After years of car camping, I’m finally making the plunge into backpacking.

First up: Backpacking in PA, at Caledonia state park near Gettysburg, PA. It will be my first trip.

Gear!

July, 2014

So it happened. I’m sitting in my tent near Ocean City, NJ on a hot summer evening. I’m excited about hitting the beach tomorrow morning. I want be up early, bright eyed and bushy-tailed.

The only problem?

The campsites around me are partying like its 1929. Loud voices, music blaring, and it’s close to midnight. This isn’t what I signed up for. I wanted peaceful moments by a cracking fire, contemplating life in the soul nurturing quiet of the woods. It was at that moment I remembered. “You don’t want to car camp, you want to backpack.” You want to lay your tent wherever you end up that night, letting the hum of the woods lull you to sleep. Waking up with the morning sun, not to the sound of your neighbor puking in the bushes after a long night of partying.

I went home and spent the rest of the year researching and purchasing all the things I would need for backpacking and hiking in the back country. I literally took a page from backpack magazine that showed all the items you would need for a weekend in the woods and methodically purchased everything. I didn’t buy the exact same items, but the equivalent. It took over 6 months and quite a bit of money, but I did it. Unfortunately I didn’t really have much time left in the year for hiking, so I would wait till next year to take my first hike.

July 25, 2015

Caledonia State Park                                               Fayetteville, Pennsylvania

Caledonia State park would be my first foray into the backcountry. Located about 10 minutes from historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, I spent three hours driving after work on Friday to be here. To say I was excited was a vast understatement. The time had finally arrived for my first steps in the backcountry. I was ready for anything, having packed everything I had bought over the past year. I had extra clothes, a fleece, (even though it was July) my pack must have weighed close to thirty pounds. Furthermore I was wearing a a pair of Asolo TPS 520’s, a truly amazing hiking boot, I mean you could wear these in Denali. But they’re awfully heavy, and perhaps a bit of overkill on a simply weekend jaunt through the woods. But live and learn, that’s why they call us newbies.

Anyway,  I stayed the night at a nearby campground and met my group at the trailhead. Before I continue I must praise the DC UL’ers. They are a wonderful backpacking group that take trips mainly around the Washington DC area. Having now been on several of their trips I can only say simply I think they are the best. The guides are friendly, knowledgeable and are always willing to show you ways to improve or lighten your load. If you’re a hiker in DC area you should join their group and sign-up for their trips, I guarantee you won’t regret it. You’ll meet a lot of other backpackers as well.

For this trip there were eight of us, ranging from twenty-somethings to people in their fifties. I was closer to the latter section, but enjoyed getting to know everyone. After the introductions the first order of business would be to hike into the trail. This was the first test. This first part of the trail was a rocky, gradual climb and left some of us gasping for air. I  was totally whipped, having ended a lifetime of smoking only four years previous. I had the distinct impression that no one in my group had ever been smokers. Some of the more experienced were casually picking blueberries, not in the least bit winded. I asked some people how much their pack’s weighed.

Karan our guide  replied, “Oh, I’ve got a lot, probably 40 pounds.”

That made me feel better. I would later realize that even though he looked like he couldn’t have weighed more than 160 lbs he was a the Incredible Hulk in disguise. I never saw him look tired or the least bit winded at any time during the trip.

After the first climb the trail leveled off and I got a chance to get to know some of the people around me. Our leader was a young man from India named Karan, we also had a couple from Hong Kong, Tony and Sui , Chris from Boston, Steve from DC, and an older gentleman named John, who would end-up helping me through some of the toughest parts of the day.

The trail meandered through some nice groves of mountain laurel before arriving at Quarry Gap shelter. This was a Appalachian trail shelter for thru hikers, and consisted of two three-walled sleeping platforms and an area in between with a picnic table. This was my first look at an Appalachian trail shelter and I was impressed. They were some nice touches such as a swinging chair right next to the shelter, board games, decks of uno,  plus rocks lining the perimeter adding some rustic decoration to the site. We all took pictures before moving on.

 

Quarry Gap shelter; Appalachian trail, PA

Three-sided sleeping platform. This is where AT thru-hikers sleep. There is a tarp-cover for the doorway in case it rains.

 

After spending some time winding through some hollows which I really enjoyed, it wasn’t long before we made our second climb of the day. This time we were traversing a ridge, so first we had to go up and over and then walk back down the other side. A lot of work to really gain little attitude. This one also killed me, though not as much as the first. But I was becoming worn down and the day was not even halfway over. At one point I stopped to sit on a large rock with a couple who were day hiking. When I tried getting up I nearly fell over from the weight of my pack. I smiled and commented, “How that was a scene straight from the movie Wild”, and they both laughed at my plight. Looking back now, my pack was so huge, and I looked so tired they may have mistaken me for a thru-hiker.

After a few more small climbs we arrived at a reservoir. Here we sat in the shade along the shore and enjoyed a leisurely lunch. We were making good time so there was no need to hurry out to the final campsite. With the temperature close to 90 degrees it felt nice to take a break. All around the reservoir people were fishing and there were few day hikers out with their dogs. I had mistakenly assumed that we would be cooking our freeze-dried meals for lunch, but when everyone pulled out cold meals like tuna and so forth… I decided not to pull out my stove. I just ate another power bar, my third today. I was already sick of them.

After the reservoir the path stays close to the water for a short while before returning inland, it also becomes more overgrown with rhododendron and other bushes. Eventually you’ll come to one of the steeper climbs of the whole trip. The whole group quickly moved on as a collective as I huffed and puffed my way up. I was struggling tremendously and breathing in massive gulps of air. I looked up and the trail was switch-backing and my group was far above me, I walked another 5 feet and stopped, resting on my poles. The older fellow John, was twenty yards above me giving encouragement, “…only a little more ways to go, you’re almost there.” At one point my legs dragging, I was feeling the weight of my heavy boots, I tripped and couldn’t even put up any resistance as my face plunged towards the rock strewn trail in front of me. As I fell, I went through my mind my face smashing into the rocks in front of me, my teeth breaking, needing emergency help out of the woods. This all flashed through my mind in a millisecond. At the very end my head crashed down into the soft leaf liter instead of the rock a foot away. Somehow my head had veered at the last second, I  don’t know how and to this day I count my blessings as some sort of divine intervention. I had to be more attentive in understanding MY limitations. If I could do five feet at a time, then that’s all I was doing. John was at the top telling me if I could make it up here it leveled off. I gritted out the final 30 feet gasping desperately before finally reaching the top. I was able to regain my breath on the next couple of miles of level ground until we caught up with the group. We headed to Birch run shelter, where we’d camp tonight. I asked Karan how far and he said, “Maybe a mile” like no big thing, It seemed to go on forever, it was literally the longest mile of my life. My head was angrily arguing with itself, “You said a mile, why are we still walking!”

Finally we reached camp, and after setting up my incredible spacious 5 lb tent I joined the group around the fire and made dinner. I ate as much as I could but didn’t put much of a dent in my two person freeze-dried pasta in marinara sauce. I knew I would have to pack out the sloppy leftovers. I always have a problem eating on short weekend hikes and rarely want more than a cup of tea in the morning of the hike out. But once I’m back on the road my appetite is ravenous, usually involving a huge cheeseburger, some soda and ice cream. But I’ve yet to get a “hiker hunger” on the trail. I think it would kick-in on a longer trip.

Time around the fire with your hiking crew is always nice. You get to hear other people’s stories, tales of past hikes and just talk about many different things in general. Matter-of-fact I wanted to hit my tent at 7 pm, but stayed around the fire till past 9 because of the enjoyable company. We all hung our food bags on ten foot high poles with numerous metal hooks that were mainly to protect your food from mice, and not bears. As a biologist, I know how mean and determined mice can be. In the wild they’re not the scurry under the refrigerator type. They’ll gnaw a hole through your backpack for the crumbs from a power bar. And they’re very bitey too. When I did live small rodent trapping in college sometimes the only way to get them out of the trap was having them latched on to your finger.

So I climbed inside my tent for a well deserved rest after my first official day of backpacking. One thing about Birch run shelter is that it is very popular. There are day hikers, thru hikers, dog walkers, you name it. There’s a road only a mile away, so a lot of people just hike in, party and enjoy the thrill at having stayed at an Appalachian trail shelter. So the camp was incredibly noisy. Loud music coming from various corners, animated conversations, beer and other things passed around. It was similar to car camping! The shelter itself had so many people around it I never even went over to check it out. I was too intimated by the thru hikers. Not because there weren’t friendly, on the contrary everyone I spoke with were very kind and helpful. Even taking time helping people hang their bags correctly. I’m pretty certain I could’ve walked up to any of the groups (especially if I was sharing food) and immediately been welcomed. I just felt like too much of a novice, similar to a freshman at a big university. (The best part was after this hike, my first, I never felt that way again.)

Birch Run shelter-The view from my tent

 

Because of the noise I didn’t fall asleep until well after 1 am. Word of wisdom, don’t forget earplugs at the popular shelters. The funny thing was I had a summer weight sleeping bag, and I slept with my fleece and and pants on and I froze. The temps at night were normal for July, in the low 60’s, but I was freezing. This made sleeping very difficult and not until I burrowed my head under my sleeping bag did I get any relief. Unfortunately after 2 hours of good restful sleep it was time to wake. We wanted to be moving just after 7 am.

I managed a cup of coffee and a few bites of my freeze-dried scrabbled eggs and bacon before getting caught up in re-packing that I didn’t have any more time to eat. I just had too much stuff! We ended up leaving closer to 8 am. The trip out starts with a mile, yes that mile, didn’t seem too bad at the beginning of the day. then we walk along the at just following the white swatches for the whole day. its relatively level and there is really only one climb to worry about, then a long descent back to the parking lot. An additional hiker had joined the group who had missed are meeting yesterday and was lagging behind while the rest of the crew was racing ahead, i ended up nicely in the middle by myself. john was staying back with the new hiker who was moving slow I wasn’t the straggler today.

This was my favorite moment of the entire hike, just walking by myself on the Appalachian trail. I couldn’t help but think about all the thousands of people who’d walked this route before me, and now here I was hiking it for the first time. Outside of a few rocks it’s a easy trek, much easier than yesterday. Eventually the group waited at a  dirt-road crossing and made the last couple of miles to the parking lot. The entire campground and park was teeming with people having barbecues, throwing Frisbee’s. When I walked over a bridge I even saw a baptism, the kind where everyone is standing in the river. It was surreal.

We had made the nine miles to our cars by noon so after changing clothes and tending to blisters, it was off for a nice meal. Gettysburg has a lot of good eateries, but can be very crowded on the weekends especially in the summer. We ended up going to the Appalachian Brewing company which has plenty of parking and good food. The brewed on the premises root beer is amazing!

After a 3 hour drive home I was sweaty, dirty and tired. A shower never felt so good! Afterward I sat in the coolness of the air conditioner. I had a done my fist trip in the backcountry, now I couldn’t wait to do it again!

Afterthought

I would do this exact hike the next summer as well, I really wanted to conquer the third climb, since that hill really crushed me. I had been dreading the hill all day and when we finally reached it I stuck my poles in and gathered my momentum and stomped past everyone. I went right up the hill and almost couldn’t even figure out where I had so much difficulty the previous year. It kind of made me laugh. I was in better shape, but because of that first hike I had done several thing to lighten my load. First, I purchased a smaller and lighter backpack. I ended-up going with a Gossamer Gear Gorilla which is about 40 liters and weighs only 2 lbs. Next I bought a lighter tent and went from a very bulky 5 lbs to small compact 2 lbs with a Big Agnes Fly Creek UL 2. Then I got lighter boots and starting using a water bladder. Plus, I learned to pack smarter. Instead of packing for everything I just starting packing for what I expected. In the end I shaved almost 10 lbs of weight and have enjoyed the lighter load. Now with water, food and gear I want to be under 20 pounds.

Lighter hiking=more enjoyable hiking!

I think Caledonia State park is a great first backpacking trip and also good for experienced hikers as well who might want to hike along the Appalachian trail. It is a 20 mile loop that can easily be accomplished in a weekend.

The author in front of Quarry Gap shelter