FITNESS FOR ALL TAKE A HIKE NEW MAPS, GUIDE BOOKS READY FOR FIRST-TIME AND VETERANS OF THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL
DON HOPEY
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com
02/24/98
(Copyright 1998)

If the challenge of your regular winter hike from the Barcalounger to the fridge has waned, this might be a good time to plan a trek on the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania.

That's because travelers this year on all or part of the AT's 230-mile arc through the Keystone State can expect a more colorful and exciting experience with something old and something new.

And that isn't even taking into account the health benefits of hiking with a 40-pound pack on your back - an activity that can burn more than 350 calories an hour. Multiply that by six or eight hours of hiking and you can pretty much eat all the Snickers bars you want and still lose weight.

Anyway, the something old that hikers may encounter this summer - other than the 400-million-year-old quartzite and sandstone that earned the state its "Rocksylvania" nickname - is Earl Shaffer.

His friends say Shaffer, the first man to hike end-to-end on the 2,150-mile trail from Georgia to Maine in 1948, is talking about doing it again to mark the 50th anniversary of his historic trek.

The 70-something Shaffer, who lives near the trail in York Springs, Adams County, on a small farm that he shares with goats and cats, is a bit of a recluse. But he still frequently day hikes on the AT in Pennsylvania and enjoys encountering hikers who know his name.

If he attempts another "thru-hike" this summer, his presence will create a major buzz, and enhance the experience for those lucky enough to have a chance encounter.

And the something new: While the trail itself remains much the same as last year through Caledonia and Pine Grove Furnace state parks, and the verdant Cumberland Valley south of Harrisburg and then north along rocky, ridgetops to the Delaware Water Gap, there is a new guide book (10th Edition) and new maps.

And hooray - the maps are in color. This is a certifiable big deal for hikers who have spent the last decade dealing with 13 black-and-white maps as outdated as a Zenith from the 1950s.

The Keystone Trails Association, which shares oversight of the AT in Pennsylvania with the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, is doing away with those black-and-whites and replacing them with four-color maps printed on waterproof, tear-proof, paper.

The two maps for this year, printed on flip sides of one sheet, will replace six old maps and cover the trail from Swatara Gap in Lebanon County to the Delaware Water Gap in Monroe County, a distance of 114 miles.

The KTA introduced its first color map last year, covering 24 miles from the Susquehanna River north to Swatara Gap.

Jean Aron, chair of the KTA's maps committee, said no new maps are planned to replace the old KTA maps for the trail south of the Susquehanna to the Maryland line. Instead, hikers will be directed to use the existing color maps of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club.

"I felt it was needless duplication and competition to produce maps of the same area," she said. "The PATC already has color maps so we'll just go with theirs."

The new maps and guidebook, available later this spring, top a short list of new trail developments in the state, according to Hugh Downing, editor of the KTA newsletter. There's a new Allentown hikers shelter in Lehigh County, and 56 new rock steps down to the distant spring at the Peters Mountain Shelter in Dauphin County.

All but five miles of the trail in the state now are located on publicly owned land, said Karen Lutz, mid-Atlantic regional representative for the Appalachian Trail Conference, the non-profit corporation that oversees the trail.

"The trail route is a lot more stable now because almost all of it is protected," Lutz said. "And we've been doing a lot more design work to make sure the treadway holds up for generations of traffic to come."

More than 90 percent of the 4 million people who put a boot-tread on the AT each year are day hikers, and Pennsylvania offers a host of those desirable short segments for both casual and serious hikers. Among the best are:

* From picturesque Boiling Springs to the Scott Farm Trail Work Center, an easy 11.3-mile walk just south of Harrisburg, along hedgerows, stone walls and farm fields in the Cumberland Valley is reminiscent of an English country stroll.

* Starting at the Clarks Ferry Bridge over the Susquehanna River up the Peters Mountain ridge, a 7.3-mile hike that climbs 750 feet up the stern face of the mountain. From the rocky spine, there are excellent views of the 444-mile long river, the longest crossed by the AT.

* If you're up for a long day or an overnight ramble, start at Clark Creek for a 16-mile trek through the St. Anthony Wilderness - the second largest roadless area in the state - to Swatara Gap, site of a new, much delayed state park.

And remember, north of the Cumberland Valley, Rocksylvania comes by its nickname honestly. Good boots are a must.

* For more information about the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania, visit the Keystone Trails Associationweb page at http://www.reston.com/kta/kta.html.

Order from the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club web site at http://patc.simplenet.com/maps.html.