Agile Trekker: PA Appalachian Trail - Section 4 - Furnace Shelter to Port Clinton Railroad Station

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
10/21/2018	6.3 miles	3 hours 13 minutes	938'	30:37

Map: Appalachian Trail Guide Pennsylvania
Parking: End car at Port Clinton ballfield (near railroad station). Beginning car at Hawk Mountain Road.
Directions: Furnace Shelter to Port Clinton Railroad Station

I didn't sleep much last night. I still need to learn how to sleep when backpacking, lol. I was cold for the beginning part of the night. I got warmer later on. Trek was restless, he doesn't know where his spot is in the tent. I guess that takes practice. I'm thinking I should get him a dedicated sleeping pad, and clicker train him to lie down on it. So he moved around a lot. At least he wasn't cold like me. It rained overnight too. It was hard to get up in the morning. I hate being cold. I didn't want to leave my sleeping bag. Glen does much better than me, and packed up all of his stuff quickly.

It was easy peasy to get the Ursack off the tree we tied it to. And I managed to get Trek's backpack down by myself. Yahoo.

No one was sleeping in the shelter, everyone was in their tents. So, I went to the shelter to cook breakfast. Cooking from your tent is not considered good practice, but I can see why people do it. It would have been sooooooo much nicer to cook breakfast while hanging out in my sleeping bag. I adore my sleeping bag. I even use it at home sometimes in the evening if I'm chilly. I get cold really easily. Sitting in the shelter cooking, I felt miserable. Just not warm enough. I threw a blanket over Trek, which he didn't like. Warm food for breakfast helped. I had packed 2 partially used fuel canisters for this trip. I ate breakfast first. Glen at first said he didn't want breakfast. Well....by the time I finished breakfast, all the fuel from both canisters was gone. Oops. Glen pulled out his oatmeal to eat. Ack. Luckily he was fine with just eating energy bars. My phone wasn't happy with the cold either, despite me putting it in my sleeping bag last night. I couldn't take many photos today, because my phone kept dying.

Oh yeah...so Trek's kibble doesn't make good food for backpacking. His kibble is really small, and he's a pretty sloppy eater, so he spills his kibble all over. And then I have to pick it all up, so as to not attract wildlife for future backpackers. I think feeding him larger dog treats would have worked better.

Once hiking, I warmed up and felt fine. I was happy to get back to Port Clinton. I think I might be a fair weather backpacker. There are some more tricks for staying warmer at night, such as sleeping with a Nalgene bottle filled with boiling water. But waking up and getting out of my sleeping bag is tough too.

Today, we finished the state of Pennsylvania. That means 8 out of 14 states completed on the AT. Next year, we will finish Vermont.