thru hike of horseshoe trail in PA

[TinAbbey]

I had heard about the horseshoe trail a couple times and yesterday i was searching the net for info about it. i saw that its about 140 miles or so. so i thought ' that would be a nice thru hike if i had a couple weeks off this winter'. then i saw somewhere that camping along the trail is prohibited.

so my question is, can you thru hike this and camp along the way. do people do it? have YOU done it? is a scenic and wooded trail for the most part or what? or is a lot of it in towns along roads etc...

Part 2...

any other thru hikes of PA trails that can be done in a couple weeks for instance the mid state trail. same questions as above. any help would be appreciated.


thanks

TEAM STEVE!

[camojack]

I had heard about the horseshoe trail a couple times and yesterday i was searching the net for info about it. i saw that its about 140 miles or so. so i thought ' that would be a nice thru hike if i had a couple weeks off this winter'. then i saw somewhere that camping along the trail is prohibited.

so my question is, can you thru hike this and camp along the way. do people do it? have YOU done it? is a scenic and wooded trail for the most part or what? or is a lot of it in towns along roads etc...

Part 2...

any other thru hikes of PA trails that can be done in a couple weeks for instance the mid state trail. same questions as above. any help would be appreciated.


thanks

TEAM STEVE!

One end of the Horseshoe Trail is about 5-6 miles from my house, in Valley Forge N.P.; the other end is the A.T., near Harrisburg.

[emerald]

The HST homepage is linked here (http://hstrail.org/). At the bottom is an email address for more information.


Can you thruhike it and camp along the way?

Suppose it would be possble to arrange overnight stays on or near the trail one way or another if you were determined to hike it that way.

It might be less expensive and easier to break it up into 7 20-mile day hikes, each begun where the last left off, or 4 weekend hikes with 1 overnight stay each weekend. Either way, it would likely be easier to tackle it with a hiking partner who also has a vehicle or friend or relative who could provide vehicular support.

I believe Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club of Reading recently began what may become a series of day hikes that would over time cover the entire HST. You might email them and inquire if you are interested.

[ki0eh]

Mid State Trail in PA has grown to 306 miles, but dispersed camping is tough on the southerly 60 (game lands, illegal here as MST does not have the A.T.'s legal dispensation) and the northernmost 25 (car campgrounds only) http://www.hike-mst.org

[jethro]

I know this is an older post, but I hope this helps.

According to my Horse-Shoe Trail guidebook, official camping facilities may be too widely spaced for many folks to thru-hike. Mileage in the guidebook is by county, and everything doesn't necessarily add up exactly. However, here are the official lodging locations based on mileage from Valley Forge:

(0.0 = Valley Forge National Park)
30.1
35.0
54.1
61.3
61.7
61.8
62.0
64.6
65.9
70.4
87.3
91.9
97.6
108.7
112.7
127.9
(141.4 = end of trail at the AT)

If you're comfortable with long days, the only real rub is the first 30 miles. Horseshoe Trail Road is lined with woods in many areas from MP 12.4 to 18.6; I don't know whether unofficial camping can be arranged.

Also keep in mind that a number of these lodging locations are motels, B&Bs, or campgrounds that are more than a mile from the trail. I suggest you get a copy of the guidebook at www.hstrail.org to get more details.

Good luck!

[shelterbuilder]

It's been MANY years since I finished the Horseshoe Trail...at that time, much of the first section (out of Valley Forge) seemed to run through areas adjacent to rural developments where the homes had $500,000 to $1,000,000 price tags. I believe that my first day's hike was over 23 miles to get to a secluded area where questionable water was available. This was a stealth-camp, BTW.

If memory serves me correctly, most of these trips were very much unlike the AT - development was never very far away. Roads, homes, farms and pasturelands, punctuated by smaller oases of woodlands. Definitely a different sort of hiking experience.

I'm not trying to discourage you from trying it, but, for me, it was a strange bunch of trips.

[twilight]

When I first started hiking, the MST was one of the first trails I began section hiking. The trail then began at Lightstreet and headed north to the other side of the PA Grand Canyon. From my memory, I don't recall having to difficult time finding camping areas(but we're talking some years, here) I really enjoyed hiking on this trail for it's remoteness.

I was interested to see the post that kiOeh made showing the MST has it's own website and some shelters now.:banana


Twilight

[twilight]

I meant Waterstreet not Lightstreet. Told you It's been years!


Twilight