Halloween on the Appalachian Trail

At the end of October, we headed to Maryland for two weekends of hiking, hoping that we could complete the 40 miles of trail there over four days. On the first day, Halloween, we headed out from Wolfsville Road and hiked up to Pen Mar, just below the Pennsylvania state line, where I had hiked north from in September. We traveled up with two cars so we would not need a shuttle, and left one parked at Pen Mar before heading down to Wolfsville and heading out. It was a beautiful, relatively warm day. There was still a broad mix of leaves on the trees, with some turned deep red, and yellow, while others were still mostly green. We spotted some interesting fungus and kept up a good pace. 

The trail had a couple good rises to climb, but the trail was mostly rock free and easy walking except a portion coming down from the High Rock overlook, where it was mostly loose rock and picking our way over the rubble pile. But compared to what we had done earlier in Pennsylvania for miles and miles, I barely remembered it by the next day. The weather was clear, bright, and warm, promising summer rather than winter. We started later than I would have liked, because I prefer to allow myself the option of going a mile an hour, and finishing before dark. I am usually faster though, so we were able to keep up the pace and only had to pull out the headlamp for the last twenty minutes on trail. Fortunately by that time, we had reached a wide carriage lane, or old logging road, and the trail was level and clear of any major tripping obstacles. 

It was lovely since it wasn't too cold, to finish Halloween walking pleasantly along and having the full moon come up. As we came up to the park, there is a large covered shelter that overlooks the valley below, and we went up to look at the view, and spooked a couple of cats relaxing there. Then I turned off the headlamp and let the moon light us along the paved pathway to the parking lot where our car was waiting. A good hike, 10.78 miles.  

The next day we hopscotched south and hiked north to Wolfsville road from the Annapolis Rocks trailhead near I-70. This was an uphill climb into heavy fog and sporadic, light rain. All flat and easy along the ridgetop except for a brief Rocksylvania type section. It was a set taken directly from Sleepy Hollow, and spoke Halloween in every way that Saturday's sunny hike had not. It was silent and wonderful. Not a world or weather I would want to live in, but dream like to wander for a day. Along the trail we met a pair of women with wet hair and damp clothes, disoriented from missing a trail turn off. The weather was 50F, but in those conditions risky. We helped, along with another hiker, point them on the way to a trail out. They were in phone contact with a family memeber who was driving to pick them up, and although we offered some food and a hot hands said they were good and comfortable to hike the extra miles. A friendly reminder to bring a map, and some emergency weather gear. We are hiking with guthooks on one phone and Alltrails on the other. a compact rain jacket or an emergency blanket can be life saving in what might seem like mild weather. After that, our day was uneventful, and the fog finally cleared towards the end of our hike was we climbed through a small rocky pass and started the descent to the road where the extra car was parked. This is where Jake's hip started to hurt him with every step. So we had to go slowly, and tried some side stepping and backwards walking where flat to ease the strain. It seems he likely has some bursitis in his hip, so we'll have to give it rest for it to heal, and also work on better stretching and strength training at home. The last half mile took us an hour, and I am so glad he made it through most of the hike first. 9.7 miles total. 

A Long Walk, A decision

It’s one of those things you talk about doing: a great adventure. You read a book about it, and it inspires you to dream. For years, it is talk. Then one day, you set a date; You will do this thing. You will walk this path. Since I was a teenager, I have wanted to put a boat in the river near my house and float with it all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. The book to thank for that was Huckleberry Finn. I still haven’t set a date for that one, but it is on my list. 

But this is about the Appalachian Trail. Real knowledge or desire for the trail didn’t come to me until about 2011, when I read the book that so many people have, Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods. People who complete the AT are known as 2,000 milers, although the trail is longer than that. It travels the mountains from Georgia to Maine, and those with a will can follow it, walking north with the warming weather. Along the way people acquire a trail name, trail legs, and often a trail family, or tramily. They lose  weight, no matter what they eat, because it is hard work. 

Yet, it’s a mental challenge more than physical, everyone says. I don’t know. For me, it seems natural to spend all of summer in the woods. A joy and a dream to live and wake with the sun, walk in the rain, sleep the sleep of exhausted bliss. The real challenge will be to cover new ground each day, and never linger. A surprising number of people learn to camp and hike so they can do the trail. A few just try jumping in cold turkey. But for me the trail represents a socially acceptable opportunity to live the life of my heart.  I already love camping and hiking. I yearn to do it with wanderlust of an explorer, a vagabond, a nomad. 

We picked the year 2021 in 2016. It seemed far enough away to allow for some planning and learning. but not too far. Jake’s 40th birthday would be a fun milestone to celebrate on trail. And it would allow us plenty of time to have money saved to take the time off of work, too. 

I am an avid day hiker. But I am also a slow one. I could easily do a ten mile day, or sometimes more, but also don’t usually get up early enough, and ready soon enough, to fit that in. A typical day hike for me was four to eight miles. I had backpacked a handful of times as well, and had the basic gear: a ten year old backpack, worn low tech boots, and a tent big enough for two (assuming you really loved each other). Unfortunately, it had been years since we had done it. Lots of car camping though. 

Our plan then, was to start taking monthly overnight backpacking trips with the gear we had, and figure out what we needed and upgrade some things once we got much closer to our start date. And hopefully get our bodies used to carrying the weight. 

Next week I will share about that first return to backpacking, and how the intervening years went (not as planned!) Thanks for all the support, and liking/sharing these posts. Gearing up to get on trail again shortly!