We have officially hiked more than 100 miles of the AT!

When we left Pine Grove Furnace state park 2 days ago we were planning to hike to the James Fry shelter, about 7 miles away.

That morning, the rainfly of the tent was covered in dew and condensation.

We took off the rainfly and shook it out, then draped it over a picnic table to dry a little more. When we checked on it after eating breakfast, we realized that the remaining droplets had changed into snow, which was pooled in little drifts!

SNOW!

The tent and poles had patches of ice on them. I was surprised, because the temps had only gotten down to around 30. We managed to get most of the ice off the tent and packed everything up.

As we left the campground, I was excited to hear the song of red-winged blackbirds from a nearby wetlands area.

The red-winged blackbirds are always a big sign of spring for me, so it put me in a great mood.

We arrived at the turn-off for the James Fry shelter pretty early in the day, somewhere around 2 pm, so we decided to keep going.

My ankles have been giving me a little trouble, but I thought I could manage an extra 2 miles to a tent site that was on FarOut. We decided to turn off trail and get some food from the Green Mountain General Store, and by the time I had finished the delicious cheeseburger and fries ( and raspberry ice cream!) I realized that my right ankle was just…done.

Instead of continuing on to the tent site, I arranged a ride with Lyft to the nearby Green Mountain Tavern for the night. I soaked my legs, rubbed in some hemp cream, and put my feet up on some pillows to get the ankle swelling to go down.

Keith and I discussed our options, made some calls, and arranged to do some slack packing again for a few days.

The next morning Mike, another terrific shuttle driver, brought us up to Boiling Springs.

My ankle felt a little better, so instead of taking a full zero we hiked a super easy, level 4.1 miles from Boiling Springs to a parking lot on Rt 641/ Trindle Road.

One of the many fence stiles we had to climb to get through a pasture

Before leaving Boiling Springs we stopped at the outdoor shop and I bought some Superfeet insoles in the hope that they would help my ankle the next day. I had arranged a stay for us at Pheasant Field Bed and Breakfast, and the owner came to pick us up from the parking lot soon after we got there.

Pheasant Field BnB is a beautiful place, and the owners treated us really well.

They picked us up for free not once, but 3 times, from either the parking lot on Trindle road or from Boiling Springs over the 3 days we spent there. The included homemade breakfast was absolutely delicious, and any hiker who can manage to stay there will be glad they did.

We spent March 12 slackpacking 10.8 miles from the Hunters Run parking lot to Boiling Springs.

Before we started our hike we visited the Green Mountain General store again and Keith bought some excellent Seltzer’s jerky for us to snack on that day.

There were some challenging climbs around Rocky Ridge, where I had to climb hand over hand to get up and around a few sections. I was really glad that I hadn’t tried it with a 30 pound pack!

Climbing through Rocky Ridge

We took some photos at Center Point Knob, the original halfway point of the AT.

A little further, just down the hill from Center Point Knob, we reached our 100 mile mark!

After taking our 100 mile mark photos, we hiked through some fields and then back into Boiling Springs. We got dinner at Cafe 101 ( great food!) before Kevin from Pheasant Field came to pick us up.

My ankle held up better than I’d hoped, and I think the Superfeet insoles and the lighter weight I had carried that day combined to make the difference.

We slackpacked again on March 13, from Route 850 to the Trindle road parking lot, 12.8 miles.

I was sore but felt my ankle could handle the miles with the lighter weight. On the way to our drop off point our shuttle driver, Mike, told us about the prevalence of ankle stress fractures in hikers going through PA, and I was glad I had chosen to listen to my body.

We started off hiking through some farm fields, but quickly started heading up another mountain. As we left the fields we got to see some bluebirds as well as my favorite red winged blackbirds.

The climb up the mountain was rough, but the view from just past the top was spectacular and there was a nice place to sit and appreciate it.

After getting back down the mountain, the rest of the hike was along a creek and then some more farmland.

We crossed over and under several major roads today.

The short tunnel was interesting, and we also crossed route 11 and the PA Turnpike on an overpass and a walking bridge.

The tunnel we hiked through under a road

Some crocus were blooming along the trail toward the end of the day, and stood in sharp contrast with the nearby (very) old cemetery. A little further on a herd of cows got curious about us when the trail ran next to a dairy farm. 

Tomorrow we will be back on our way to Duncannon with our full packs.

I am looking forward to getting there, as a package with some goodies from my daughter should be waiting.

Soon enough we should be entering true “Rocksylvania”, and hopefully my ankles will be strong enough by then to handle it!