Julie and I are hiking the Appalachian Trail in the US from Springer Mt, Georgia, to Mt Katahdin, Maine, in the north, a distance of almost 2,200 miles (3,540 km). Our journey will start in early May 2023 and is expected to take about five months. We will be mostly camping, carrying 3-5 days of supplies to get us between resupply points, where we will be staying in hostels/hotels/motels where we can. I hiked the entire Appalachian Trail back in 1986 so it will be interesting to see how much has changed and how much it has stayed the same.

Appalachian Trail - Day 028 - Highway US 19-E to approaching Moreland Gap Shelter

Day: 028

Date: Monday, 22 May 2023

Start:  Highway US 19-E (AT Mile 395.3)

Finish:  Approaching Moreland Gap Shelter (AT Mile 412.5)

Daily Kilometres:  30.1

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  699.0

Weather:  Mild to warm and mostly sunny.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Cooked buffet breakfast

  Lunch:  Trail mix

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals

Aches:  None to report

Highlight:  The hostel’s breakfast, for which they are renowned, did not disappoint.  The more than twenty hikers there enjoyed a vast array of cooked items and there was plenty to go around.  We certainly ate our share, but resisted the temptation to go overboard, knowing we had a day’s hiking in front of us.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We had a sleep in because the hostel breakfast, which was one of the main things that attracted us to stay at the Mountain Harbour Hostel (though last night’s burgers were pretty good as well), was not served until 8:00am.  The breakfast did not disappoint (see above).  We ate on the deck, chatting to a couple of other hikers, before returning to our room, picking up our gear and rejoining the trail around 9:20am.


The hiking scenery was a little different today.  Our early walking passed through some meadows strewn with wildflowers and graceful trees and later on alongside the picturesque Elk River, also through a grassy meadow.


In the sections in between the trail seemed to twist and turn, constantly going up and down, through a green tunnel of rhododendron groves, but with no major climbs.  The trail underfoot was generally soft and we made good time.


Here and there were also some beautiful waterfalls and cascades and the lovely Laurel Fork brook.


Near the end of the day, we met “Tassie” the thru-hiker from Tasmania, and learned that she too is having a short day tomorrow and has a cabin booked at the Black Bear Resort, so we will have an opportunity to catch up with her then.


Around 6:20pm we found a nice little tent site beside the trail on a quiet evening and had an early night.  Altogether, a pleasant day’s walking powered by an excellent breakfast.  Four weeks done on the trail and the 400 miles passed today.
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