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 065 - Nr Blackburn Trail Center to Sandy Hook

Day: 065

Date: Wednesday, 28 June 2023

Start:  Nr Blackburn Trail Center (AT Mile 1013.8)

Finish:  Sandy Hook (AT Mile 1027.3)

Daily Kilometres:  27.1

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

Total Kilometres:  1733.9

Weather:  Overcast, mild and humid.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Bacon, egg & cheese bagels and fries.

  Lunch:  Chicken & bacon subs.

  Dinner:  Spaghetti, Italian sausage & meatballs/Pork burger & fries, ice-cream.

Aches:  Nothing to report.

Highlight:  Checking in at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Headquarters in Wiseman's Ferry, symbolically the halfway point of our journey (though a few miles short of that), being recorded as hikers #1021 and #1022 passing through for 2023, and having our picture taken for the yearbook.  We also asked to see the yearbook for 1986 and found Dave's picture taken when he passed through exactly 37 years and 5 days ago.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

In anticipation of a shorter day and a motel stay tonight, we got going earlier, at 6:00am, and walked six miles further along the wooded ridge in mild overcast and breezy conditions to a busy road.

We turned eastwards, off the trail, and walked 0.3 miles along the road to a service/gas station that we knew served hot food.  The breakfast bagels were delicious, but we could have done without the nearly 30 minute preparation time.  It had started drizzling very lightly as we arrived, so once we got our breakfast we ate it sitting on the concrete forecourt watching the morning rush hour.  When we were loading up to walk back to the trail, a local we had chatted to, offered to drive us back, an offer we gladly accepted.

Back on the trail we continued along the ridge on trail that had some long rocky technical sections that were hard work and slow before descending steeply to the wide Shenandoah River.  We crossed it on a long bridge and then climbed up to the historic town of Harpers Ferry where we made our way to the headquarters of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (see above), a big milestone on our journey north to Maine.

From there we walked down to the centre of town past some very old buildings and had some lunch in the tourist area.  We then rejoined the AT and crossed the Potomac River just upstream from where it meets the Shenandoah River on a pedestrian path attached to a long railway bridge.  There were many tourists looking around the impressive scenic and historical location.

Once across the bridge, we left the AT and joined a road which we followed up to the motel where we had booked accommodation, arriving around 3:30pm, and checked in.  Later, after very welcome (and much-needed) showers and some hand laundry, we had dinner at the restaurant across the road and bought some supplies for tomorrow before having an early night.

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