Tag Archives: Pennsylvania

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Planning out Loud…Five months to go!

Officially planning for a backpack in May!  As I sort through my books…and I got a new one (insert happy squeaky voice)…I am sort of talking through the backpack.  The dogs are giving me the “oh god, again?” look and the cats are quite distracted as they have found the corner of my books are quite fun to rip apart.  Oh well, shoo cats, I have work to do. 🙂

So I think I will try to do 70 miles in 6 days…hahahahahaaaa….chortle, guffaw and all that nonsense. What am I thinking?  I prefer 8 mile days…But I am sticking to this plan for the moment.  I mean I have 5 whole months to prepare…

The elevation profiles are from my new book (yes, squeaky happy voice again 🙂  )  The ALDHA AT Thru-Hiker’s Companion.  Still love AWOL’s book, but the elevation profiles are a bit more detailed in the ALDHA book. Either book is a super resource to have when planning.   I take the official AT maps on the backpack.

Anyway, here’s the plan:

During the Trail Dame Camp Out: Section between PA94 Mt. Holly Springs and Pine Grove Furnace SP ~10.5 miles

Section A

The following week I will return to the area to backpack ~70 mile section.

Day 1: PA94 Mt Holly Springs, PA (1104.3) to Backpackers campsite (1112.5) 8.2 miles

Section 1

Day 2: Backpackers campsite to Darlington Shelter (1127.2)  14.7 miles No camping allowed in between!!

Section 2

Day 3: Darlington Shelter to Duncannon, PA.  (1138.5)  11.3 miles Stay in hotel.   Resupply as needed.

Section 3

Day 4: Duncannon, PA to Peters Mountain Shelter (1149.8) 11.3 miles

Section 4

Day 5: Peters Mountain Shelter to Yellow Springs Trail (Clearing with trail register, camping) (1163.3) 13.5 miles

Section 5

Day 6: Yellow Springs campsite to Swatara Gap, PA 72 Lickdale, PA (1174)  10.7 miles

Section 6So here’s to planning on a frigid winter day! Now I am going to sit back, have another cup of Peppermint tea and figure out how I am going to day hike all of Shenandoah National Park during 2014! Hike on! 😀

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The Cure for Winter Doldrums

Cold is everywhere.  It was 1 degree Fahrenheit in Dallas, Texas today!  Overnight and into tomorrow, here on the eastern seaboard, we are under a wind chill warning…negative 15 degrees…ugh.  This is the time of year when it is easy for me to become a total slug.  I fall into the lull of winter.  I don’t want to work; I don’t want to hike.  Heck, I am in some kind of winter funk!

So today I made a conscious decision to do something that would energize me.  Little Caesar and I looked at our schedule a few days ago and decided that between the spring and summer semesters there were a few days in which I could go backpacking!!!  This is an unexpected and absolutely phenomenal turn of events!  I was pretty sure with everything we have going on right now that leaving Little Caesar with the dogs and cats in order to escape to the woods for a couple of days was out of the question.  Well, okay now, … I immediately pulled out my AT maps and books.  Where to hike? Where to hike…hmmm?  Pennsylvania! Yes, that would be good…close to home and yet I can get new AT miles.  🙂 🙂

Trail Planning!

Trail Planning!

In May I am spending a weekend with Trail Dames of Maryland.  We rented a PATC cabin in Pennsylvania and plan to stay two nights and hike our butts off! I will get a few new AT miles in just by being there.  But the following week, I plan on backpacking a little further north to Swatara Gap.  I contacted Google, the woman I hiked with in Georgia and Maryland, and she is game! Yes!

My winter doldrums are being held at bay for a while!  Planning for a spring backpack gives me a goal to work towards. It gives me a reason to get out and walk in town or on a trail regardless of the weather!  Although tomorrow when the wind chill is NEGATIVE 15 I will be inside planning! 😉

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AT – PA Shippensberg Road to Pine Grove Furnace SP 9/8/13

This gallery contains 6 photos.

So a little overlap here on the AT mileage…but picking up where I’d left off on Woodrow Road wasn’t really possible. Woodrow Road is pretty far back on a gravel road. This was a Trail Dame hike and I didn’t want anyone to get lost on the way to the trail head! The day started […]