PA Section

[truthisnature]

How long would the PA section take to complete? And any insights to this section would be greatly appreciated. :rolleyes:

[wilconow]

ATC page on PA (http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site/c.jkLXJ8MQKtH/b.774877/k.951D/Pennsylvania.htm)

[Blissful]

Two weeks thereabouts (?) probably longer if you are sectioning.

Has some pretty rocky terrain to deal with at several points, mainly north of Port Clinton. Water supplies can vary depending on the season. Watch for deer ticks and rattlesnakes. Saw my only bear in PA. People are super. Palmerton a nice town for hiker services. Doyle Hotel in Duncannon a tradition.

[truthisnature]

Thanks, I did small sections of PA while training with the Hike for Discovery team, but they were in and outs so altogether I have probably only seen about 15 miles of the trail. Was on Cove mountain and the rocks were nasty, only time I got any blisters....how does the rest of PA compare to Cove mountain as for the rocks?

[wilconow]

west of the river is tame

[jhick]

Rt.309 through through DWG has lots of rocks. Some areas worse than others, Bake Oven area comes to mind. You'll be looking down constantly walking the rocky parts, but there are some nice gems in this area too.

Some spots that I liked in NE-PA.
Pinnacle (nice view, little 'cave' and huge cairn)
Knife Edge (certainly not like Maine, but cool)
Bear Rocks (great spot to hang and explore)
Bake Oven (messy from kids-party spot, but nice views. Cool rock scramble towards shelter)
South trail after Lehigh Furnace Gap (you wanna see rocks????)
North Trail right after South trail rejoins AT (wide open views like Superfund site)
Lehigh Gap (I'm sure you've seen pics)
Superfund site (http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/files/1/1/4/0/3/PA280128.JPG )
Wolf Rocks (nice views, little 'cave' great for relaxing)
A couple nice views near Fox & Tott's Gap.
Nice site about .5 mile before summit of Mt. Minsi, summit is ok.

[Pedaling Fool]

This is a question about averages. I’ve noticed, during hiking, biking and running, if you don’t push it too hard and just maintain a steady pace, but especially don’t push yourself on the hard parts, you’ll finish in a time under what you expected. However, if you push it hard you’ll usually end up ending in a time around the easy push, maybe even a little under it. That’s because during the hard parts you push yourself so hard that it slows you down during the easy sections.

I don’t know your hiking experience, but a good rule of thumb for beginners is: 2 mph average hiking pace. If you hike (not including breaks) about 5 hours a day that’s about 10 miles per day. Pa. is ~230 miles, which equals about 23 days.

Really the only person who can answer the question to a more precise answer is you, but you need the experience to answer that question.

[Lone Wolf]

How long would the PA section take to complete? And any insights to this section would be greatly appreciated. :rolleyes:

It's 230 miles. fairly easy walking but slow at times due to some rocks. best to do it in the fall of the year. 3 weeks is a good time frame

[rafe]

How long would the PA section take to complete? And any insights to this section would be greatly appreciated. :rolleyes:

It's really quite easy hiking, compared to the rest of the AT. But it has the annoyance of being quite rocky -- particularly the easternmost 50-70 miles or so. Views are so-so. Not the most magnificent vistas... but occasional nice views.

If you're in decent shape, you should be able to do consistent 15 mile days in PA without too much trouble at all. Thru-hikers often do 20-mile days in PA.

Long-distance hikers in PA might want to stop in Palmerton, Port Clinton, Duncannon, Boiling Springs. Actually, the last three of these are right on the trail, so there's really no way to avoid them. ;)

[buff_jeff]

It took me a total of 17 days to do it, but it was my first hiking experience and I did it in two trips. The northern 76 miles are really the only extremely rocky section and it's not as bad as people make it out to be. The southern 2/3 is pretty easy by AT standards. Easy resupply, too.

[Plodderman]

10 to 15 miles a day are good days for section hikers. The last two section we did we averaged around 15 miles a day. 12 miles one day 18 the next and so on so some days we got in early or messed around a landmarks so it all works out.

[truthisnature]

thanks for all the helpful advise. You guys are great.