Appalachian Trail - 11 miles 10/15/11

I spent the weekend hiking once again, along the Appalachian Trail.  This time, I started from the same location as last time, but headed southbound.  It is really too bad that I live so far from the AT.  I would like to do more day-hiking along it, but at the cost of a three-hour drive to the nearest part of the trail, it makes more sense to hike it in 2- or 3-day sections.

My friend, Stefan, who lives in the Harrisburg area, accompanied me for this trek.  He and I hiked a northbound portion of the trail a couple years back, just as I was getting started hiking seriously.  We hiked uphill and down through a mostlty-wooded section of trail.  This portion was not nearly as rocky as the one I hiked a few weeks ago. 

We meandered down a long hill and found ourselves wandering through Pine Grove Furnace State Park.  It happened to be Family Fall Fun Fest, or something of the sort, that day.  There we were, sweaty and tired, lugging packs and poles through a thicket of strollers, arts & crafts and funnel cakes.  As a purist, I stuck to the trail, which brought us through the park and across a road to a steep, uphill climb.  We made camp on top of the hill.

A hiker, who we met earlier in the day, came by after dark.  He stopped and chatted for a while, showing off his uncanny ability to mimic owl calls.  After that episode, we were ready for sleep. In the morning, we decided to call it in.  Our wives came to pick us up at the road we crossed earlier and so ended another section of the AT.

Hike on.