HIKING IN FOUR STATES OVER TWO DAYS--
on the Appalachian Trail

Our Appalachian Trail (AT) hiking story was born over dinner on Kelley’s Island this past summer where we were celebrating a day’s bicycle ride on that delightful Lake Erie destination.

Folks asked me that day what I had in mind for our group’s next adventure and I shared my dream of returning to the AT where we could hike in four states over a single weekend.

We accomplished that early this month near Harpers Ferry, WV where some of our group enjoy the sunrise over the Chestnut Hill Ridge in the top photo.

As a prelude our platoon of 10, square dancing friends, met with veteran AT hikers, Roberta Moore of Mansfield and her friend Donna Stowe, who at the tender age of 68 some years ago, became only the second woman at that age to thru-hike the trail.

Thru-hikers walk the entire 2,179 mile length of the trail, usually from Georgia to Maine, in one season.  Harpers Ferry is near the middle of that long trail as you can see on the sign Don is photographing near the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers there.  (Remember to click on the image for a larger view.)

Those ladies shared with us their personal experiences and their packs which included everything they needed for food, shelter and comfort for weeks at a time, all carried on their backs.

Our hike was to be the more pedestrian variety; just a day’s walk in the mountainous woods with the comfort of a motel’s hot shower and warm bed every night while folks like Donna and Birdie would be filtering their drinking water out of a stream, securing their food from the bears and dreaming of a warm, dry bed and shower—sometime in their future.

We launched our hiking adventure out of that historic, WV town with an immediate and challenging ascent up Chestnut Hill to the peak of its ridge which hosted the joint Virginia and West Virginia borders allowing us to log hiking the AT in both of those states.

Later that day we were able to cross the Potomac River on a modern foot bridge atop an old railroad structure (right) and head into Maryland where the AT follows the old Chesapeake Canal towpath for a ways along the river. That was state number 3.

Sunday, we drove about 50 miles to the Caledonia State Park, about 15 miles west of Gettysburg, PA and did another hefty ascent with about another hour and a half of hiking up and back to legitimize our fourth state of the weekend.

As we trundled back down the rocky path to Caledonia’s parking area, 10 slightly abused bodies enjoyed a mutual celebration of an accomplishment not often experienced by folks our collective ages.

For that, and for the friends with whom I enjoyed this adventure, I remain extremely grateful!

On the final descent from the 1520 foot elevation above the Caledonia State Park trailhead, the group pauses while Don Karger records the scene.