2018 Section Hikers

[LittleRock]

The last few years there has been a running thread for us section hikers to post the sections they've completed or planned for the year. Most likely very few of us have completed any section hikes yet, but I bet lots of folks have been thinking about it. I know I have

This year I'm planning to hike from Rockfish Gap, VA to Front Royal, VA (basically all of SNP) in April. Hoping to get out again in the fall to hike from Front Royal, VA to Pen-Mar (with my first ever zero day in Harper's Ferry).

So let's hear it - what section hikes (AT or other trails) have you got planned for this year?

[dcdennis]

lol this is a weird thread. why would i care what OTHER people are hiking :P

[Night Train]

I have to agree.

[ldsailor]

lol this is a weird thread. why would i care what OTHER people are hiking :P

I have to agree.

So why are you both on this thread reading?

[jlp1976]

So why are you both on this thread reading?

My thoughts exactly

[greenpete]

Beautifully said.

[stephanD]

I have to agree.

I have to agree too... that us section hikers should have our own forum.

[stephanD]

My story in a nut shell...
May 2015: attempted to flip flop thru hike starting at HF going north
July 2015: got off the trail at Hanover NH due to a knee injury (stress fracture right knee).
Stayed off the trail next two years
July-August 2017: Decided to get back on the trail and completed a section hike from Newfound gap (GSMNP) to Springer Mt, including approach trail. Felt like i'm back from the dead.
April 2018: Completed a section from Front Royal, VA to HF, WV during Spring Recess
July - August 2018: Hope to complete my own "Virginia Challenge": 500 miles from Front Royal to Damascus in six weeks.

[Hikingchef]

My story in a nut shell...
May 2015: attempted to flip flop thru hike starting at HF going north
July 2015: got off the trail at Hanover NH due to a knee injury (stress fracture right knee).
Stayed off the trail next two years
July-August 2017: Decided to get back on the trail and completed a section hike from Newfound gap (GSMNP) to Springer Mt, including approach trail. Felt like i'm back from the dead.
April 2018: Completed a section from Front Royal, VA to HF, WV during Spring Recess
July - August 2018: Hope to complete my own "Virginia Challenge": 500 miles from Front Royal to Damascus in six weeks.

How long did Front Royal to HF take you? I’m planning the same trip for later in the year, but don’t really know how long to plan for it since it will be my first section.

[chknfngrs]

I don’t mind reading what other people are planning only because it helps get me fired up for my own plans. Share the stoke!

[TwoSpirits]

I don’t mind reading what other people are planning only because it helps get me fired up for my own plans. Share the stoke!

This. I think this will be a great thread to follow because I can fall into a dreary funk at this time of year, and seeing what other section hikers are planning helps keep my head in the game.

[ZombieDust66]

lol this is a weird thread. why would i care what OTHER people are hiking :P

Why are you involved in a forum if you don’t care about others opinions? That’s weird.


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[windlion]

Now that my boots are resoled (thanks, Pennsylvania), I plan to start off with Delaware Water Gap northbound as soon as the weather in the Hudson valley starts to warm up, and step off trail when the bubble catches up to me. Salisbury, possibly?

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[Gambit McCrae]

12 Trips to walk from Watauga Lake to Springer for Map2
Finish PA, Mass and Vermont for Map1 in 2 trips


2018 hike plan.png

[LittleRock]

12 Trips to walk from Watauga Lake to Springer for Map2
Finish PA, Mass and Vermont for Map1 in 2 trips

Roan Highlands in February? BRRRR.

[JG13]

Hot Springs thru the Roan Highlands in late October...did Max Patch to Hot Springs this past October.

[Berserker]

Preliminary plan for the year is to finish VA (got 41 miles left mostly in SNP), do the last 49 miles (Eastern most) in PA and do Rangeley to Monson in ME.

[Berserker]

Preliminary plan for the year is to finish VA (got 41 miles left mostly in SNP), do the last 49 miles (Eastern most) in PA and do Rangeley to Monson in ME.

Ok, so finally got out on my first section this year. Wasn't sure how my right knee was going to hold up because I started to have trouble with it earlier this year, but it did ok. Had to brace it up for a few days, and it's sore sitting here right now. Anyway, ended up just going ahead and finishing PA, so did 90.6 miles from PA 183 to Delaware Water Gap. Ended up doing this in a odd order. I did 2 nights out from Little Gap to Delaware Water gap, then 3 nights out from Port Clinton to Little Gap, and finally day hiked 183 to Port Clinton. Had a great time for the most part.

So first off, how about them rocks? I've been hearing about the rocks for years, and wondering where in the heck they are...well I found 'em. So now I see what the deal is with the rocks. I think I was expecting miles of stuff like what one would see when you get near the top of the climb going NOBO out of Lehigh Gap (i.e. piles of medium sized loose rocks), but that's not what most of it is. Most of it is walking across flat ridge lines with stationary rocks that are pointing straight upward where there are sections of that going on for miles. At first I scratched my head as to what the big deal was (I mean I have hiked the Whites and first part of ME so I thought what could be worse), but about 3 days in I finally got it. It's just flat out mind numbing walking through the same scenery with minimal views and having to watch every single step. Plus the feet just start getting sore no matter how hard one tries to pick their way through that stuff.

At any rate, the rocks notwithstanding the hike was quite enjoyable. Had good weather most of the time where the trip was bookended by rain. The first night out it rained, but tailed off by morning. The day hike was wet and wild. A stationary front parked itself over Southern PA on Sunday, and it rained heavily during the whole hike where the trail became a creek about half way in. The climb up out of Lehigh Gap was also interesting as that was the hottest day, and by the time I was going up it those rocks had gotten heated up by the sun.

Some items of interest are I saw a lot of wild life: newts, snakes, toads, a turtle, a possum (during the middle of the day) and some deer. Also ran into the family of 8 at the Microtel in Hamburg and got to meet them. Got my first confirmed deer tick bite. That sucked, but at least I found the little b$%^ard and have him in a snack bag in my freezer. So I'll be watching for symptoms over the next few weeks.

So with PA finally done I now have 261.8 miles of the trail left consisting of 41.4 miles in VA (mostly in SNP) and 220.4 miles in ME (Rangeley to Katahdin).

[Berserker]

Preliminary plan for the year is to...do Rangeley to Monson in ME.

Got back a couple of days ago from this section. I split this one up into 3 subsections that were all hiked NOBO as follows:

• Subsection 1 – Caratunk to Monson
• Subsection 2 – Stratton to Caratunk
• Subsection 3 – Rangeley to Stratton

For those familiar with this piece of trail you already know that this was probably a good way of breaking this up as the subsections got progressively harder.

I’ve been battling some minor injury problems this year (knee and achillies), so I didn’t hit this section in the best of shape. It made it quite interesting because for the first time I couldn’t rely on my physical conditioning to power through, but rather I had to will myself mentally through this one. Let’s get to it.

SUBSECTION 1 – CARATUNK TO MONSON
This is neat section in ME because out of the 167.3 miles I’ve done in ME so far (NH/ME line to Monson) this was the easiest piece of trail. The weather on this piece stayed dry, but it was hot and humid. Nonetheless, the dryness resolved a lot of the mud issues that I was hearing about from the previously week of multiple days of rain. Highlights in this section were the beach at Pleasant Pond, the summits of Pleasant Pond and Moxie Bald Mountains, the absolutely heavenly ripe blueberries on Moxie Bald, the loons at the ponds and Horseshoe Canyon.

This section was planned for 4 days and 3 nights out, but I ended up finishing it in 3 days and then took a zero on the 4^th day.

SUBSECTION 2 – STRATTON TO CARATUNK
This section has Bigelow and Little Bigelow mountains in it, and they end up being almost half the section. The summits of the peaks of Bigelow were stunning, but the terrain had me dub this sucker “Big and Nasty”. It was more of the same hot and humid junk, but things took a turn on the first night. I was camped at Safford Notch, and it rained heavily for several hours during the night and kept going on as a lighter rain until lunchtime the next day. The heavy rain got a lot of my stuff damp, and I took on some water in the tent. Sil-nylon can only handle so much. It was warm so it wasn’t a big deal though.

I stayed at West Carry Pond the next night, but wasn’t able to dry anything out even though it cleared up as it was still humid and got a bit foggy overnight. Then I spent the third night at Pierce Pond. I got there earlier in the afternoon on a clear, hot breezy day, and the first thing I did was hang everything out to dry. It dried in like 20 minutes, and was a huge boost to moral. There were more loons at both ponds (I love loons because it’s a childhood memory from MN), and at Pierce pond there was a chorus of loons, bullfrogs and ducks going on all night, which was a weird combo but yet enjoyable.

Then of course there is the Kennebec ferry at the end of this section that was a neat experience.

SUBSECTION 3 – RANGELEY TO STRATTON
This was the beating. I came into this section a little worn out. This one is just 32 miles of going up and down the whole time, and the terrain ranges from moderately challenging (the Crockers and Lone Mountain) to the all-out ME smackdown stuff that resembles the Whites (Saddleback, Spaulding and the descent down the other side of the Spaulding ridge). Although I loved most of it I was ready to get the H…E…double hockey sticks out of there by the last day or two.

Highlights here are the summits of all the mountains. However, the Spaulding summit is not on the AT, and was fogged in when I went up there and North Crocker is wooded. My physical beating started with getting sunburnt and overheated going over Saddleback and the Horn. Got hit by a big T-storm that night at Reddington campsite. The next day was Saddleback Junior and it was all I could do to drag my arse to Spaulding Lean-to. Rained during the night and part of the next morning, so the hike over Spaulding pretty much blew. Drug my rear into the Crocker Cirque campsite and got some good rest. The cirque is really neat if you have a chance to check it out (continue up the blue blaze through the campsite about 0.3 miles off the AT). Got a very brief T-storm in the afternoon, and then it cleared out, cooled down and got drier. The next day was a pleasant hike in cool dry weather, but I was pretty beat when I got to the parking lot. I had to basically limp in because I had tweaked a tendon or something in my ankle a few days prior that was flaring up.

FINAL NOTES
So, with this trip in the books I have 155.9 miles left to finish the trail consisting of 41.4 miles in VA (Pinnacle Parking in SNP to VA 55 at Manassas Gap) and the final 114.5 miles from Monson to the summit of Katadhin. Hopefully somewhere around this time next year I’ll complete my section hike of the AT if all goes well.

[KCNC]

No firm plans yet, but hope to join my son on his thru-hike for a section somewhere (probably Harper's Ferry or beyond) and meet up with another thru hiker who will be a couple of weeks ahead of my son. Lots of factors up in the air, so it's all speculative at the moment. I'm doing all I can to prepare, which means pretty much everything short of buying food.