Appalachian Trail – The Roaming Roths

Abigail

Today we hit the Abigail Trail in Michaux State Forest, my 6th hike of the year. This was considered a moderate trail and we kept a good pace on it. The basic loop is just shy of five miles but there are plenty of crossover trails to extend the distance and this one links up to Rocky Knob if you are super motivated. I recommend taking this trail loop clockwise to get the most incline. You’ll trek the ridge for sometime and then the back part of the loop is an easy decline to the end. On a good note, I think my friend’s husband may finally be trusting me not to lose his wife in the woods! Good thing most of us in the group have a good sense of direction.

This trail had some great scenery. I’m looking forward to seeing how some of these trails look in the spring. We have debated hitting all of these in each season to find our favorite trails for each season. Mother Nature was kind enough to give us some sunshine today so I was shedding layers as we went.

I finally found some good trail shoes. I had told myself I wasn’t allowed to invest in them until I had been consistently hitting the trails for a month. These grand New Year’s ideas sometimes have a habit of dissolving in the first month of the year. Excited to try these Merrell Siren Edge Q2’s on the next hike. Thanks to my friend Bonnie for the recommendation!

We have had such a mild winter that I am hoping we can continue hiking into spring. I worry March may have it in for us but we’ll keep our fingers crossed.

January Journeys

I did not leap into my January hiking goals quite as I had hoped. Between the ongoing back injury and then an unexpected shoulder injury, I couldn’t get as aggressive as I had wanted to on the trail levels of difficulty. Anything too rugged would have been a little risky from a stability standpoint. We did cover a stretch of the Appalachian Trail from Chambersburg to Newville.

Today we finished out the last hike of the month and rewarded ourselves with some Bloody Mary’s and brunch afterwards. I am not sure I would say any of us truly got exercise in today since we stopped for a lot of pictures, but we told ourselves that to justify the drinks. I think somedays we get more mental therapy from these hikes than physical therapy. It’s amazing what a couple miles in the mountains and some obscene laughter can do to clear the head.

I have another three sessions of physical therapy to get in this week and am hoping to have my strength up by next weekend so we can take it up a couple notches. I am looking for recommendations on a new pair of hiking shoes. I had been eyeing up the North Face 110 GTX’s but am open to any suggestions from those of you more experienced!

Trail Time for 2020

No better planning is done than on New Year’s Eve by a bunch of motivated people several bottles and a handful of shots into the night. Now I didn’t take it quite to the extreme planning that my friend did. She managed to drink enough to sign herself up for the Pittsburgh Half Marathon in May. Keep in mind she has never run. Ever. But alas, a New Year’s Day hike also sounded wonderful at the time, and like a ruthless dictator, I held my hungover friends to it this morning.

I had decided last month to track my miles on the trails, both foot and bike. I asked my friend to take the lead on selecting a nice beginner hike for the year. She suggested Sunset Rocks. 3 miles she said…easy peasy. She is an avid hiker, but informed me on the trail that she has no actual concept of distance. So almost 5 miles, 3 hours and 900 ft of elevation later, I am sinking myself into some mashed potatoes buried under pork and sauerkraut to make up for the 1,100 my app claims I burned today.

I know this isn’t necessarily travel, but we were certainly out and about today taking in the fresh mountain air. The All Trails app allows me to track my trail stats, add photos, see reviews of trails, etc. It also allows you to follow your favorite hikers in the area. You can track my weekly trail time on there, but I felt it fun to kick off the new year with some pictures on here as well. Welcome to 2020!