Post by George Steffanos

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I had intended to begin hiking the Appalachian Trail for the second time in March 2025, forty-two years after my 1983 thru-hike. Then in September 2024 Hurricane Helene devastated the southern third of the Appalachian Trail.

We now have a new plan to hike more than 800 miles in 2025 while waiting for the spring of 2026 to attempt the full Appalachian Trail hike. The first of two planned hikes starts on or about April 14.

#backpacking #hiking #mountains #AppalachianTrail #outdoors #forest

Beneath a soft blue summer sky with hazy white clouds we are atop the crest of Blue Mountain standing on a grassy overlook looking across a dense thicket of shrubs and then the treetops of the forested mountainside below. We are looking north along the wooded ridgeline of Blue Mountain into Pennsylvania, where the mountain becomes more of a mountain range, throwing out impressive spur ridges. To our left is a small wedge of the vast agricultural Cumberland Valley with farms and small villages. Straight ahead on a small plateau partway down the western slope of blue mountain is a large grassy park: Pen Mar County Park in Maryland on the Pennsylvania border.

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