Moving Right Along

Wow – The Muppet Movie, from which the intro song comes from, came out in 1979! That’s a long while ago. And, I think it is the perfect song to start this entry – the first entry of the second half of this amazing adventure on the Appalachian Trail! My wife Laura introduced me to this movie and the Muppets when we were teens. I admit, I thought it was a bit juvenile at first, but what did I know, I was just 17! As the lyrics go: “opportunity knocks once, let’s reach out and grab it!”  And, that’s how I feel about this Appalachian Trail adventure. (And, I must add, we always found it funny that Rhode Island, my home state, get’s a call-out in this song: “though sadly we just left Rhode Island. We just did what? Just forget it” as Kermit and Fozzy sing) And, I hope you enjoy the song, it’s a classic! But anyways….Let’s get this entry ‘moving along’ and into the second half of this trek! 

As stated above, I am now more than halfway through the Appalachian Trail! The Appalachian Trail, for 2024, is 2,197.4 miles. So, doing the math, at mile 1,098.7 I was exactly halfway between Mount Katahdin in Maine and Springer Mountain in Georgia. I reached this point last Wednesday about noon and it was raining! The funny thing is, there are several ‘halfway’ point signs on the AT as the point moves most years! Many people consider Harper’s Ferry, WV as the ‘spiritual’ halfway point of the trail as it separates Virginia and Maryland and marks the transition from the North to the South. There is an ‘official’ halfway sign in Pine Grove Furnace State Park, PA but since the length of the trail changes each year due to relocations and other reasons, this spot and sign doesn’t mark the ‘actual’ halfway point anymore. The same morning I also discovered a second inaccurate ‘official’ halfway sign a few miles south. I took pictures of each. And as you can see from the pictures below, the ‘actual’ halfway sign for 2024 kind of pales in comparison! Anyways, at mile 1,1`51.3 1 where I find myself now, I am so much closer to Georgia than Maine! 

This is the entrance to Pine Grove Furnace State Park. One of the many parks the trail goes through in Pennsylvania and Maryland. This park is also home to the halfway point of the Appalachian Trail. 

This is the first halfway sign you see heading south. The miles say 1069 miles north and south. 

This is the second sign you see – 1090 miles north and south. 

This the third sign you see – 1090.5 miles north and south. 

This much less glorious sign is the fourth and actual sign for this year – 1098.7 north and south! 

You might be asking yourself from the numbers above, what happened to you and the mileage on days 23, 24, and 25? Why so low? Well, two things – rain and needing to time a pickup to meet my son who was getting me off the trail on Friday. Rain first. I jinxed myself last entry when I wrote about it being ‘always sunny in Pennsylvania!’ I posted this on Sunday and like clockwork, it started raining Monday and didn’t stop all week. Not all rain all day everyday, but all week long it rained on and off. Wednesday in particular it rained really hard and I was not looking forward to a fourth day in a row of putting on wet clothes the next morning. So, I bailed, hiked to PA 16, and was picked up by a shuttle from the Amberson B&B where I had booked a room for the night! They do your laundry for  you, I had a warm and dry bed, and plenty of town food to chose from! (Oh yea, and a brewery right across the street!) I was a much happier and dryer hiker Thursday morning. And, I only needed to do about 25 miles to Washington Monument State Park where my son Dylan was picking me  up on Friday, so I just split the miles between Thursday and Friday. And, I didn’t have to hike all day both days in the continuing rain! Of course, now that I’m in Washington DC at my son’s house, the suns out and there is no rain in sight. 

Someone very conveniently opened a brewery right across the street from the B&B I was staying at to get out of the rain! 

See, not all hiker town food is burger and pizza! This greek salad came from a great Greek restaurant a block away from the B&B. 

I am a big fan of new ideas! The Amberson B&B gives hikers scrubs to wear while they do your laundry! Way better than loaner clothes! 

Accomplishment alert! This past week I also completed my 8th state (Pennsylvania) and entered my 9th state, Maryland! I had hoped to make it to Harper’s Ferry, WV for this weekend off the trail and to have completed Maryland, but I just couldn’t get the miles to work out. Maryland is only 40.9 miles on the Appalachian Trail, meaning I only have 18.8 miles left, and will most likely finish it the day I get back on the trail. I don’t specify which day, as I planned to get back on Monday, but currently the forecast calls for rain from Hurricane Helene to start the week, so we will see.

Speaking of accomplishments, there are two “challenges’ on the AT that the non thru-hiker  crowd might not be aware of that I ‘walked’ through this week. The first is the ‘halfway half gallon challenge’ In Pine Grove Furnace State Park, where the halfway point is, (yes all of them – see above!) There is a general store that sells among other things, ice cream. Many years ago thru-hikers started the tradition or challenge of attempting to eat a half gallon of ice cream in less than a half an hour! Fortunately or unfortunately, the store is only open weekends in the fall and I got there on a Wednesday, though I had no plans to attempt to eat a half gallon of ice cream either way. 

As the sign says, this past week I also crossed the 1100 mile mark. This sign was already made for me when I got there. Proof that while not many, there are some SOBOs out there! 

This is the Appalachian Trail Museum. It is right on the trail in Pine Grove Furnace State Park – like the general store, it too was closed! 

The second ‘challenge’ is the 4-state challenge. (Hikers get bored and need to find things to do with their time!) This challenge involves hiking through four states in less then 24 hours. Depending on your direction, you either start in Virginia or Pennsylvania, hike from the border, cross the ‘whole’ 2.4 miles of the AT that goes through West Virginia, literally just the town of Harper’s Ferry, then do all of Maryland, 40.9 miles of AT, and then end in the opposite state – Virginia or Pennsylvania! As I have written, I’m out here for yhe experience, not a challenge and this one didn’t appeal to me either! Mostly, I wouldn’t have wanted to miss seeing all the things I would have by hiking overnight and in the dark. Hikers really must get bored! I recently heard there is a new ‘challenge’ out there, the Connecticut Challenge. This involves hiking the length of the AT in Connecticut in less than 24 hours. This one seems pretty daunting to me – the AT is 52 miles in Connecticut! 

If I had done the 4 state challenge, I might have missed this very pretty fall scene in Maryland! Look at all the leaves on the trail.  

While I didn’t do the 4-state challenge, I did cross from Pennsylvania into Maryland this past Thursday, on day 24 south/day 92 overall. I will talk more about my thoughts of Pennsylvania in a separate post, spoiler alter – mostly positive. And while the AT is only 40.9 miles in Maryland, and I have already done 22.1 of these miles, so far I have found Maryland to be pleasant hiking, There are still, of course, lots of rocks. They don’t magically stop at the PA border – despite my wishes! I have been up on ridges most of the time with forests that are looking more and more like fall! The trail has been mostly flat with a few climbs when you cross from ridge to ridge. The big thing about crossing into Maryland is you literally walk across the Mason-Dixon line and enter the South! I have spent the last 3 plus months hiking the AT in the North and now I get to see what the South has to offer. I am excited to found out! 

It was pretty cool crossing the Mason Dixon Line and entering the South! The mailbox is for the state line log book. Notice the toy snake on the pillar. I am guessing to welcome you to Pennsylvania – land of many snakes! 

This was a a new one for me this week – I spent most of a day, 17 miles, hiking with another person. Every other day on the trail, except the first few days when my son Nick started with me, I have hiked alone. I periodically meet up with people, haver breaks with others, and hang out at views along the trail etc. but other than a few random miles, I have hiked every other mile alone. It’s not that I’m anti-social, it’s just how I have approached the trail and it has worked for me. I have not avoided hiking with others, I just leave camp when I’m ready and stop for the night when I feel like it. Until this past Wednesday. As stated above, it was raining pretty hard. I had already done about 7 miles. It was around 10:00AM and I stopped at the Ironmaster Mansion (a hostel on the AT) to get out of the rain for a bit. There was a hiker hanging out who had spent the night there but by his own admission was not feeling motivated to get hiking in the rain. When he saw that I was just stopping in a for a snack and was heading back out, he asked if he could join in and hike with me. Again, by his own admission, he was using me as his motivation and self-guilting to get going. Anyways, it was a very different and interesting experience to hike and talk with someone all day after hiking solo for so long! 

This the state park where my son Dylan met me to pick me up. It was a convenient place to meet where I could stay out of the rain until he arrived.  

This first monument to George Washington was built built by the local people and was started in 1827. 

One of the shelters I stayed at this past week to get out of the rain. Laura and I had checked out this shelter last spring when we were scouting the trail. Like many of the shelters as a SOBO, I had this one to myself. 

The other big story this past week was the rain. It didn’t rain every day all day. But Monday through Friday, it either rained, there were showers, it was overcast, or just very misty. It also was pretty humid. It wasn’t terrible, and aside from the hard rain on Wednesday, it wasn’t too bad to hike in. Mostly the annoyance comes from wet clothes, shoes and socks, and gear. I planned my days to be in a shelter (or B&B) each night so that I wouldn’t have to deal with a wet tent on top of all that. Another funny thing about the rain – not many pictures! If it’s raining its a decision if I really want to stop, take out my phone, and take a picture! And, who am I to complain? I’m having an adventure of a lifetime, moving right along! 

Well, that’s about it. I’ll see you back on the trail from the South!