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 067 - Pogo Memorial Campsite to PA Route 16

Day: 067

Date: Friday, 30 June 2023

Start:  Pogo Memorial Campsite (AT Mile 1052.4)

Finish:  PA Route 16 (AT Mile 1069.9)

Daily Kilometres:  28.0

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

Total Kilometres:  1802.5

Weather:  Partly sunny, hazy, warm and very humid.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pop tarts

  Lunch:  Trail mix

  Dinner:  Cheeseburger & fries, thick shakes.

Aches:  Dave - very tired; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  Crossing the Mason-Dixon Line from Maryland into Pennsylvania and from the South to the North.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We were walking by 6:00am in the faint hope that we might be able to reach our objective for the day, PA Route 16, 17.5 miles away, by 2:00pm.  We had contacted a shuttle driver last night and asked to be picked up there at 3:00pm, but she could only do 2:00pm because of other commitments.  We said we would try.

It was only going to work if the trail was relatively easy going, and it wasn't.  There were long sections of taxing rocky trail and a couple of steep ascents and descents.  Although we were making reasonable progress in the conditions, it was apparent by 10:30am we would not make it and Dave cancelled the booking.  Later, at our lunch break, we contacted two other shuttle operators and one of them agreed to pick us up at 3:00pm (and at a cheaper price).

Despite the tough sections of trail, most of the day was spent passing through pleasant forest with little undergrowth and a carpet of leaf litter, which always gives a nice sense of space beneath the canopy.  As with yesterday, we were mostly close to civilisation, crossing roads, passing near houses and often within earshot of vehicle noise.  There was one nice section through some meadows and we visited the heavily-graffitied High Rocks for some passable views to the west.

Our lunch break was in the beautifully kept Pen Mar park where we had a chat with the ranger and heard some of his thru-hiker stories.

After lunch, and one more long climb and descent, we reached PA Route 16 at 2:45pm where our shuttle driver was already waiting and were checking into our motel, 15 miles away, soon after 3:00pm for a very welcome, particularly for Dave, early finish.  There were closer motels to the trail, but it's the start of the July 4th long weekend here and reasonably-priced accommodation was hard to find.

We showered (much-needed after a very sweaty day) and did our laundry (also much-needed) before walking to a nearby fast food joint to buy take-out dinner.

No hiking tomorrow.

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