View Full Version : Night hike to Darlington
flyefysch
08-23-2004, 20:04
A friend and I are planning a brief weekend hike that's giong to start with a night hike into Darlington Shelter to get there around 11pm or so. Is the shelter in decent condition and, if we hike in on a Friday night, are we going to find people having parties or is it far enough away from the local roads to avoid that? Also, if the shelter happens to be full, is the surrounding area suitable for pitching our tents? Any info would be greatly appreciated.
I believe that Darlington Shelter was torn down in June 04' so that a new shelter can be built in it's place. There are still tentsites available there though.
Stagger Lee
08-23-2004, 23:40
Cove Mountain Shelter is a nice shelter 4.1 miles south of Duncannon, PA, but would not be a good hike in the dark due to the steep rocky ascent out of Duncannon. It's probably farther than you want to hike coming from the south since it's 7.3 miles north of Darlington Shelter.
I don't think I've known of Darlington to be a party area, however, it has in fact torn down now. No problems parking the car in the PA850 lot either. The tentsites are nice, but the water is a ways down a trail from the shelter area and it was only a trickle when I was there in late June. Have a fun hike...The nearby (.1 mi south) Tuscorora and Darlington trails are definitely worth hiking if you would like an alternative to the AT.
The Darlington Shelter is nice. I am new to hiking the AT so I can't say I saw the old one. It's a nice area with plenty of spots for tenting. I don't know of it as a party area. The best water source is about 1 or 1.5 miles south on the trail.
The 2005 Darlington Shelter (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12689&c=) is very nice. A big improvement over the old one.
It's just 0.1 miles from the AT / Tuscarora Trail / Darlington Trail junction. We hiked in on the Darlington Trail from Lamb's Gap.
I don't think it's close enough to any road to be a party place.
EarlyBird2007
10-27-2006, 08:18
The 2005 Darlington Shelter (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=12689&c=) is very nice. A big improvement over the old one.
It's just 0.1 miles from the AT / Tuscarora Trail / Darlington Trail junction. We hiked in on the Darlington Trail from Lamb's Gap.
I don't think it's close enough to any road to be a party place.
I wish you were right. I understand that a couple weeks ago some idiots left Darlington a mess, with beer cans, trash, skin magazines, etc. strewn all over the place. I'm told it has since been cleaned up since then. I'm leading a day hike there this weekend, so I'll have a chance to see for myself. I'll clean up whatever mess is left.
HugeHill
04-23-2008, 18:15
It's a bit of a steep climb for a night hike. Only do it if you're in great shape.
Nice shelter though
MLK weekend this year we hiked in under a full moon from the Scott Farm. Beautiful evening hike out of the Cumberland Valley Pixs here: http://erickpanger.com/at/album/slides/ATSection01.html At that time (note Early Bird 2007's earlier post about what happened since) the current shelter was in fine shape and the small spring had water in it. PA is drying out fast this spring and the Darlington's spring is notoriously dicey in any summer.