Twig Adventures

Thursday Sept 16th, 2021, 1600-1845 Duncannon to Darlington Shelter, SOBO AT mm 1054.811.6 miles2356 gain, 1476 loss Again not a whole lot got accomplished this day but at least I walked out of town wearing my new shoes and socks. Actually, the socks were a pair I’d worn on another trail, mailed from home. But I was able to replace the Darn Tough socks worn on this trail at the outfitters, which then became my sleep socks. I mailed my extra stuff home and reused the flat rate box my shoes came in to stuff with excess food. The Post Office had a tote full of protein and granola bars donated to AT hikers by a local patron, so I[…]

Wednesday Sept 15th, 2021, 0620-1400 Sturgis porcupine tentsite to Duncannon PA, SOBO AT mm 1043.521.3 miles3547 gain, 4826 loss I was so excited to get my new shoes in town, but I still had a nearly full day of walking to get there. The morning was foggy, so much so that I had to wait 20 minutes after packing to start walking. The fog deflects a headlamp beam to the point that it’s useless. It’s also very disorienting…I had a hard time finding my campsite after walking up trail to dig a cathole in the dark. There was a woman who died on the AT from getting turned around while doing her business off to the side. I think there’s[…]

Tuesday September 14th, 2021, 0740-1910501 Shelter to Sturgis porcupine tentsite, SOBO AT mm 1022.525.6 miles3839 gain, 3665 loss I was slow to rise after a very late night hanging by the campfire…only my second since the first night in Baxter State Park. It was past 10 pm when I went to bed. I didn’t have a set agenda for the day, other than to make it 13 miles to where a trail angel was scheduled to be doing trail magic. That’s enough motivation to get moving. I watched the light grow from the huge skylight in the roof of the shelter. I hadn’t noticed it when I arrived, since it was dark. I bid farewell to the 2 NOBOs, who[…]

Monday September 13th, 2021, 0640-1920Pocahontas Spring to 501 Shelter, SOBO AT mm 99727 miles4140 gain, 3848 loss Today was another in the chapter on how to cram a bunch of events into one day and still walk lots of miles. My recipe for doing this begins with an early start, but that was not the case here. I was slow to pack and even slower walking the 2.5 miles into Port Clinton. The rocky trail was jarring so early in the morning and I had to take my time going down. My intent was for a quick in and out to get food, so I walked 1 mile east to a Walmart. The highway was 4 lanes and very busy,[…]

Sunday September 12th, 2021, 0630-1700PA Route 309 to Pocahontas Spring, SOBO AT mm 970.123 miles3241 gain, 3422 loss My impromptu campsite worked just fine but I was slow to rise in the morning. I really feared that my toe might keep me from hiking. I was reluctant to face the music getting out of the tent. I manipulated the toe with my fingers, bracing for some sort of pain, but it didn’t come. This at least informed me that the joint was fine. I took a few tentative steps, expecting white hot searing pain to shoot up my spinal cord. I felt only a dull ache and breathed a sigh of relief. It appeared that I could still walk. I[…]

Saturday September 11th, 2021, 0600-19002 miles west of Wind Gap to half a mile south of PA Route 309, SOBO AT mm 94732.5 miles4764 gain, 4905 loss Man, what a day, by far my longest on the AT and not something I’d want to do again anytime soon. I didn’t plan my food situation between my next expected town stop very well. After starting out, I realized that I was short one dinner and some snacks. Rather than just hitching to one of the myriad of small towns along the way, I got the idea of having either lunch or dinner at a restaurant that was right on trail. I would either need to slow way down or speed up[…]

Friday September 10th, 2021, 1230-1920Delaware Water Gap to 2 miles west of Wind Gap, PA, SOBO AT mm 914.617.6 miles3356 gain, 2241 loss I spent a large portion of the morning lounging in bed, working on my phone. I didn’t feel in too much of a hurry to get back on the trail. Housekeeping almost had to chase me out of the hotel room, as I hung there right until check-out. I had to go back to the church hostel to pack the rest of my things that were still all spread out. On the way, I stopped at the bakery to get a giant stack of strawberry shortcake. I was determined to eat the whole thing before departing town…[…]

Thursday September 9th, 2021, 0600-1750Yards Reservoir ridge tentsite to Delaware Water Gap, SOBO AT mm 89710 miles833 gain, 1867 loss Overnight, the rain started around 9 pm, just as forecasted. I could hear thunder well before. The lightning was pretty intense for a few hours and the rain was so hard that I got splashback and misting almost immediately. But my little tent held up considerably well…I had some leaking through the floor but rather minimal. I played around with the ground tarp before going to bed, trying to get the edges to fold up so that maybe it would prevent puddling. It sort of worked. I didn’t get the best sleep initially because it’s really hard to sleep through[…]

Wednesday September 8th, 2021, 0600-1750Mashipacong Shelter to ridge above Yards Reservoir, SOBO AT mm 887.127.4 miles4035 gain, 4022 loss With no more visits from friends scheduled, it was time to just hike all day. First I had to make a stop at the shelter privy that’s legendary for its pink interior. The picture says it all. It was a great experience. Well, of course there had to be at least one deli stop, too. This came early after my standard 10 by 10 am affair. I got a breakfast bagel at the Sandwich Lobby. Just before this there were some nice viewpoints, one at a large pavilion on Sunrise Mountain, where I did indeed admire the sunrise. Another was at[…]

Tuesday September 7th, 2021, 0600-1830Wawayanda Mt to Mashipacong Shelter, SOBO AT mm 859.627.5 miles5000 gain, 4820 loss Running from mosquitoes seemed to be the new normal each morning. As soon as I left my fortress, it was a race to get the tent packed and get moving before they woke up. At least I was very practiced at doing almost everything inside my tent. I was going to be passing through a lot of low and boggy areas all morning, so I was prepared to do battle. I gave in down, spraying DEET on the backs of my legs at the start. I also wore my rain jacket to protect my upper body. As I came down from the hills[…]