Short AT section hike - parked at Beagle Gap and hiked to McCormick Gap and back. Goal was to connect some stranded AT miles on my section hike and to see the tractor seats. While I was up there, I decided to find the benchmark for the peak. It was a little tricky, actually 0.3 miles south on the AT on the way to the second tower, not at the peak. The peak benchmark seems to be missing but I found the drill hole. I found one offset and also some of the references in the datasheet. https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=HW3342
Picked up one of these to try and lighten my pack weight a little. I’ve
been using a ZebraLight H52W as my headlamp and it uses AA batteries. Rather
than carry additional AA batteries, I now carry a single Fenix ARB-L14-1600U
Li-ion rechargeable. What I like about this unit is the integrated USB port and
charger. I already carry an Anker PowerCore 13000, so charging this tiny battery
for my headlamp is easy. This battery weighs 19 grams. For comparison, a
standard Duracell AA weighs 25 grams and an Energizer Ultimate Lithium weighs
15 grams. Although not the lightest battery, I only need to carry one.
**One issue to note so far is that the battery is current limited and
self protection circuit trips when using the ZebraLight on its highest
settings.
This was a great hike ~7.5 miles one way from Pine Grove Furnace State Park to James Fry Shelter. Parking is plentiful at Pine Grove Furnace. To park overnight, you need to fill out a pass which is available in the plastic box next to the front door of the office. The pass goes in the mail slot after you fill it out. Parking is just down the hill and there is a restroom right there where the Appalachian Trail crosses the parking lot. Very nice! There was far more snow up on the ridge than at the parking lot and much more than the zero snow in southern MD. Some of the drifts over the rocks in one short section were knee deep. Most of the trail had already been broken by a couple other hikers and some cross country skiers. On average, the snow was around 10-12” deep. This would be an easy section in clear weather, there is not much elevation change and the trail is not very rough. Water at the shelter must be unreliable based on my personal observations and some graffiti on the shelter blue blaze right at the AT. The shelter was nice and the surrounding campsites also looked nice. The privy is super awesome. There is a bear box for food behind the shelter. I did hike in wet socks the next day to save my dry ones. It was not that bad. What I did not like was frozen shoes. I need to learn better technique for dealing with this. Oh, and wool socks burn – don’t ask me how I know. ☹
This video shows how to change the tail lamp in a 2011 Ford Taurus SEL. The car provides no alert if the brake lights are not working, so check them periodically.
To get to the lamp requires removal of the tail light module / enclosure. This is done by removing the trunk liner behind the tail lamp and removing four (4) 11mm nuts.
An 11mm deep socket, ¼ ratchet, and a #3057 tail light for each side is all that is needed to do this job.
The lamp holder twists out of the enclosure and is a little tricky to get it to let free. It rotates counter clockwise for removal. Nothing needs to be forced.
This was a great hike ~20 miles one way from Pine Grove Furnace State Park to Caledonia State Park. We stopped half way at Birch Run Shelter. This is the second half of the hike from Birch Run to Caledonia. We rested at Quarry Gap Shelter – the most beautiful shelter in the universe! Parking is plentiful at Pine Grove Furnace. To park overnight, you need to fill out a pass which is available in the plastic box next to the front door of the office. The pass goes in the mail slot after you fill it out. Parking is just down the hill and there is a restroom right there where the Appalachian Trail crosses the parking lot. Very nice! For this hike, I teamed up with Backwardshatforwardthinking who is doing a through hike this year. He is in the process of tweaking his gear and wanted to get out a few more times prior to departure. He is also blogging for The Trek. His blog can be found here: https://thetrek.co/author/lance-ness/ https://www.facebook.com/backwardshatforwardthinking/ https://www.instagonline.com/@backwardshatforwardthinking
This was supposed to be an easy hike – split the cars, hike one way, and drive back. What neither of us realized was that were was recent snowfall in the area that has partially melted and then refroze with freezing rain on top. The icy, slippery, crusty mess was very difficult to hike on. Fortunately, I had left my pair of Hillsound Crampons in the back of the car from another trip. They were a lifesaver. The hike would have been near impossible for me without them. I also learned that hiking through snow is much slower and wears out a different set of muscles than what I was used to using! I also learned that when you have two pairs of socks, keep one set dry at all costs – hike in the wet ones the next day. After day 2, all my socks were wet. If this were a longer hike I would have been sad the next night with no dry socks.
From a hike perspective, there were no good views along this section of trail. There was ample water, and the shelters were extra nice! The trail also passes by the Pine Grove Furnace Store, famous for the half gallon ice cream challenge and the cool Appalachian Trail Half Way sign. This is the 2nd part of the hike and shows Birch Run Shelter to Quarry Gap Shelter.
This was a great hike ~20 miles one way from Pine Grove Furnace State Park to Caledonia State Park. We stopped half way at Birch Run Shelter. Parking is plentiful at Pine Grove Furnace. To park overnight, you need to fill out a pass which is available in the plastic box next to the front door of the office. The pass goes in the mail slot after you fill it out. Parking is just down the hill and there is a restroom right there where the Appalachian Trail crosses the parking lot. Very nice! For this hike, I teamed up with Backwardshatforwardthinking who is doing a through hike this year. He is in the process of tweaking his gear and wanted to get out a few more times prior to departure. He is also blogging for The Trek. His blog can be found here: https://thetrek.co/author/lance-ness/ https://www.facebook.com/backwardshatforwardthinking/ https://www.instagonline.com/@backwardshatforwardthinking
This was supposed to be an easy hike – split the cars, hike one way, and drive back. What neither of us realized was that were was recent snowfall in the area that has partially melted and then refroze with freezing rain on top. The icy, slippery, crusty mess was very difficult to hike on. Fortunately, I had left my pair of Hillsound Crampons in the back of the car from another trip. They were a lifesaver. The hike would have been near impossible for me without them. I also learned that hiking through snow is much slower and wears out a different set of muscles than what I was used to using! I also learned that when you have two pairs of socks, keep one set dry at all costs – hike in the wet ones the next day. After day 2, all my socks were wet. If this were a longer hike I would have been sad the next night with no dry socks.
From a hike perspective, there were no good views along this section of trail. There was ample water, and the shelters were extra nice! The trail also passes by the Pine Grove Furnace Store, famous for the half gallon ice cream challenge and the cool Appalachian Trail Half Way sign. This video shows both Toms Run Shelter and Birch Run Shelter. I’ve split the trip into two videos. The second half of the journey will be posted soon and includes the Quarry Gap Shelters.
I want to thank Flying Squirrel Outdoors for tagging me to show my 5 favorite pieces of gear. A number of them are ‘old school’ and considered ‘Vintage’ when listed on eBay. It makes me feel old to see my favorite gear listed as vintage.
Favorite 5 Pieces of Gear:
Kelty White Cloud 3400
Garmin eTrex 20
Copper “Moulder” Strip Canister Stove Hack
Coleman Peak 1 Model 400 Stove
Coleman Peak 1 Model 222 Lantern
BONUS GEAR – Black Rock Gear Down Beanie
