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 069 - PA Route 16 to Big Pine Flat Ridge

Day: 069

Date: Sunday, 02 July 2023

Start:  PA Route 16 (AT Mile 1069.9) but staying at Greencastle

Finish:  Big Pine Flat Ridge (AT Mile 1091.1)

Daily Kilometres:  33.5 (Ascent 3599', Descent 2789')

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

Total Kilometres:  1836.0

Weather:  Warm, humid and partly sunny with one brief shower.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Bacon, egg & cheese bagels

  Lunch:  American subs 

  Dinner:  Rehydrated meals 

Aches:  Dave - had a fall on slippery rocks, landing on his thigh on the replaced hip side which is feeling a bit bruised/corked but hasn't lost any mobility; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  None really.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We met Rob (Dave's former work colleague and friend) at his car at the motel at 6:00am, and stopped in at the adjacent McDonalds to get some take-away breakfast before driving back to the trailhead where we stopped hiking on Friday.

By 6:50am, the three of us were hiking through peaceful woodland on a very still and humid morning.

For most of the day the trail followed a ridge northwards dipping down to gaps along the way and crossing quite a few roads.  We were conscious that we were close to civilisation most of the time and took our morning and afternoon breaks at popular state parks where we had access to picnic tables, water and toilets. Luxury!

The trail was mostly easy through pleasant woodland with little undergrowth, though it did climb up to a few rocky knolls which, with the exception of Chimney Rocks, seemed meaningless and had no views.

Around 6:30 we found a really nice campsite atop a ridge with the sun setting to the west and enjoyed a relaxed dinner before retiring after a good day with little of the forecast rain.

By

1 comment:

  1. AnonymousJuly 4, 2023 at 6:15 AM

    Feeling your pain Dave. We've been a bit gun shy with the lichen covered rocks when wet. We both had falls. Take care and happy trails

    ReplyDelete

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