Hiking in PA and have some questions

[AaronS]

Hello

I'm planning a hike for me and a friend of mine. Its been a long time since either one of us has backpacked. My wife and I do a lot of camping, canoe/kaying and dayhiking with our kids so I'm not unfamiliar with the outdoors but do have a few questions that I'm unsure about. I may ramble on a little so bear with me here.

Distance & Time
We are either starting at Ashfield Road or Bake Oven Knob Road and ending at Hawk Mt Road near the Eckville shelter. We Plan to be dropped of around 3 or 4 pm Friday afternoon and ending sometime Sunday afternoon.
Where to leave from?
If I figured right, From Ashfield Rd it should be 19.8 miles and from Bake Oven Rd it should be 16.4. We would like to do the longer hike but are not sure if we have enough time. My wife and I hiked to the Bake Oven Shelter last weekend (because all this talk about backpacking got me excited), I knew PA is rocky but they slowed our progress some. We are not looking to break any records. We would like to take our time, explore the lookouts, stop an hour or so before sunset to set up camp, lounge around, and probably won't hit the trail in the morning with long shadows.
What do ya think????


Water:
We are unsure of how much water to carry also..... I have a bladder plus I planned on taking a 2qt canteen and a Nalgene(sp) bottle. I have a few Mountain House meals left over from a canoe trip I did a few years ago and planned on taking those so I know what I need for those.
Any help here????


Any other help, info or thoughts would be appreciated as well.

Thanks
Aaron

[emerald]

Go for the longer hike. What's important is getting to where you intend to camp your 1st night out before dark and getting a good jump on your next day.

The days are still long enough to allow your plan to be executed without too much difficulty. Be sure to bring a watch so you can watch your time and a headlamp or at least a flashlight in the event things don't go as planned.

Stay at Bake Oven Knob Shelter and Allentown Shelter. Don't put up with any crap from the riffraff and call your wife so she won't worry about you.

Let us know how it goes.

[flemdawg1]

19.8 miles (minus 2-6 miles Friday before dark) in 2 days is definately doable if ya'll are in decent shape.

What's your friend carrying for water containment?

[emerald]

By my 2nd or is it now my 3rd count, a full day and two partials are allotted for the hike.

[mweinstone]

recipie for disaster.way to many miles. way too much planning. no. heres what you will do. at 3 or 4 pm when you arrive, camp. if you get set up by dark and fed and have a good sleep and get a freash start, your trip will have started with as much potential positive outcome as possible. next, walk dont run...to the nearest best campsite you find witch is further than say,....5 miles from your start and less than 15. camp again. and have all the time and choices you dream of. like the ability to either backtrack or continue. the ability to not think in terms of needed miles rather wanted ones. and the ability to be in bed and out of bed in an actualy relaxing timeframe as to realize the "vacation",.. rather than impose,.. a " workout" finally i wish for you all to return home without a single blister or sore muscle. it will require going less and going slow. but on the ride home i want you all to be awake and have energy and time for that milkshake and roadburger or whatever. and to arrive home with smiles and energy to go out in the neighborhood befor dark and re examine your environs anew. not wake for motrin and miss work and guilt trip and loose the kids intrest for next hike. think way ahead. hyoh. can i come?

[emerald]

How, exactly, does that differ from what I proposed and in what ways is it superior?

[flemdawg1]

By my 2nd or is it now my 3rd count, a full day and two partials are allotted for the hike.

Depends on how you're defining a full day. The afternoon (12-6 pm)is a pretty long time period, and with the sun setting earlier, the day is (pretty much) done by 6pm (the traditional start of "Evening").

I was just going by an estimation of 26-27 hours of daylight for the trip of 19.8 miles. Very easily doable, even with the relaxed style hiking the OP was wanting to do.

[Cross Fox]

Greetings folks! I'm Aarons buddy doing this weekend trip with him. I've done alot of backpacking in years gone by in PA, WA, NY, ID, OR. But that was many moons ago. Last time I had my pack on was in '02. I'm no stranger to backpacking and camping. In fact the "rougher" the better for me. I'm not concerned about the milage, I think we picked a length of the AT that isn't too much...or too little. Plenty of time to soak in the sites and make camp with time to spare.
My only concern with this little trip is the availibility of water along this section of the AT. Being the entire portion of the trail is along the Blue Mnt ridge, streams wont be easily accessible. We will be passing a few shelters along the way and they do have water...its just the spaces in between I wonder about.
Oh there will be sore muscles, aching back and some blisters I'm certain by Monday, neither one of us are in the shape of our youth. This will be just a warm-up trip to future trips this season. To work out the kinks and see what we are capable of and not capable of.

[emerald]

Carry potable drinking water when you depart. You can always pour it on the ground when you reach Bake Oven Knob Shelter.

The next day, you will find water at New Tripoli Campsite and at PA 309. The hose behind Blue Mountain Summit is usually operational during the warmer months, but you may need to inquire inside now that freezing temperatures and frost are can be expected any day now and have already occurred in some Pennsylvania locations.

You will also find water at Allentown Shelter and you may even find water at Dan's Spring with all the rain we've had lately.

If you forget what I wrote, don't worry, simply ask to see Aaron's copy of Guide to the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania.

[Cross Fox]

thank you for the quick reply emerald! got plenty of containers to bring water with, it was just the refilling i was wondering about being on the ridge and all. sounds like we're covered!

[DuctTape]

All great advice from emerald. You shouldn't need to carry more than 2 quarts of water per person at any time. It was an especially good suggestion to fill up at the route 309 crossing, as the water at Allentown Shelter is a good distance down the side of the mountain. Same with Bake Oven Knob Shelter.

That short stretch from the Bake Oven Knob lookout to the shelter isespecially rocky, so it won't all bethat bad - you'll get a nice break between 309 and the Allentown Shelter. Beware of the bird watching crowds at Bake Oven if you start on a weekend within the next month or so.

[TheYoungOne]

Stay at Bake Oven Knob Shelter and Allentown Shelter. Don't put up with any crap from the riffraff and call your wife so she won't worry about you.

Let us know how it goes.

What and where is this riffraff? I actually plan to hike the same section in the near future.

[DuctTape]

The Bake Oven Knob lookout is a party spot for locals. Every once in a while a few will move on down to the shelter - I assume this is what emerald is referring to - nothing to be really concerned about unless you're easily annoyed or unless things have gotten worse lately. The area is also packed on the weekends into November with families and bird watching enthusiasts.

[Toolshed]

You'll see a lot of broken glass on the .4 mile section of trail between BO Knob and BO Knob Road. There are usually kids partying in the lot on weekends - pot, beer.... as somene said, it isn't unusual for them to take the party to the knob. The difficulty of the trail to the shelter tends to weed out all but the most tenacious as far as partying in the shelter.

[AaronS]

Thanks everyone for the info/help.

Do you guys drink right from the springs, or filter it first??

I grew up in Pen Argyl at the base of the mountain and spent a lot of time (1982-89) up on top on and around the AT. I always just drank from the stream. I was young and never really gave it a thought. Now it seems everyone I talk to filters all water. I have a Katadyn Hiker Pro so I can filter if needed.

This was 1987 or 88, ahh the good old days.





Anyone know if this sign is still there???



Me and a friend of mine made a camp near the headwaters of the Wind Gap Res. There was a boulder field above the stream that we would cross to get there. You could hear the water running below the rocks. There was a low spot somewhere in there where you could see the water. I remember on really hot summer day climbing down there to get a drink and I swear I could see my breath. Heading north from Wind Gap about a half mile after you cross the fireroad you drop down (left) off the trail (close to where a blue trail meets the AT on the right) and once it bottoms out you come to the boulder field.
Anyone ever see it?



Oopps, sorry for rambling on.


I was up Bake Oven Knob last weekend and both lots were pretty full. There was a lot of groups of young kids (not the hiking type) hanging out at the lookout smoking and playing on their cell phones. There was no problems but I'm sure its a night time drinking party spot. Add booze and well....

[emerald]

I can't say for sure if the riffraff caused Aaron to bag his hike, but I didn't see him on Bake Oven Knob this morning from the observation deck of William Penn Memorial Firetower. Guess we'll just have to wait for his report.

Since it was all I could do to stand vertical at times with the wind what it was on Mount Penn, I didn't dare get out my tripod and spotting scope. Still, the view of Reading and Kittatinny Ridge was priceless even though the raptors I saw could be counted on my two hands.

[emerald]

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=62515

Reading through the linked thread yesterday, I noticed the earlier threads in the series are not linked to it. You may wish to click on my screen name to view the thread I started for 2009.

I believe all of the earlier threads are linked to it, save for the first called Dry, dry, dry in PA or something similiar. They all contain information which may still be useful.

[emerald]

Gotta love that last image in Aaron's series! Now, that's my kind of hiking.

[AaronS]

Cross fox and I are hiking next weekend BUT I am typing this the New Tripoli campsite right now.

My wife wanted to take the kids hiking so we parked at 309 and hiked over to the New Tripoli campsite.

The powerline before the blue trail.

[emerald]

Cross fox and I are hiking next weekend...

I knew there must be a good explanation why I didn't see you this morning!

How is the water supply? You should update the thread I linked above so that others might benefit from what you have learned.

Thanks for posting the images of your family hike. There may be nothing about the A.T. that pleases me more than seeing a family enjoying it together and passing on the experience to a new generation of hikers.

You are likely to find ATC's Family Hiking interesting.