Once again, I made the trek to the Patapsco Valley State Park, this time exploring the McKeldin Area of the park with MAHG. This hike, starting from the parking lot at the entrance to the park, featured two loops. The first visited the nearby Liberty Dam, while the second toured the river, passing the confluence of the North and South Branches of the Patapsco River, and passing by the McKeldin Rapids.
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Returning to the Patapsco Valley State Park, I continued my exploration of the Woodstock Area with MAHG. Today’s hike started at the same place as last week’s hike, but headed north, instead of east.
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Today, I joined the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC) for a hike in Timber Hollow, in Shenandoah National Park. This hike, the “Len Wheat Bushwhack Series #3”, was the first hike I’ve done that was largely off-trail: a bushwhack. This hike’s goal was to visit some of the ruins of abandoned houses in Shenandoah, from before Shenandoah was a national park, and it was as great as hike as it was difficult.
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Today, I returned to the Patapsco Valley State Park for a fourth time to hike in its Woodstock Area, with MAHG. Today’s hike was a scouting hike: thirteen of us met to scout out a trail route that would hopefully become part of MAHG’s staple of hikes.
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An open letter to all prospective 2017 (and future) AT thru-hikers:
It’s natural to get pre-hike jitters or fears, or doubts. But don’t let them scare you away. There is such a thing as too much planning. It’s very easy to overthink, and over-stress, and over-worry. Sure, bad stuff could happen on the trail. But worrying about it now won’t help, or stop it from happening. You’ll just have to deal with setbacks if and when they arise.
You are about to embark on an absolutely amazing journey, that (relatively) few people have started, let alone successfully completed. Between fellow hikers, trail angels, trail maintenance clubs, and all the local communities and trail towns, the AT has an absolutely wonderful community surrounding it. Everyone wants you to succeed, and everyone will help you along the way.
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