…sweet memory. 🥰

A picturesque pond along the way

The bugs were not as bad for me during this hike and I was grateful! We were really cruising along, almost to NJ 294, and even with the ever rising temps I was feeling pretty satisfied with our pace. Then we hit a steep hill after Unionville Road…don’t look for it on the map…it is literally a blip…but that blip was a head down, one foot in front of the other, struggle for survival!

Afterwards the path leveled out and it was smooth sailing again, until BOOM right into a bunch of tree branches that were blocking the path.

Thanks to Akela for this pic of the Jungle Woman

Can’t go over it, Can’t go under it, Can’t go around it, Got to go through it!

And we did! Hike on!

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Rock Hopping with the Dames

Big rocks are where it is, friends!

A Maryland Trail Dame’s hike on the Appalachian Trail between Rt. 233 and Caledonia State Park (Pennsylvania)

Tailgate of my RAV4 open, I sat, legs dangling, phone in hand, mindlessly swiping through Pinterest as I waited on the Dames. A blessedly cool morning, I thought, as I swung my legs back and forth, and kept swiping. A car turned off of Rt. 30. Someone was yelling from their car as it was driving by. What the…? It took a minute for me to drag myself from a cute backyard firepit setup that I had been getting ready to pin, so I only heard “…have to pooooo!” Ahh…Queen V had arrived. Well, almost. 😂

A good bathroom is a godsend at a trailhead. Especially for women hikers. Yes, we can go in the woods and do…but a nice bathroom at the beginning. It’s a plus!

Once we had everyone together, we piled into two cars, rode down to the Rt. 233 trailhead, and began our hike up and over Rocky Mountain. We all agreed that the weather was an awesome change from the hot and muggy swamp weather we had been having previously.

This hike is mostly regular dirt trail, but just after the cut-off to Rocky Mountain Shelter, it goes through some spectacular rock formations. OH…and in my previous post, I stated that Dames always stop at the shelters. I should have added IF and only IF (that’s IFF for you math folks) the shelter is a reasonably short distance from the trail! 😁 The Rocky Mountain Shelter is 0.3 miles from the trail, so that was a no go!

The Dames did great along this stretch of the AT. Their comments were it was a shock to the body to get out of the car and immediately be expected to go steeply uphill. AND that Queen V was so not truthful about it being just one climb up, then the rest of the way down. 😆 For the record, I never made any such claim! 😏

After the initial climb, the trail was easy walking until just after the shelter cut-off. Then the trail turns right, climbs a short hill, and we entered the jumble of boulders that make this hike one of my favorites.

We slowed down, picking our way through the rocks carefully. Stopping frequently to take in the wonder of these big rock formations, we theorized how they had come to be. No conclusions, as none of us on this hike are geologists. However, none were necessary. It is enough to be in awe of these phenomenal formations.

Coming down off of the rocks, we descended into what was becoming a hot and humid day. Summer is back. We kept our spirits up and our feet moving by chatting about wading in the creek at Caledonia, then going for ice cream. You do what you gotta do!

The creek was as amazing as we thought it would be! So, so, so good!

The ice cream, friendly service, and cute decor at the Caledonia Cafe was a perfect way to celebrate! Highly recommend if you are in the area. 🍦🍨🧁

Enjoy a Reel with more pics of our adventure!

Hike on!

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Pushing Perceived Limitations…and Doing the Thing!

I enjoy hiking and leading hikes for Trail Dames…like really, really love it. Bearing witness to women’s growth as hikers, experiencing trails through their eyes, and watching confidence grow are some benefits to what I do. It is a blessing to have this opportunity to take women off the sidewalk into adventure!

However, over the years, I have found that leading for Trail Dames resulted in me not taking on the hard challenges for myself. With Trail Dames, I keep the hikes between 2 – 7 miles and don’t include anything crazy terrain-wise. We take breaks when needed and enjoy the social aspect of hiking together to the extreme. This is great, but I feel like I put myself in a box and, it is weird to say this, but I started to believe that I was not physically able to do MORE.

This summer, I did two hikes with a guy, a colleague, as he works on completing the Maryland portion of the Appalachian Trail. My first outing with him was an out and back hike from Route 40 to Black Rock Cliffs. It was enough to show me that hiking with him was different. This particular hike was not a tough hike for me, but it was a good hike to judge what kind of hiking partner I had. First difference from Trail Dames: We didn’t stop much. Second difference: I brought and ate a lunch at Black Rock…I didn’t see any snacks come out of my partner’s bag! 😆 Like, I don’t even understand that, but to each their own! 😂 Anyway, I thought, this is good. Hiking with this guy will help me push my self-imposed limitations and get back to more challenging hikes…SWEET!!!

So, when he texted about a section north of Route 40, I suggested if he was amenable to hiking together, then he could do a bigger section, specifically PenMar to Wolfsville road, about 10 miles. This was partially self-serving because I wanted to test myself…I thought I was ready, but I needed to get boots on the trail. He was down! We included another colleague and off we went!

The Appalachian Trail from PenMar to Wolfsville Road is my favorite part of the Maryland section. It has a rocky climb up to High Rock, lush forest with big ferns lining the trail, two shelters, two water crossings, a walk through a meadow, and a couple more climbs. A heaven of diverse trail!

You can find more out about this route on Alltrails!

https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/appalachian-trail-pen-mar-park-to-wolfsville-rd-47a3893

It was a challenge to be sure! We started off at a good clip, climbed up to High Rock, and okay, I am so slow compared to the hiking companions, but whatever…*eyeroll* …🐌 we arrived at High Rock before it got too warm, and took a break. It was just gorgeous yesterday and we could see a long way out.

Then back to it, we made good time down to the Raven Rock shelter, where I detoured to use the privy…no other takers. Third difference from hiking with the Dames…we always stop at shelters…A.L.W.A.Y.S. 🤣 This level up was getting good. 🤗 Down to the actual Raven Rock, cross 491, then the Antietam Creek.

Pause for a moment: I have never seen the water level in the creek as low as it was yesterday. That was bizarre!

Obviously, no problems crossing the creek! On we went up the next hill…oooooo it was getting warm on that one. Yeah, still slower than partners, annnnnnddd still don’t care 😄 Onward!

Up, then down to Warner’s Hollow…love sitting by this creek! Before the hike even started I told my hiking buds that I was filtering water at Warner’s Hollow. It is such a beautiful spot. Water was flowing, cold, and delicious!

Break over! Up the third, and last, hill of the day (thankfully)! I felt good! I was doing this with, despite being slower up hills, in decent form! I didn’t hurt, my knees were not yelling at me, my right hip felt a little tight, but not too bad, and even my feet felt decent. Double-digit miles, I got you today!

A great day! What did I learn from this? It’s a question I ask myself after every hike or backpacking trip. Sometimes, I have no answer. But today, today I do. I learned that it is important to diversify my hiking partners. Hiking with different people encourages me to challenge myself. It leads to new conversations and experiences. I am grateful for this opportunity to learn and grow as a hiker!

Hike on!

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The Blogging “Gap” Year…Ha!

August 2022 was my last post. That is kind of tough to say aloud. By the way, “aloud” is one of my good starting words on Wordle. 😀 Anyway…I am calling this embarrassing pause my gap year.

Did I stop hiking? No.

Did I stop leading hikes? No.

Did I lose motivation for writing? Well, sort of…I still write in my journal, but it is mostly bulleted lists or drawings or a few sentences here and there. Case in point, my last entry in my journal was “June 30 – July 1: Led a backpack to kick off July 4th weekend with Trail Dames” and I put a Shenandoah National Park sticker next to the entry. Unacceptable! Not a fail, but definitely D-level submission! 😂 I did better on Instagram and made a Reel…oooooo fancy! And here is a pic of some of us at the Rock Spring Hut. FYI…the spring is WAY downhill, but it is an amazing spring…lovely water source!

With blogging, I kept saying “maybe I’ll write about the next hike” over and over and the blog just sat here waiting for me to notice it again. And today, I did!

To inspire myself, I actually Googled “why I should write” … yep, this is where I am. 🤦‍♀️

And I thought about it. The more I thought about writing about hiking I kept coming back to two comments I got from Dames who came along the backpacking trip I led this weekend.

  1. “This trip surpassed my hopes! It was wonderful and I enjoyed every moment. Thanks to Kylena for organizing it and to each and every one of you for sharing your stories and your backpacking knowledge“
  2. “What an amazing trip! Thanks for welcoming me so warmly into this group. I loved getting to know my fellow adventurous Dames. A huge thanks to Kylena for her mad organization skills that made this trip a reality and for encouraging me to attend.”

If I were reading my blog, what would I want to take away? This blog holds stories of hikes and people that have shared the trail with me along the way. Now, I feel a need to level up and be, oh, I don’t know…more entertaining and inspiring. To assist in some small way in making the outdoors more enticing and welcoming for everyone. I want everyone feel like Queen V looks standing atop Little Stony Man cliffs (also from this weekend)!

Hard truth – when I start actually thinking about writing, instead of just doing the thing, anxiety and procrastination set in. To be honest, thinking does me in EVERY time. If I start thinking about doing something, it becomes thinking forEVER and I never get to the doing of the thing. 🤯

So, fuck it, I’m writing. I am going to set a schedule, because I love schedules, and when my Google calendar tells me it is time to write, perfection be damned, I am going to write!

And for all of you who “think” your way right out of hiking, or walking, or just going outside…I personally challenge you to stand up and do the thing. Get up, open the door, take a step, then one step more.

🥾🥾

Hike on!

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AT – VA: U.S. 60 to Tye River

Return to section hiking! Return to the big mountains in Virginia!

First, it is a tragedy that the only time teachers, like me, get to go on vacation is during the hot-ass summer. It is beastly hiking weather, but here we are!

In Mother Nature’s favor, it was blissfully not hot for most of our weekend and I gave thanks many times over for that. But hiking up 2000 feet after driving 3.5 hours to meet my hiking gal pals, including Akela with her trusty hike-tastic mini-van, then taking said van another 45 minutes down the road to the trailhead, was a hard day’s work.

I was excited! It has been a while since we had all hiked together. I was ready for a weekend of releasing all the toxic crap that has been weighing me down. Yes, a complete reset would do. So, up the mountain we plodded leaving Long Mountain Wayside behind. WAIT…is that what the mountain was called…Long Mountain? That would be on point!

On the way up I pulled my motivation from first day excitement. That was about to completely deplete when we stumbled onto Cole (Cold) Mountain. Oh my goodness…total replenishment!!!!!!!!!! Those views, that meadow, the wildflowers! Oh! Oh! Oh! What a treasure!

After that it was all downhill, literally speaking, not figuratively! 😏 We camped at Hog Camp Gap, a lovely meadow with old apple trees and oak trees. The water source was excellent and not many campers on Friday night which surprised and delighted me! Honestly, that whole dig a cat hole thing to go to the bathroom can be a little tricky in a crowded camp. Yeah, I know you can feel me here! 😀 😀

The next day we started with a climb out of the gap and it was up and down all day! This section does not mess around!

There were more rewards for our hard work …and blessed trail creators, thank you for the interspersed moments of pure trail bliss along this trek! The wildflowers were in bloom, gentle cool breezes lifted the stray hair out of my eyes, and the buzz of bees was the white noise I didn’t know I needed.

We pulled into the Seeley-Woodworth shelter early. I found a nice spot under an oak tree and proceeded to put up the tent, get water, and cook dinner…and 2:30 pm! The spring here is still flowing and we didn’t have any trouble gathering water regardless of our type of filter.

There was a boisterous group of college age folks…and I am guessing they were in an outdoor club as there were many of them. We had passed them earlier, spotting them on top of a huge boulder, and I thought, “awe, look at them out here laughing, loving, and enjoying life!” They finally pooped out around 11 pm like a bunch of worn out puppies. They were a cute bunch and I found them quite amusing…until I passed a bowl with remains of the their food in it right beside the trail the next morning as we hiked out. Little feckers! Be Bear AWARE!!

Day 3 started with another gorgeous meadow walk with views for miles. Then it was up, up, up to Spy Rock…and no picture I took does that place justice! You need to hike up there yourself!!

Back to bears…I spotted one on our way up to The Priest. I loved that! No pics, but what a beautiful site! 🐻

Of course, I would’ve missed the bear if that hill had been easy. Third day on the elevation profile looked not so bad. In reality, it was a “head-down, one foot in front of the other, every woman for herself” kind of day. 😂 A very long uphill to the Priest. The “processional” it was dubbed by one of my hiking companions. 😄 and Whew…the heat and humidity was on. We arrived at the shelter and had just enough time to get our tents up before it started raining. Not a deluge of rain, but always nice to be able to stay mostly dry while backpacking! The camp area is a fairy landscape and goes back forever. A mossy creek, rhododendron bushes, big boulders, and fog rolling through periodically created a magical space.

Summary of day 3: I fail at photos, but win at persistence and sheer grit. 🥵 No privy at The Priest and water source is low, but scoopable…if you use a pump you won’t have any issues. If you scoop, you should be fine, as well, as there are some small pools.

The last day we hiked up for a little bit, inhaling and exhaling deeply at the Priest summit as we were above a sea of active morning fog with sun rise lending some extra sparkle.

Then, back on the trail, it was down. And down. And down. I really wanted to ask Akela how much farther (long before it made any sense to do so). 😄 So, I held it in until my feet and thighs were screaming, ASK HER YOU IDIOT! 😂😂😂 I asked. She asked if I wanted the truth.

.

.

.

Nice one Akela…real smooth. 😂

Answer – 0.4 miles more…I pushed on. I did it. I can still walk today. Huzzah! Hike on!

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Weekend with the Dames!

Before the pandemic, I would organize an annual winter backpacking trip for the Maryland Trail Dames. We would hike to the Ed Garvey Shelter on the Appalachian Trail, set up camp, then continue to Weverton the next day.

After missing out on this fun event for two years, I was delighted to put this up on the hiking board for January 2022. The Dames were excited to shiver together once again! 😄

But bad weather intervened…fast forward to an early Spring shiver, instead! I was secretly pleased to not be camping out in January. It was 17 degrees one year and even with good layers it was still cold! Especially when nature’s calls at 2:00 AM! 🥶

This weekend we had delightful weather…praise!!! We met at Gathland State Park around noon. I know, I know…I was really taking a gamble with parking at that time of day. I crossed my fingers and went with it. Happy to report we all found a parking space. I was grateful!

It was a lovely hike to the shelter. We had a few newbies with us, but I only got asked once “do you know how much further until we get to the shelter?” I call that a win!

We were surprised there were already several folks at the shelter when we arrived. And with complete disregard for hiker etiquette, they had put up tents on both the first and second level of the shelter. Ergh. We were tenting and had no need of the shelter. However, that whole tent in the shelter is a big no…especially at a shelter like Ed Garvey, which is pretty popular all year round.

It looks like a flat site…right?

Sure enough, it was a mob scene on Saturday night. I am glad we had gotten there early enough to pick the better tent sites. Some folks camped down along the trail as all sites were gone when they rolled in later in the evening.

***better = still slanted, but I managed to stay on my sleeping pad all night***

About 4:00 AM we got rain, just on and off, nothing much. It continued while we packed up and hiked out. Just a few drops, not enough to make us or our gear wet. Thankful is an understatement. Some of our newbies had gotten cold overnight…rain on top of that could have made an uncomfortable hike into a truly miserable one for them. 😕

It was great to get back to backpacking with the Dames. Looking forward to planning more fun adventures for this group! Hike on!

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AT – VA: US522 to VA55 The Mountains are Waking!

Kicking off another Spring Break hike with blue skies, frigid temperatures to start, and, this time, a hike more strenuous than any I have done in a while. I was excited to return to this section of the Appalachian Trail between US522 in Front Royal to VA55. I was also a little anxious. Would my legs hold up? I was fairly certain they would, but I double-checked that I was packing ibuprofen. 😀

I met my hiking partner “Somewhere” at the VA55 trailhead. Wow, it was cold! I thought I would ditch a layer before hiking, but backtracked on that decision quickly as the cold, cold wind reached my innermost layer. Brrrrr! We shuttled down to 522, then set out a brisk pace. I am thankful for the body’s ability to warm itself! It was freaking cold for the first 20 minutes, then we warmed up nicely as a result of 1) the sun rising above the ridge, and 2) climbing the first hill. It was welcomed warmth!

This stretch had two climbs that reminded me that I need to get out on the trail more consistently, but they were doable.

*Translation – I handled them with only slight discomfort.* 😀

Thankfully, because I would have been appalled to literally fall over in exhaustion on this hike. Perhaps my ridiculous pride kept me upright? 😀 😀 Nah…It was a lovely hike. Bunches of Bloodroot pushing up through last season’s leaves greeted us on that first uphill. The lower canopy was greening and the trail itself was easy going for the first five or so miles. The only tricky part of this section is the hill just before reaching the train tracks near VA55. That hill is an eroded mess. That was the last hill for us and I was glad of it!

The day had added thrill when I met up with my first thru-hiker this season, “Backstroke”, a physicist who has just taken a job with the government. He caught up with us as we were headed to the Jim & Molly Denton shelter. We let him pass, but then walked a piece with him. We discussed teaching as we strolled along.

*insert…I know he probably slowed his roll a bit to walk with us, but even so, I was pleased to be able to keep up the pace and talk at the same time* 😀

He seemed intensely curious about teaching and is motivated to explore it as his career as a physicist unfolds. We had lunch with Backstroke at the shelter, then he was on his way! If you see him on the trail, be sure to say hi…he is super friendly and great conversationalist!

I look forward to the day when I chance to meet up with you along the AT! I will keep working these legs of mine…See you out there! 🙂 Hike on!

by

AT – MD Back to Annapolis Rock

I question my judgment at scheduling a hike so early that I had to leave my house at 6 AM. This is the first day of my Spring Break and just what the heck was I thinking??? It was dark, it was cold, … , it was the FIRST DAY OF BREAK…hadn’t I just been telling folks how exhausted I was and how I couldn’t wait to sleep in? Honestly…ugh.

But got up I did. Coffee – yes, coffee again – yes. Out the door at 6 AM, promptly!

I-68 east to I-70 south, then up Rt 40 to the Annapolis Rock trail head. Surprise…I remember why I scheduled it so early. To avoid the parking lot fiasco…and I was successful! I was the third car into the lot, huzzah!

My fellow Trail Dames showed up soon after and off we went up the mountain. What a glorious morning! Blue skies and sun pouring down on us. Oh, and I was very impressed with the trail work that has happened in my absence from this stretch of trail. Nice work on the grading and stone placement, PATC Trail Maintainers! Absolutely beautiful!

Soaking up the Sun!

We chatted amicably about some exciting trips that our dames have planned for summer. One is headed to the 100-mile Wilderness in Maine! My plans are more sedate…heading down to complete the section with the Priest in Virginia. All of us are so pleased that we are post – pandemic and can start adventuring further afar to hike.

Arriving at Annapolis Rock, we found the place deserted. Perfect! I sat out on a rock and ate my sub that I had picked up on my way in at Sheetz. That is one VERY conveniently located Sheetz…and it has a drive-thru. You’re welcome. 😀

The nasty old man winter wind picked up while I sat there munching away. I stared that wind down and pretended it was a lovely spring day…until I devoured the last delicious bite of my sub. Then I picked up my stuff and scrambled back into the trees.

We saw several folks headed up as we were headed down. The skies by this time were covered in heavy gray clouds and the wind was picking up. Sorry for them, happy for us! Oooooooo…and we found our first Bloodroot sighting!! Hike on!

Bloodroot!