The best laid plans…

With a clear destination and start date in mind, we went to planning out the details by studying the AT Guide to locate shelters and campsites where we would stay, and plotting water sources and potential options to enjoy a hot meal in a town.  As in years past, Jim and I both continued to fine tune our gear, looking for the most functional and at the same time, lightweight options that we could afford and/or justify.  At one point we calculated the cost to reduce ounces in our pack and decided not to fixate on “Necessary” costs. Several conversations and trips to outdoor stores later, our backpacks were loaded with gear and 6 days of food supply. It was time to hit the trail.   We met on a Sunday afternoon at the northern end parking spot and left Jim’s car there.  We then headed south to Waynesboro, PA for one more night of hot food and a comfortable hotel night’s sleep.  Monday morning, after taking advantage of the “All you can eat continental breakfast”, we made the 4 mile drive to the trailhead we had visited two years prior, grabbed our packs and took our first steps on the AT for 2023.  As in years past, walking away from a perfectly good vehicle on foot knowing that you have 93 miles between you and the end point always kicks in a healthy dose of adrenaline, as the reality of what is to come sets in.

Off to a good start…

Our first day on trail was going to be a short one.  In 2022, we had learned that attempting a 20 mile day before getting some trail legs is a bad idea.   With only 13 miles between us and the Quarry Gap shelters, we made our way through the relatively gentle terrain of southern PA.   We did have a pretty good climb coming out of Caledonia State Park, but aside from that it was really pretty easy going.   With my new state of being a single kidney owner/loaner, hydration was going to be more of an issue for me than in years past.   Because of that, we did not pass up too many opportunities to top off our water bottles.  We did learn that in this section of trail, the trusty FarOut app was a bit more pessimistic on the water sources than what we actually experienced.   We passed several water sources that were not even mentioned in the app.   Not that we were complaining, it was just the first year we noticed this discrepancy…or maybe we were just paying closer attention…and the inaccuracy did cause us to take an unnecessary .5 mile steep downhill trek (thus a steep uphill back to trail) to fill up at a documented spring.  What’s a mile or two between friends. Detours aside, we strolled into camp just before 2PM to be greeted by the nicest shelter we had ever experienced.  It had a rocking swing, easy access spring, planted flowers and hidden gnomes around just to make it interesting.  Over the next several hours, many more hikers showed up to make this on trail resort of sorts their home for the night.   We spent a bit of time with a hiker, whose trail name we both forgot, but said folks think he looks like John Lennon, a section hiker by the name of ADK, and a father/daughter duo by the names of Hatchet and Hobbit.  It was a fun first night and set our moods high as we looked to the days ahead.

Stretch goals…

Day two was planned to be just under 14 miles.  But Jim had been doing some map studying and saw that there was a state campground only 3 miles past our planned stopping point. Adding that extra distance would take day three’s 19 planned miles down to 16.   We did not immediately commit to extending our day, but planned to reassess as we reached the 14th mile.   When mile 14 arrived, we felt pretty good and pushed on to Pine Grove Furnace. To AT Hikers this is known as the home of the half gallon challenge….where hungry thru hikers attempt to eat a half gallon of ice cream in record time, marking the midway point on the AT.  Being only section hikers, Jim and I each downed a pint of ice cream and got ourselves a site at the state campground.   Unfortunately, it was another mile walk into our tent site from the trail.   Again, what’s a mile or two between friends. Shortly after setting up camp, our camping neighbors asked if they could park a car in our site as they were exceeding the vehicle limit per site.  Turned out it was a Mom and her Son from Maryland and a section hiker from Virginia that had met on trail and teamed up to slack pack a few sections together.   Jim, being the quick thinker that he is, agreed to allow them to park at our site in exchange for a shuttle the next morning to the trailhead.    Feeling proud of our negotiation skills there was not much that could dampen our spirits, that was until a crow snagged one of my bright red packaged granola bars from the picnic table and flew off with it as a prized possession.   My spirits were clearly dampened…while Jim seemed to find the experience altogether hilarious.

The Smokies…

We were awake quite early on day three, and after a shuttle from our camping neighbors, we were back on the trail for another day of hiking.  Up to this point, we had beautiful weather.  Mostly sunny and in the 70’s.   We had a brief sprinkle the night before, but not even to the point of needing to dry out our gear.   On this day, we started to notice a haze in the air and a smoky smell.  It was later that night that we learned about the smoke from Canadian wildfires that was overtaking much of the north east.  The hiking on day three was once again pretty mellow, traversing dense forests, the occasional farm field, and the very fun Rock Maze as we made our way to the Alec Kennedy shelter.  That night, we were joined at the shelter by a real nice thru hiking married couple from Austria that went by the trail names Nutella and Bane.

The Beatles…

Day four was going to be a big one, with eighteen planned miles, and a large portion of that going through open farm land and along hedge rows.  A few miles after leaving the shelter we descended to the first field section, and the sky was noticeably hazy still.   In short time we found ourselves in the quaint little town of Boiling Springs, PA.   We spotted a diner, Caffe 101, only about a football field’s length from the trail.   It was breakfast time and we decided we had earned a hot meal.  We sat outside as to not offend the cleaner patrons with our all-natural hiking scent.  Before we had even ordered, John Lennon, the hiker we had met on night one, came strolling up in his familiar straw hat and we invited him to join us and treated him to breakfast.   It was fun to get to know him a bit more and hear his story and what had brought him out on the trail.  After breakfast we continued north covering mile after mile of farmland.  At lunch time, we walked by a Mennonite farm stand that had drinks and snacks for sale, along with fresh veggies and eggs.   We took advantage of the picnic table outside the stand and made that our lunch stop, enjoying the ice cold Gatorades and even having a chat with the boy that was responsible for stocking the stand.  With full bellies and renewed optimism, we continued on our way to the Darlington shelter.  Once again, this spot proved pretty popular with the hikers, and there were probably close to a dozen thru hikers set up in their tents.  Jim and I were surprised we had the shelter to ourselves, well, until we were introduced to the three 6’ long black snakes that were living under a stump just outside the shelter. They slithered easily up and down the trees making us and the birds a bit nervous.  Fortunately they stayed in their stump, and we stayed in our bunks, and our paths did not cross in the dark hours of night.

Eight slices of heaven…

With our longest hiking day behind us, day five looked to be a fun one, with a walk through the town of Duncannon and about 16 miles to our next shelter.  This was our first day of some really nice views, which should have been a warning…there was going to be some climbing.   The descent into Duncannon was slow and steep and by the time we got there, we had worked up quite the appetite.  Fortunately, we came across a small pizza parlor was right on ‘trail’, and we felt it our civic duty to help support the local economy.   A large supreme pizza later, we were back on trail, which happened to be sidewalks for the next couple miles, followed by the toughest climb of the week.  After the big climb and some great views, the trail leveled out for a short bit.   We were just about to reach the Clarks Ferry Shelter for the night, and that’s when we met a guy that was leaving the gift of trail magic at the shelter.   He offered us each a lollipop…we first declined, but then he proclaimed they were the world’s best lollipops, so we each took one, and indeed, based on my sample set of lollipops consumed, they were the world’s best lollipops.   Later that night we were joined by a shelter guest who supposedly had been on trail for over a year and was heading north with his wife. She was oddly not present and there were plenty of reasons to not ask questions.   Weird circumstances aside, our last night on trail was relatively uneventful, and we were now only 13 miles from Jim’s car.

Light at the end of the tunnel…

Jim and I are usually pretty motivated to get off trail in good time on our final morning of hiking each year, and this year was no exception.   We were up early and back on our way by 6AM.  The morning trail followed a forested ridgeline for much of the way and then dropped down into the valley to the parking lot.  It took us a speedy 5 hours to put the last 13 miles behind us, and we were happy to see Jim’s car still sitting there, ready to carry us back south to Waynesboro for a celebration dinner.

…and that was it, section hike number 5 behind us.  Hiking the Appalachian Trail is always an adventure.  Between the physical and mental challenges, the great people you meet, the views, the trail magic, the towns, and the pain, it’s a love-hate relationship of epic proportions. With an accumulated total of five weeks on trail and 513 total miles behind us, the 1,680 miles remaining continue to lure us back year after year.  Every section we hike we look forward to reaching the end, and every day after we reach the end of that section we can’t wait to get back out there and do it all over again. 

I’ll take packs and things that fill them for $1000…

For those that are not obsessed with hiking gear, feel free to go back to your regularly scheduled programming. I won’t be offended.    If you’re still with me, let’s talk about gear tweaks I made for my 2023 section hike.

With 51 weeks between hikes, it gives plenty of time to revisit my gear selection, and this year followed suit.  I had been pretty happy with my gear from the prior year, but there’s always room for improvement.  I planned to hike with my REI Co-op Flash 55 pack again this year.   I finally decided that that top lid was no longer a necessity.   Top lids are a convenient place to store things you want quick access to, but they always flop over the pack awkwardly when you have to get in the pack itself, and dropping it saved a few ounces.   I can say for certain that I did not miss having it one bit.

The hip belt pockets that came with the REI pack always seemed a bit too small, so I replaced them with a couple larger pockets from Zpacks.  I also added a shoulder strap pouch from WEBO Gear to carry my phone.  

All of these mods, though relatively small, made a noticeable difference in the convenience of the pack.

The rest of my gear lineup had remained the same.

After this year on the trail, I identified a couple tweaks for next year.  I think I’ll be dropping my inflatable pillow and just using my clothes sack for a pillow.  I also need to look for some different meal choices.  The Mountain House Freeze dried meals are pretty good, but I think some variety would be nice.

…time to start planning for next year!