Hiking in the snow

It would appear that today will be the only hiking day this weekend.  Snowing yesterday - our loaner car is no good on snowy roads so there was no hike then.  Tomorrow looks like a repeat of yesterday.  So today was it.   Thirteen and a half miles in a few inches of snow.   Short on miles but heavy on effort.   Didn't even get our ice cream at Pine Grove Furnace.  Tradition is that when thru-hikers reach the general store at the state park, they eat a half gallon of ice cream.  But the store wasn't even open.

Really nice to have two days without the need for long underwear or hand warmers in my boots

Yesterday we finished the Cumberland Valley and over the South Mountain.  Quite different going over the valley as opposed to the mountains - very pastoral walking through farm fields and pastures.

Really? another rock pile?

Today we went up north to the Hawk Mountain area.  Thought it would be an easy day following the ridge, however, in PA ridge seems to means "rocks".   So we did a lot of scrambling over snow covered, icy rocks.  No one fell today though.  Weather was nice both days.  There was one place where we were going down the hill near the end of the day and I realized that it was quiet, really, really quiet.  There was no wind, no branches moving, no hum of traffic, no planes, not even any animal sounds - very awesome.

What was to be an easy day turned into a big slippery mess

Started out today close to Route 81 to cross the Cumberland Valley between South Mountain and Blue Mountain.  Made really good time until we started climbing the Blue Mountain.  Even then, the uphill wasn't too bad.  Headed down the other side and up another mountain which was a pretty good climb but still not terribly bad.  Then we started down the other side into Duncannon and hit the ice.  The entire trail was covered with ice.  The only thing that allowed us to get anyplace was the rocks for which PA is famous sticking up from the ice.  Even with that we each had a few falls.  I fell more than Mike but his were more spectacular, breaking a hiking pole in t
he first of them.  Ended up making use of the "butt crawl" in several sections.

Is it really necessary for the AT to go over every boulder field in PA?

Harder hike today.  Started at Hawk Mountain Road and hiked to Port Clinton.  Started out with two miles uphill to the Pinnacle.  Fortunately it was a very gradual climb mostly on an old game land road and we were rewarded with a great view.

  Standing on the top, we noted that it is unusual to be the only people up there.  However, on the way down the other side we must have passed 50 people on their way up - including a large party of Asians who looked so neat coming up toward us with their colorful hats, jackets, and gloves.

Cold, cold, cold

Seven degrees at the start, nineteen at the finish.  But it was a good day.  Went through some of the prettiest parts of the trail in PA - pine and hemlock forests and rhododendron.  Beautiful clear sky too.  Very cold though.  At about mile three we went up a long gradual incline.  Worked hard enough to need to unzip jacket and take off hat.  But my feet stayed cold.  Figured they were not going to warm up on their own so I stuck a hand warmer in each boot.  No trouble with cold feet the rest of the day.  Most of the segment was familiar territory for us, as it is our "go to" place for a quick one night backpacking trip.  Even passed the spot where I did a face plant last summer.                                   

 Recreating the moment after the face plant, only my hands were not under my face in the actual
 fall.  Don't know what they were doing but they sure didn't save my face.

Thought I'd try for some photos today. The first one is at the start of the hike yesterday.  Then there is the one of me hiking in the snow today and finally us on the Waterville Bridge that takes the AT across the Swattie at Swatara State Park.  This bridge is significant because we were married on it.
Only hiked half a day today.  Sleet, then snow, then rain made walking on leaves and rocks rather treacherous.

Day one

Our first day out.  Nice hiking weather.  Started at the parking area where the AT crosses Route 325 and hiked to the west end of Duncannon.  Relatively easy hiking - climbed Peter's Mountain at the start and stayed up on the ridge until going down to the river.

Getting started

This blog will be about our AT hike.  We will be section hiking the AT this year.  Starting tomorrow, Jan. 2, 2015, we will be doing weekend day hikes on sections of the trail in PA, NJ and possibly south as far as VA.  At the end of March we will be heading down to GA and hiking north, this time backpacking.  We will be taking a month off during the summer to spend some time camping with the family and then head to ME and hike south.