Join Sara and I for some Spring Backpacking, Camping in the Rain, and Trail Cooking on the Pinchot Trail southern loop.
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For this early spring camping trip, my wife Sara and I set out to do some backpacking with our dog and explore Pennsylvania’s Pinchot Trail southern loop. I had done the northern loop a couple of weeks before and it was quite nice, so I was looking forward to seeing what this new section had to offer.
For shelter, we packed in our 4 person tent as well as a huge tarp to give us some extra living space during the rain storm that was forecasted to hit in the afternoon and turn into snow by the next morning.
The bottom of the Pinchot Trail South loop runs along Choke Creek, which offers a string of 6 or so beautiful waterside campsites over the course of a mile or so. Legend has it that the last of those campsites is the most picturesque, so our goal was to hike in a few miles to the creek and get to that coveted campsite before the afternoon rain started. If the weather broke early, we would aim to take one of the earlier campsites.
Route Overview – Pinchot Trail South Backpacking Loop – Sintax77
Join Sara and I for some hiking, trail cooking, and backpacking on a hammock camping trip in Shenandoah National Park.
For this hiking adventure, Sara and I will be revisiting Shenandoah National park for Sara’s second dose of hammock camping out in the wild along with a healthy dose of backcountry cooking and camp food. We did a previous backpacking trip not too far from here in Shenandoah a mere two weeks before, and it went quite well. It wasn’t, however, exactly the experience that we had set out to do.
You see, for that particular trip, I may have sold it as a rather relaxed excursion. And depending on your perspective, it very well may have been just that. But for Sara, who’s most recent backpacking memories prior to that trip were that of a grueling elevation-fest through the White Mountains, it wasn’t quite the reprieve we were looking for.
The required prescription was a high dose of low mileage, potent lounging, and dense pancakes. Thankfully, the trip seen in this video hit the spot. Below are some details and trip data for the trip, although there isn’t much of it. But that’s exactly what we were going for. Check out my Trip Data Page to get full GPS data for this trip.
Parking: Meadow Spring Trailhead (Mile 34 on Skyline Drive)
N38° 38.304′ W78° 18.823′
Day 1 Trails Used (in order): Hazel Mountain Trail
Turn Left on White Rocks Trail Camp along White Rocks Trail (see my GPS Data for potential campsites on either side of trail)
After setting up camp, take a half mile round trip down to Hazel Falls, for happy hour.
Day 1 Stats: Mileage: 3.2 miles (includes half mile excursion from camp down to Hazel Falls and back) Gross Elevation Gain: 390′ Gross Elevation Loss: 1,175′
Day 2 Trails Used (in order):
Wake Up, Eat Pancakes (this is important – trip will not work properly without this step!) White Rocks Trail
Right on Hazel Creek Trail
Day 2 Stats: Mileage: 2.5 miles (not nearly enough to burn off those pancakes, you’re gonna have to go to the gym tomorrow…) Gross Elevation Gain: 699′ Gross Elevation Loss: 75′
Notable Backpacking Food for this Trip: Bisquick Shake ‘n Pour Pancake Mix Packit Gourmet Dehydrated Maple Syrup and Blueberries
Packit Gourmet Queso Dip with a regular ol’ bag of Tostito’s Scoops (wheat, because we’re obviously healthy and stuff)
Packit Gourmet Texas State Fair Chili (I lost my mind eating this stuff on this winter video, after climbing Mt Washington)
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w/ cheap dollar store utensils for cooking