These are trail logs for my hikes in 2025. Here's the main trail log page.
Text in italics is trail names.
Text in bold italics is trail names for trails which are part
of the Appalachian Trail.
Underlined text is mountain peak names.
Bold underlined text is mountain peak names for
mountains
which are on the Northeast 111 list.
Underlined blue text
is mountain peak names for
mountains
which are on the New England Fifty Finest list.
Underlined green text
is mountain peak names for
mountains which are on the
Catskill 35 list.
A bold U means a turnaround point.
Sunday 12 January 2025
Catamount Trailhead -
Catamount Trail -
Broadway Trail -
Grand View Trail -
Bolton Lodge
Monday 13 January 2025
Bolton Lodge -
Grand View Trail -
Beaver Pond Trail -
North Ridge Trail -
Buchanan Shelter U -
North Ridge Trail -
Beaver Pond Trail -
Deer Run Trail -
Lower Maple Loop Trail -
Broadway Trail -
Grand View Trail -
Bolton LodgeU -
Grand View Trail -
Broadway Trail -
Lower Lane -
Twin Knolls Trail -
Lower Lane -
Broadway Trail -
Grand View Trail -
Bolton Lodge
Tuesday 14 January 2025
Bolton Lodge -
Grand View Trail -
Broadway Trail -
Catamount Trail -
Catamount Trailhead
Another weekend in northern Vermont with other members of the Connecticut Section of the Green Mountain Club.
There's no trip report for this one, but you can see more pictures from this trip here.
Monday 14 April 2025
Kingdom Come Ky. State Park -
Pine Mountain Trail, Little Shepherd Section -
stealth camp
Tuesday 15 April 2025
stealth camp -
Pine Mountain Trail, Little Shepherd Section -
Pine Mountain Trail, Highland Section -
Flamingo Shelter
Wednesday 16 April 2025
Flamingo Shelter -
Pine Mountain Trail, Highland Section -
Kegan Gap Campsite
Thursday 17 April 2025
Kegan Gap Campsite -
Pine Mountain Trail, Highland Section -
U.S. Rte. 23
In April I attended a conference in College Park Maryland. After the conference ended, I drove to a hotel in Roanoke, Virginia. Then on Monday the 14th I drove to Elkhorn City, Kentucky and parked by the police department, where my shuttle driver picked me up for a through hike of the Pine Mountain Trail. The driver, Myrel, was a former coal miner from the area who is now an avid hiker and helps maintain the PMT. He gave me a lot of information about the trail on the drive to the other end, most of which I didn't retain.
The Pine Mountain Trail runs WSW to ENE for about 58 miles. It starts and ends in Kentucky, but parts of it are in Virginia. It mostly follows a ridgeline, often with sharp dropoffs, and good views, to the north and lesser but still steep ones to the south. It has three sections. The first (Eastbound, which is how I went), is Little Shepherd Trail, which more or less follows a forest road of the same name. The second is the Highlands Section, which is the most popular. The third is the Birch Knob Section. The BKS has not been maintained like the other ones, which Myrel (and other sources I'd read) warned my about. I had GPS tracks for all three sections, and was planning to use Caltopo on my phone for my main navigation for the first and third sections. I had good paper maps for the Highlands Section.
I started the Little Shepherd Trail Monday afternoon. It was hot, 86F (30C), it had a lot of steep trail (albeit with great views), and I was carrying six days of food, so it was hard going. I hiked about five and a half miles that day, and set up my tent by the trail. Then I discovered that my power pack, which I had been carrying in order to recharge my phone, crapped out on me. So now I had to worry about having enough charge for the whole trail.
At about 12:30 that night a thunderstorm hit. It was the worst storm I had ever experienced from inside a tent. I was worried that the tent would be blown over. It didn't though, and the storm broke the heat. No other day of the hike was as hot as the first day. I had nice weather for the rest of the hike, actually.
On the second day I hiked the rest of the Little Shepherd Trail and a little of the Highlands Section, and stopped at Flamingo Shelter. I only hiked 11 miles, although I had been hoping to make at least 13 miles a day, which is what I'd averaged on the Foothills Trail a couple years ago.
On the third day, Wednesday, I hiked most of the Highlands Section, and camped at Kegan Gap Campsite, which is in Virginia. I also hiked only 11 miles that day. The food bag was getting slowly lighter, but there were still more steepness than I'd expected, and I think I might be getting old.
During the end of the third day and the beginning of the fourth I thought a lot about whether I should still do the Birch Knob Section. At 11 miles a day I would be able to make it with the food I had left, but Myrel and others had warned me about the lack of maintenance there, which could mean that my progress would be slowed down quite a bit. I also was worried about my phone running out of power, and that was the basis of my navigation. In the end I decided that, even though I might be able to make it, my margin of error was extremely small, and so I decided to bail at the road crossing which divides the sections. I ended up doing 32 miles (15 on LST and 17 on HS), and skipping the 26 miles of the Birch Knob Section.
So now I had the problem of how to get back to my car, which was parked at the end of the Birch Knob Section. I called Myrel, but he didn't answer the phone. There's a gas station/convenience store where the Highlands Section ends (in Virginia, but in sight of the Welcome to Kentucky sign). I mentioned that I needed to get to Elkhorn City to a guy sitting out in front of the store named Sean, who said he could take me. He said he had to walk to his sister's to get her car, and I fronted him $20 for gas. He walked off, and I never saw him again. An hour later a guy named Jefferson who worked in the store came out for a break, and said he could take me when he got off work. He did, and I paid him $40. He was a nice guy; we had a good talk about several subjects, including religion. (Myrel returned my call while I was riding in Jefferson's car.)
Over all, I enjoyed the Pine Mountain Trail, although I now realize my plan, even with the extra day I'd scheduled, had been too ambitious. There are a lot of great views over the hills of Kentucky, and a lot of interesting rock formations, including a large arch, several caves, and a narrow crack the trail went through that I had to remove my pack for. Spring was a little advanced from Connecticut, but the trees were still mostly leafless. There were a lot of mayapples, which I remembered from my childhood in Ohio, some violets, and other flowers I couldn't identify. I heard several owls and a whippoorwill at night. I also saw a lizard.
I'm glad I bailed, though, and didn't risk ending up lost and running out of food on a section of trail which rarely gets walked these days. Even the sections I did hike were mostly empty. Other than some cars and an ATV on Little Shepherd Trail I didn't see another person until about a mile from the end, when I met some hunters and a guy walking his dog.
You can see more pictures from this trip here.
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