Tag Archives: Pine Grove Furnace State Park

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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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I Think It May Be Spring!

Thank goodness, right? If your winter was anything like my winter…ugh.

Father Winter was a big tease with lots of potential, but no big exciting events. In Maryland, we would get icy mix, a little snow, then it would melt and we were left with a few damp, chilly days in the mid-40s. Brrr…rrr

Thank you Goddess of Spring for finally taking control!

Last weekend, I led a “newbie backpacker” trip. We had 4 new and 5 experienced backpackers. The newbies had completed two shakedown hikes prior and felt somewhat prepared.

We began our adventure at Shippensburg Road trailhead on the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania. Saturday started as winter…very cold and windy! We got moving!

As we hiked the seasons turned. A lovely day indeed!

In general, we took this stretch slower, and with more breaks than I would take if I were going alone. Which makes perfect sense for new backpackers. They had plenty of time for adjusting the pack, stretching, resting, and enjoying the woods!

We rolled into Tom’s Run Shelter mid-afternoon, plenty of time for the newbies to set up.

It was a cold night and one newbie had not brought the recommended 20 degree bag. She learned and will pack accordingly next time. Sometimes, we have to learn the hard way. 🙂

Spring rebounded on Sunday! The trail was a slight disaster with tons of water flowing down it and many blowdowns that had to be climbed over, under, or around! Our newbie, who hadn’t slept much due to being cold the night before, just about petered out on the last hill of the day. We got some extra food in her and took it slow…she was determined to finish! She dug deep and conquered the last hill!

Everyone finished sucessfully at Pine Grove Furnace State Park with smiles (and a few emotional tears). I am so proud of these women! We stick together, push through our fears, learn from our miscalculations, and always Hike On!

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AT – PA Pole Steeple to Pine Grove Furnace SP (Loop Hike) July 2014

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So here I was in the midst of teaching Calculus for the first time and while I was delighted in that assignment…the task of preparing lessons was sucking my summer right down the drain.  I felt unbalanced, like a stool that is missing a leg.  But then, finally, a day arrived that I could truly […]

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AT – PA Pine Grove Furnace SP to Trindle Road

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March 16, 2014 Two days and a night at Milesburn cabin with the Trail Dames?  Oh, Let’s go! 🙂 Trail Dames Maryland had rented Milesburn cabin, a PATC cabin, in Michaux State Forest for the weekend. I had signed on for Friday and Saturday with planned hikes on the AT each day. So north on 15, west on […]

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

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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 […]