Week 1 - 2022
WEEK ONE of HOBOS GOING SOBO IN THEIR OBOZ, the journey "in-tents"ifies ...
Duncannon, PA to Caledonia State Park, Fayetteville, PA, 64 miles, average 9 miles/day.
April 24, 2022 — Today is the day we start our second long section hike on the Appalachian Trail — Duncannon, PA to Groseclose, VA, 600 miles.
We are all up and ready to go by 7:00 am full of anticipation of what the day will bring; Ann and Beth excited for their first-time adventure on the AT. First, a stop at “Goodies” for breakfast where we meet “Hoot Owl”, who had walked the whole AT in 2018 - it is a fun time of sharing our similar stories of life on the trail.
The AT runs right through town, so we take our first steps right outside the Doyle Hotel and work our way on FLAT (take note of that point!) ground until we reach the woods. The terrain immediately changes, BAM!
WELCOME TO ROCKSLYVANIA!
So appropriately named by AT hikers —there are rocks everywhere making the climb difficult and slow moving. Beth and Ann are real troopers and take the two miles up to Hawks Rock like champs, but I hear on their descent back down one of them mentioned never wanting to do this again. I’m sure seeing a 6’ snake on their way down contributed to making that decision. It was a tough four miles for them, and they can surely vouch that the AT can be difficult and challenging!
WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK ON THE TRAIL:
We will not be fooled this time! Our first day was HOT, 80 degrees but with a full backpack felt like 90! We will not fall for that again and send our warm clothes home. I’m keeping my long johns and blanket liner snuggly in my backpack. Thank you very much.
We didn’t get the memo/email. The “old” crowd are flip-floppers. We have met so many our age that are starting in Harpers Ferry, WV and going NOBO to Maine. Then going back to Harpers Ferry and going SOBO to Georgia. Doesn’t matter, these old folks (as I said before) will be flipping but absolutely no flopping happening for us!
What’s wrong with this picture? We pass a guy that is carrying a full backpack and behind him is his gal with NO pack on whatsoever! She’s just a Lallygagging along light footed and free as I’m huffing and puffing with my pack! Humpf! That sure warranted a smack to my guy!
My nose has become a leaky faucet again this year. Maybe I will master the “farmers blow” this time?!
I think I might just be a bad person. I find myself laughing at FROG in precarious situations. The terrain has been so rocky that at times we’ve had to climb through rock boulders. Well … FROG got stuck. I mean really stuck - y’all it was so funny AND I got a picture of it. I dare YOU not to laugh when you see it!
I bought FROG a chair for Christmas to be used for backpacking. It sits low to the ground, so he has to get himself down on all fours then back himself down into it. It’s a sight for sure - his first attempt at it sent both him and the chair backwards. I found it quite funny, he, not so much. (See what I mean, I’m so bad!) It was all fun and games until the next day I sat in it and the same thing happened to me. I did laugh at myself and figured out it needs to be propped against a tree first before sitting because the legs sink in the dirt, hence a backward tumble.
A little dirt never hurt anyone. FROG was getting ready to fix our dehydrated Mac & Cheese with bacon bits and dehydrated broccoli (sounds yummy doesn’t it?) when he hits the bag once and catches it, then accidentally hits it again catching it and if that wasn’t enough, third times a charm … hits it again but not catching it leaving most the contents on the ground. It’s not an easy task to try to scoop up dehydrated cheese! It ended up fine and tasty oh so good!
It’s probably not a good idea to stealth camp near skunk cabbage. #1, it stinks and #2, and I know they’re not related only in smell, but I couldn’t help but think about the possibility of a skunk being outside our tent and the possibility of being sprayed if we encountered one at night when we inevitably had to use the great outdoors. Talk about really smelling!
We love our trail angels!! Three this week. Our first one was anonymous. We had run out of water and by one of the trailheads we found jugs of water for hikers to use. What a godsend!
Our favorite trail angel by far: a friend formerly from Spencer, Cathy Harris. She picked us up at the trailhead just as it started to rain (perfect timing, rained all day and through the night), we took showers, a whirlpool bath, she fed us lunch, dinner and breakfast, did our laundry, provided a nice comfy bed to sleep on, and had great conversations with her and her sons Kerrston and Jarrod. She has a beautiful home and outside their deck we got to witness a magnificent sunset to end our day. She took us back to the trail and sent us off with cookies. Thank you, Cathy, for your hospitality, we were truly blessed! May God bless you richly for your kindness to us. Reminder: we are still homeless, we know where you live, we may just show up at your door someday!
We met a celebrity! Although we had no clue. “Fresh Ground”. Seems he is well known on the trail as a trail angel that follow the NOBOS as they travel. We were just fortunate to be at the right place at the right time. It was a cooler day so having his homemade chicken soup was exactly what we needed. He had fruit, chips, seafood gumbo, cookies, soda. We left full and even grabbed a few extra cookies for the road, or rather, trail. He quickly became a new friend. Hopefully we meet up again!
Sugarfoot! Divine intervention at its best. We weren’t sure how we were going to meet up, but it just so happened that we were at the same place at the same time and so got to visit with an old backpacker friend we met two years ago.
Quest Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough protein bars are nas-ty!!! I’m pretty sure even if I was really hungry, I would avoid eating another one of those! Sorry if I offended and they are your fave but
FROG: Did you see that guy, he looked totally disgusted with the gal walking behind him? Faith: With me walking behind you, how do you know that I don’t also have that disgusted look walking with you? FROG laughs: Touché!
Did I happen to mention it’s extremely rocky in PA???!!! There have been some easy terrain through fields and woods but mostly rocks: rock fields, rock paths, rock formations to crawl through … the saying when you meet someone is usually “happy trails” but for PA I’m changing it to “Rock On!”
The nights have been sooooo cold. I am so glad to have my long johns, winter jacket and blanket liner! We have every stitch of clothing on and still feel cold at times. We’re trying to figure out how we didn’t die from hypothermia last year, we had so little clothes and it was so much colder there in the mountains. Only by God’s grace!
Life has been good, so far, no fights on sleeping in the shelters. We’ve only stayed near one (Tom’s Run) and it was because one of the sites had Adirondack chairs to sit in. FROGs dream camping spot, chairs with a back. No falling over in these. Although! Not a good idea to wait for the very last minute when needing to use the privy here, it is a ROCKY uphill climb to get there so you have to travel at a slow place. Plan ahead so no accidents, if you know what I mean! No accidents, just sayin’.
And lastly, we found out that the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club maintains a certain section of the trail and within that group they have different innkeepers for each shelter and compete with each other to see who can keep the best shelter. We liked the shelter with the chairs but Quarry Gap Shelter wins hands down. Check out the pictures.
WEEK TWO is well underway and the first day into it I was ready to throw in the towel! If I had a towel, I would have. It was one disaster after another. Will share more next week. Until then, Rock On Folks!!!