{"id":221,"date":"2016-05-26T00:01:51","date_gmt":"2016-05-26T04:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/usparks\/?p=221"},"modified":"2016-06-22T11:05:27","modified_gmt":"2016-06-22T15:05:27","slug":"appalachian-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/usparks\/appalachian-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Appalachian National Scenic Trail: Hikers chasing spring"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOILING SPRINGS, Cumberland County<\/span><\/p>\n

O<\/span>n a late April morning under a robin\u2019s egg blue sky, Matthew and Amy McGroarty had just finished filling water bottles at the outdoor spigot behind the Appalachian Trail Conservancy\u2019s mid-Atlantic Regional Office in this quaint-as-it-gets hamlet locals know as \u201cBubbletown.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old Las Vegas residents, three weeks married, were embarked on an end-to-end hike of the Appalachian Trail, a rigorous quest about as far away from the Bellagio\u2019s dancing fountains as they could get.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d been joking about hiking the AT for a while. When we decided to get married, Amy planned the wedding and I planned this,\u201d Matt said, as they pulled on big, thru-hiker sized backpacks and buckled up, back in harness.<\/p>\n

The McGroartys were \u201cflip-flopping\u201d the AT, an increasingly popular strategy for hikers who start near the trail\u2019s mid-point, hike north to the trail\u2019s terminus on Mount Katahdin in Maine, then return to their original starting point and hike to the southern end on Springer Mountain in Georgia. The flip-flop puts them ahead of the tidal wave of hikers who start north from Springer in March and early April, and allows them to avoid overflowing shelters, campsites and hostels, expected to be even more crowded in this, the National Park Service\u2019s 100th anniversary year.<\/p>\n

The newlyweds started their hike in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., just about 100 miles to the south of here, and were already carrying two \u201ctrail names\u201d each.<\/p>\n

Matt goes by \u201cUberScout,\u201d bestowed by campmates after he built a fire with wet wood, and Amy is called \u201cLost Giggles.\u201d They\u2019re also known as \u201cRalph\u201d and \u201cAlice,\u201c to other trail hikers, presumably older ones, who can decode the semi-obscure 1950s pop culture reference to the seminal working-class sitcom, \u201cThe Honeymooners.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hike, this whole experience, it\u2019s been great for us so far,\u201d said Matt. \u201cAs we\u2019ve been hiking north we\u2019ve been chasing spring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ten <\/a>
Ten miles south of Boiling Springs, in Cumberland County, the AT crosses state Route 94 and begins climbing the northern end of the Appalachian’s Blue ridge, which the AT has been following since Georgia. (Don Hopey\/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The centerpiece of Boiling Springs, Cumberland County, a one-time iron mining town, is Children’s Lake, fed by the town’s namesake 24,000 gallon a day spring, among the largest in Pennsylvania, and surrounded by ornate homes and B & Bs. (Don Hopey\/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The centerpiece of Boiling Springs, Cumberland County, a one-time iron mining town, is Children’s Lake, fed by the town’s namesake 24,000 gallon a day spring, among the largest in Pennsylvania, and surrounded by ornate homes and B & Bs. (Don Hopey\/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Mr. McGroarty\u2019s words unknowingly echoed the title of the classic trail book, \u201cWalking With Spring,\u201d the first-person account of the first thru-hike of the AT, a 124-day amble from Georgia to Maine in 1948 by Earl Shaffer \u2014 trail name \u201cCrazy One.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Appalachian Trail National Scenic Trail<\/h2>\n

The 2,190-mile trail from Georgia to Maine enters the state in Franklin County at Penn-Mar, which straddles the Pennsylvania-Maryland border and travels on ridges and through gaps and valleys for almost 230 miles before exiting into New Jersey at the Delaware Water Gap in Monroe County.<\/p>\n

Official Website<\/a><\/p>\n