Pen Mar Park to Caledonia State Park

December 28-29th, 2009
Pen Mar Park, MD to Caledonia State Park, PA
18.1 miles

AT Hike #1 - Pen Mar to Caledonia - Dec 2009

Click above for pictures from my first section hike.

Before I begin, one of the biggest challenges I will face is logistics. Driving several hours to get to the trailhead. Arranging for a shuttle service to take me from where I park my car and where I plan to end each section, to where I begin each section. There is also the gear issue. It takes a ton of planning to get your gear ready for each section hike, not to mention the sheer amount of "stuff" that is needed on each hike.

Here is a partial list of what I took on my winter section hike from Pen Mar to Caledonia:

Backpack, 20 degree sleeping bag, sleeping pad, backpacking stove/fuel/pot, water treatment drops, clothing to stay warm down in winter, gaiters, hiking poles, balaclava, yaktrax, rain gear, first aid/survival kit, camera, maps (I actually forgot my maps!), sunscreen, chapstick, knife, headlamp...etc.

I left Michigan around 4am on December 28th and got to Caledonia State Park in Pennsylvania around 12:30pm. My shuttle service (thanks Bill and Amy!) picked me up around 1pm and dropped me off at Pen Mar Park, just over the PA/MD border. I started heading north at 1:30pm, temperature hovering around 25 degrees with a solid 15-20 mile an hour wind. It was cold! First rule in winter hiking is to keep moving if you want to stay warm. Second rule is don't sweat! Sweat and cold is not a fun combo and can lead to hypothermia. The key is to layer as much as possible to make it easy to regulate your body heat as you are hiking.

The hike started off perfectly. A nice climb to help get warm plus the sun was out all day. Couldn't ask for better weather in late December in Pennsylvania. This part of the AT is close to civilization, so there are many road crossings and views of nearby towns. After crossing several roads and at mile 4.9, I reached Deer Lick Shelters for a break. For those not familiar with the Appalachian Trail, there are three-sided, elevated shelters or huts every 8-12 miles along the trail. They offer refuge from the weather and a warm place to sleep. They are very rustic, frequented by trapeeze-artist mice, snoring hikers, yet also help create a sense of community along the trail.

Let's talk about food. I usually keep a Clif bar or Snickers in my pocket to eat while hiking, but when I take an extended rest break, I like to eat something that will provide good energy for my next segment. Mini bagels and peanut butter, trail mix are favorites. Peanut butter is energy food while hiking. Breakfast usually consists of coffee and a Poptart or maybe a breakfast bar. Dinner is usually a freeze-dried Mountainhouse meal. Also, water is obviously key. I typically carry two Aquafina liter water bottles.  They are durable and easy to refill. I get water from streams and springs along the trail and use a chemical treatment to purify my drinking water.

After a nice break at Deer Lick Shelters, I realized that I only had an hour and a half until the sun went down. Winter hiking is unique in that it is dark by 5pm. I picked up my pace and after hiking through a road-side park, reached my destination for the night, Tumbling Run Shelters. These are two very nice shelters, one for snoring and one for non-snoring (I was in the snoring one), about 0.2 miles off a road and next to a stream or run. I normally don't like to stay in shelters so close to a road, but it was a Monday night and the temperature was in the 20's. I had the shelters to myself, which wasn't unexpected given the weather. Day 1 - 8.5 miles.

Again, the most unique part of winter hiking, especially solo winter hiking, is the amount of dark down-time. It starts getting dark at 5pm and by 6pm it is completely dark. I quickly set up my sleeping bag and got my geared organized for a long, cold night. My bag is rated to 20 degrees, but I'm a cold sleeper. I ended up wearing three layers on top and bottom, down booties, my balaclava and wool hat. I didn't want to go to sleep at 6pm, even though I was tired, so I watched Bruno on my iPod. I'm sure that has to be a first! I texted Kelly (my wife) a few times to let her know I was warm, safe and on pace to finish up tomorrow. She also was kind enough to relay my elevation profile for the next day's hike since I had forgotten my maps at home! I also read for about an hour, but finally got too cold to keep even my arms outside my sleeping bag.

I was warm enough to get some sleep and surprisingly felt well rested the next morning when I got up around 8am. The day started with packing up while still mostly in my sleeping bag. I changed clothes, brewed some coffee (Starbucks instant single serve coffee rocks) and ate a quick breakfast. Finally I had to get out of my bag to finish packing up and that was when I hit my coldest for this trip. I was like a walking, talking science experiment. What happens when the body gets cold? Well, the answer is your heart directs blood to your core organs first, leaving you extremities to fend for themselves. In other words, my feet and hands were completely numb. Makes packing up interested! The solution? Start hiking, and at a brisk pace! After 30 minutes, everything was back to being warm, more or less.

Day 2 started off with a nice climb up to Chimney Rocks (see the link above for my pics). This is a large rock formation on top of Buzzard Peak. It offered incredible views and was a perfect way to start the day. After snapping some pics, the cold wind forced me to move on. The rest of my day consisted of some nice ridge walking, although exposed to the cold winds, and finally a descent to US-30 and Caledonia State Park, the end of this section hike. Day 2 - 9.6 miles.

Total miles hiked on this section - 18.1 (0.83% of the AT!)

Lessons learned:

1. Yaktrax are good on snow and ice, but can't hold up to PA rocks.
2. Watching Bruno on an iPod in a trail shelter is a fun way to spend a cold night.
3. Need a warmer sleeping bag for future winter hikes.
4. Down booties might not look manly, but they keep your feet warm!
5. Balaclavas give you awesome bed head hair in the morning.
6. No journey worth taking is easy.

Until next time...

And so it begins...

Well, sort of. The truth is I have been hiking the Appalachian Trail, or the AT, since I was a teenager. I've decided to hit the reset button and start section hiking the entire 2,178-mile Appalachian Trail. I am a section hiker. The window for thru hiking has closed for me, but I am able to get away for 3 to 5 days at a time, several times each year (I have an awesome wife!).

My goal is to section hike the AT over the next 20 or so years. It's a long-term goal! A lesson in patience and perseverance, both are qualities that I have room for improvement!

A little background on the Appalachian Trail, for those who are not familiar with the footpath. The "AT" is a 2,178-mile linear trail, starting in northern Georgia (Springer Mountain) and ending in Maine (Mt. Katahdin). The trail covers all types of terrain and passes through very remote areas and populated areas. There are high peaks in Tennessee and North Carolina, as well as low areas in the Mid-Atlantic states.

The trail is known for its "thru-hikers", those who attempt to hike the entire trail in one shot, typically starting in early spring and ending in fall. The success rate for thru-hikers is estimated at less than 20%. Most hikers hike NOBO, or northbound, however some prefer the solitude of a SOBO, southbound, journey. Either way, the AT is really about the people hiking it, maintaining it and supporting it in nearby towns.

And so it begins. I welcome you to follow me on my journey. I can't do it alone. I will need the support of my wife, family and friends to hold down the home front and provide motivation, my co-workers to hold down the office, the shuttle drivers to help me get from point A to B, my fellow hikers to provide company along the way and perfect strangers to help out when I least expect it.

My first trip will be over the 2009 holidays!