Roaming Rangeley 2023 Part 1

Rangeley in the Gulf of Mexico- Pensacola, Florida

Roaming Rangeley Summer 2023

Phoenix to Lancaster, PA

G: After another amazing Camino in Spain I was ready for the next adventure to start. Going from a high of 70 with sunny skies the last week on the Spain coast to 110 plus every day in Phoenix made it seem like a long 2 ½ weeks before Rangeley and I took off. While we were in Spain he was at summer camp with Cooper and Chelsea in Prescott. He was certainly ready to get out of the heat as well.

I like having a goal in pretty much everything I do, so for this road trip we (Rangeley and I, OK Rangeley doesn’t care) had two objectives. During all of our travels the past 3 years Rangeley has been in 45 of the lower 48 states, so goal #1 – visit Florida, Delaware and Rhode Island. The second objective is to hike in all 14 states along the Appalachian Trail (AT). To accomplish both of these before meeting Elizabeth in Portland, Maine on August 10th requires some planning and will bring us through the rural Appalachians, both things that I enjoy. And of course, Rangeley loves the sticks and streams of the AT.

We started our journey by heading north to Flagstaff, AZ for two nights. We stayed north of town in the cool pines. Instead of 110+, the temps topped out in the 70s and it was 54 degrees each morning. We went to the ski area and hiked up to 10,000’. The temps there were in the 60s.

Next destination – Pensacola, Florida and a dog friendly beach on the Gulf of Mexico. The drive took 4 days. Rangeley being a seasoned traveler was again excellent in the car. We stopped every 200 miles or so at a rest area for him to run around. He is great off lead and has never wandered away. We always seem to find an area away from people so he can chase a stick and run. He loved the water on the beach once we reached Florida. It was 93 and very sunny and quite crowded and he had to stay on lead. The dog designated area was quite small, but still very nice to have an area for the pups. OK, 1 state down, 2 more to go. Now to the Appalachian Trail.

The drive from Pensacola to northern Georgia took us right through Atlanta. Being a Saturday I was not worried about traffic. Wrong, we lost 30 minutes on the gps arrival time and never saw an accident. When we arrived in Dahlonega, GA it was in the mid 70s. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy has a 14 state challenge. Basically, just hike in all 14 states and you get a certificate. Rangeley has previously hiked in 10 states but not documented, so we will do all 14 this road trip. We started at Amacalola Falls State Park, where the approach trail to the summit of Springer Mountain is. We walked to the base of the falls, the highest falls east of the Mississippi and of course he played in the stream. We then headed to the summit of Springer, the official starting point of the AT. It is an 8.5 mile hike from the falls so we drove around to a forest road and walked 1 mile south to the summit. When I plugged the information into the gps to get to the parking lot it was 7 miles (as the crow flies). It was a 55 minute drive, the last 6.5 miles on a rough, narrow forest road (glad I was driving my 4Runner). We did see a few section hikers and a few day hikers as well. Temps were in the 60s and true to AT form we had a brief shower just to bring back the memories of being wet while thru hiking. From here we drove north into North Carolina and stopped at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Being a Sunday afternoon, this place was packed with people enjoying the river. It is very popular to raft. Rangeley and I hiked south on the AT for a bit and had the trail to ourselves. From here we drove a bit further north to the entrance to Great Smoky Mountain National Park. A great first day on the AT.

We started our day two by stopping at a river. Rangeley sure does love the water. We were in the National Park, but there was no one around. I had gone down a dirt road purposely. Now we headed to Newfound Gap to take R’s picture on the AT on the NC/TN line. Dogs are not allowed on the AT inside the park, so we had to stop at the edge of the parking lot. We continued into Tennessee and headed to Erwin, a popular trail town. Initially I stopped right in town, then figured it would be better to drive to a remote road crossing where we wouldn’t see people and Rangeley could be off lead. It was only 10 miles and mission accomplished. The trail in this area follows the NC/TN line. After this hike we headed further north to Virginia and got a hotel just outside Damascus, one of the most famous trail towns on the AT. All our driving today was on back roads through the rural areas, which we enjoy.

Both times I hiked the AT I stayed in Damascus and took a zero day. That is a rest day with no hiking north. Damascus is 470 miles into the hike, so a rest day was well deserved. When Cooper was with me in 2018 we hiked over 33 miles in the rain to reach Damascus. That is the longest hiking day I have done. Rangeley and I headed south from the library and walked the 3.5 miles to Tennessee. We found a geocache and headed back to town. Driving out of town the road follows a river. Of course, we stopped so R could play in the water. You would never know he just walked 7+ miles. The scenic, curvy road eventually brought us to Grayson Highlands State Park. The AT goes through this park which is known for it’s wild ponies. Sure enough less than a half mile in, we see our first ponies. Rangeley was very good and the ponies didn’t care about him. We walked to the top of a ridge and enjoyed the view for a bit before heading back to the car and continuing our drive north.

Right before leaving Phoenix my windshield was hit by a small rock which caused a 6″ crack. That crack is now about 18″ long, so better get it taken care of. The nearest Safelite Auto Glass was in West Virginia, about 10 miles from an AT trailhead. Right near this trailhead is the Laurel Creek, so Rangeley was in.

We had planned to hike up to McAfee Knob but today (8/4) was raining and forecast to stay that way all day. So we just drove north on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Lynchburg and visited with a 92 year old friend. She was very excited to see me. Her memory isn’t great so I never contacted before just showing up at her door. Elizabeth had talked with her on the phone and said I would be stopping by at some point.

After spending the night in Lynchburg we headed to Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive. I have hiked through here 3 times. We have been avoiding the Interstates once we got to the AT. I started doing the math and realized at 35MPH on the long way it would take a long time to get to Harpers Ferry, so we did take I81 for 80 miles today.

Our next stop was a trailhead that was 3.2 miles north of the West Virginia/Virginia border. We saw a few hikers, which is always fun. No thru hikers yet, the Northbound are past here and the southbound haven’t reached this far south yet. We then headed to Harpers Ferry, WV where the trail crosses the Potomac into Maryland.

We spent the night in Maryland then back at the driving and hiking. First stop in the morning – the original Washington Monument. Western Maryland is very rural and beautiful. Nothing like the hustle and bustle of the Baltimore/DC area. Our next stop was Pen Mar Park. From here it was a short walk to the Mason Dixon line for Rangeley’s state line photo op. After this we headed to Pine Grove State Park – home of the half gallon challenge. When you are thru hiking, many hikers eat a half gallon of ice cream in honor of being half way done the trail. Here we met our first thru hikers – 2 SOBO and 1 NOBO. In 2018 I did eat a half gallon of ice cream, I then had a burger and fries afterward. Today I struggled to finish the burger and fries and no ice cream.

We spent the night in Lancaster, PA. Today we are off to Delaware, Rangeley’s state #47. More to follow in the next post.

Thanks for reading along.

Once the travel bug bites, there is no known antidote….unknown