The First Stretch
This is all something new. We've never hiked long distances before. We've never put our bodies through such physical demands before. We've never even written a blog before. It is all new and it is all extremely exciting.
I would like to share a small introduction of us and our hike to come.
My name is Emma and my fiancé is Gavin. We are thrilled to finally be getting married this October after nearly eight years of laughter and love together. But first, we have set out to thru hike the Appalachian Trail and are aiming to finish by end of August. We have had to change our hiking directions more than a few times and we may even switch our plans again. We originally wanted to start in Georgia and finish in Maine. Now, we are flip-flopping and hiking both Southbound and Northbound. We have already hiked Northbound or NOBO from Harpers Ferry to Duncannon PA. We will start hiking Southbound or SOBO from Harpers Ferry to Springer Mountain GA today. Then we will hike NOBO from Duncannon to Katahdin ME.
On February 22, 2018, we left Harpers Ferry hiking Northbound towards central Pennsylvania. We got dropped off by my mother and set out on an easy 6 mile hike to Ed Garvey shelter in Maryland. Maryland requires you to stay at shelters or designated campsites. Usually that would be an inconvenience if you want to tackle more miles or avoid rodents. For us, the first four days were nothing but fog, rain, and mist so having a shelter to rest out of the cold rain worked out fine. We are pretty sure it is too early in the season for rats and mice to be bothering you. We were wrong with the rodents and more on that later.
The first night, we met Foxtrotter (or Rob, Foxtrotter is his trail name). We realized later how cool it was to meet this experienced hiker on our first night on the trail. Ed Garvey Shelter is two levels so it was nice having our 2nd floor to ourselves as Foxtrotter wanted to stay downstairs. We shared conversation over dinner. He has hiked the AT in 98, and I’m pretty sure in the early 2000s as well. He has hiked the PCT and CDT and plenty other trails. He is a commercial fisherman in Alaska for three months out of the year then hikes trails the rest of the year. His folks live in southern PA and he prefers not to travel by car too much so he uses this part of the AT as his own highway. When he is done visiting with his parents, he hikes back down South to catch the Marc train from Harpers Ferry to DC where he flies back to Alaska or his next adventure. He was a cool guy to get advise from and pick his brain about trail life. Also, how cool is that to work a few months out of the year and live for cheap doing what you love the rest of the time. Just things to think about.
Most of the next few days were spent in fog in Maryland. We had two river crossings due to all the rain where cold water got in our boots. All of our gear drys quickly so it really wasn’t too much of a problem. Blisters were our only concerns.
When we reached PA, we restocked our fuel and food in Waynesboro. We were nervous for our first hitchhiking experience but to our surprise, we had two cars stop and offer us a ride at the same time within a minute of hitchhiking. A nice church goer in a pickup truck, named Ken, took us to Walmart. We spent $100 on food and fuel for about a weeks supply. We ate at Subway for lunch and called our loved ones. Upon leaving, a woman in the parking lot stopped us and asked us if we needed a ride back to the trail. Her name was Shelly and she told of stories of bears in her backyard.
We ended up having an unexpected zero day (day in which you hike zero miles) at Tumbling Run shelter the Tuesday after restocking. I woke up with severe stomach pains and felt dizzy and tired. When we realized it was probably food poisoning, we decided to stay at that shelter and relax a little bit. Turned out to be one of the nicest shelters on the AT. It was located next to a raging river, the camp group had precut firewood, and clothesline’s to hang your wet gear. Gavin sat in the sun and listened to podcasts, I slept in the tent. The following day, I tried to eat a little bit before our 12 mile hike. Nothing smelt or tasted good so I ended up just eating two bites of a tortilla. We reached Quarry Gap shelter in no time and we were pleasantly surprised to find a swinging bench next to the shelter where we watched the full moon rise. After trying to eat as much Mac and cheese with Tuna as I could, I quickly got sick and all my dinner ended up next to the stream nearby. It wasn’t the greatest couple of days for me. But that was the last of my illness and I didn’t have any more stomach problems.
Most of southern PA is flat. We had a rough climb during the wind storm where we were watching trees sway in 40 foot radius’s. Other than the wind storm, we had a easy few days into Duncannon. One 14 mile stretch was primarily thru cow pastures and farmland. I would like to add more detail about our individual hikes as time goes on but for now it was just amazing to be finally out there doing the hiking we had been planning to do for so long.
We spent the last week in Philadelphia while Gavin’s family traveled to England for his grandfathers funeral. Today we are sitting in Harpers Ferry about to start hiking South to GA. Springer Mountain- here we come!
We are going to upload new posts every time we hit a town, so feel free to check back in as our hike goes on.
I would like to share a small introduction of us and our hike to come.
My name is Emma and my fiancé is Gavin. We are thrilled to finally be getting married this October after nearly eight years of laughter and love together. But first, we have set out to thru hike the Appalachian Trail and are aiming to finish by end of August. We have had to change our hiking directions more than a few times and we may even switch our plans again. We originally wanted to start in Georgia and finish in Maine. Now, we are flip-flopping and hiking both Southbound and Northbound. We have already hiked Northbound or NOBO from Harpers Ferry to Duncannon PA. We will start hiking Southbound or SOBO from Harpers Ferry to Springer Mountain GA today. Then we will hike NOBO from Duncannon to Katahdin ME.
On February 22, 2018, we left Harpers Ferry hiking Northbound towards central Pennsylvania. We got dropped off by my mother and set out on an easy 6 mile hike to Ed Garvey shelter in Maryland. Maryland requires you to stay at shelters or designated campsites. Usually that would be an inconvenience if you want to tackle more miles or avoid rodents. For us, the first four days were nothing but fog, rain, and mist so having a shelter to rest out of the cold rain worked out fine. We are pretty sure it is too early in the season for rats and mice to be bothering you. We were wrong with the rodents and more on that later.
The first night, we met Foxtrotter (or Rob, Foxtrotter is his trail name). We realized later how cool it was to meet this experienced hiker on our first night on the trail. Ed Garvey Shelter is two levels so it was nice having our 2nd floor to ourselves as Foxtrotter wanted to stay downstairs. We shared conversation over dinner. He has hiked the AT in 98, and I’m pretty sure in the early 2000s as well. He has hiked the PCT and CDT and plenty other trails. He is a commercial fisherman in Alaska for three months out of the year then hikes trails the rest of the year. His folks live in southern PA and he prefers not to travel by car too much so he uses this part of the AT as his own highway. When he is done visiting with his parents, he hikes back down South to catch the Marc train from Harpers Ferry to DC where he flies back to Alaska or his next adventure. He was a cool guy to get advise from and pick his brain about trail life. Also, how cool is that to work a few months out of the year and live for cheap doing what you love the rest of the time. Just things to think about.
Most of the next few days were spent in fog in Maryland. We had two river crossings due to all the rain where cold water got in our boots. All of our gear drys quickly so it really wasn’t too much of a problem. Blisters were our only concerns.
When we reached PA, we restocked our fuel and food in Waynesboro. We were nervous for our first hitchhiking experience but to our surprise, we had two cars stop and offer us a ride at the same time within a minute of hitchhiking. A nice church goer in a pickup truck, named Ken, took us to Walmart. We spent $100 on food and fuel for about a weeks supply. We ate at Subway for lunch and called our loved ones. Upon leaving, a woman in the parking lot stopped us and asked us if we needed a ride back to the trail. Her name was Shelly and she told of stories of bears in her backyard.
We ended up having an unexpected zero day (day in which you hike zero miles) at Tumbling Run shelter the Tuesday after restocking. I woke up with severe stomach pains and felt dizzy and tired. When we realized it was probably food poisoning, we decided to stay at that shelter and relax a little bit. Turned out to be one of the nicest shelters on the AT. It was located next to a raging river, the camp group had precut firewood, and clothesline’s to hang your wet gear. Gavin sat in the sun and listened to podcasts, I slept in the tent. The following day, I tried to eat a little bit before our 12 mile hike. Nothing smelt or tasted good so I ended up just eating two bites of a tortilla. We reached Quarry Gap shelter in no time and we were pleasantly surprised to find a swinging bench next to the shelter where we watched the full moon rise. After trying to eat as much Mac and cheese with Tuna as I could, I quickly got sick and all my dinner ended up next to the stream nearby. It wasn’t the greatest couple of days for me. But that was the last of my illness and I didn’t have any more stomach problems.
Most of southern PA is flat. We had a rough climb during the wind storm where we were watching trees sway in 40 foot radius’s. Other than the wind storm, we had a easy few days into Duncannon. One 14 mile stretch was primarily thru cow pastures and farmland. I would like to add more detail about our individual hikes as time goes on but for now it was just amazing to be finally out there doing the hiking we had been planning to do for so long.
We spent the last week in Philadelphia while Gavin’s family traveled to England for his grandfathers funeral. Today we are sitting in Harpers Ferry about to start hiking South to GA. Springer Mountain- here we come!
We are going to upload new posts every time we hit a town, so feel free to check back in as our hike goes on.
Love reading about your travels, Teatime and Peak! Can’t wait to hear more!
ReplyDeleteGood luck guys! See you in October. Safe travels and enjoy! Jude xxx
ReplyDeleteThank you Jude! Can't wait to see you!
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