The Great Wander of 2026 - Day 19

 

The Great Wander of 2026

Day 19: June 12th, 2026

States Hiked: Pennsylvania (16 total so far)

Trails Hiked: Hershey Medical Center Blue Loop, Northwest Ohio Storybook Trail

Distance Hiked: 2.8 miles, .5 miles

Elevation Gain: 72 ft. elev. gain, 3 ft. elev. gain

Cumulative Wander: 138.2 miles

Duration: 55m, 13m

Day 18

Day 17

Day 16

Day 15

Day 14

Day 13

Day 12

Day 11

Day 10

Day 9

Day 8

Day 7

Day 6, Part 2

Day 6, Part 1

Day 5

Day 4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

I'm not going to remember this day for the hikes, and I barely consider them to be so in the first place.

This was a day filled with obligation, delay, and terror. Everything that held me up from getting to my next destination ended up providing me with interesting timing for the evening's main event. 

The last time I'd traveled east, under much more duress mind you, the loop trail at Hershey Medical Center had been my reprieve from visiting a family member dealing with continuing medical difficulties. Though at one point, I was released and told to go hike a mountain to calm down because I was making everybody nervous, most of those few days were spent outside the facility, trying to calm my nerves, and getting Feeld pings from 20-year-olds who must've seen me turning 40 and decided the cougar signal was in the sky. I never took them up on it, because I didn't want to tuck them in and pack them a lunch for the next day, but it was flattering, I suppose. Then I went to hike Peter's Mountain, met a thru-hiker showing me pictures of rattlesnakes, and barely knew I was about to get my heart broken. 

This time, I just had to drop someone's bag off, and I wandered around HMC for a half hour before finally locating them. One obligation down.

Then, I had to pick up a care package sent to my parents' address with registration tags and a meds refill I otherwise wouldn't have in time, and nothing says "gonna have a bad time" like the end of a three-week wander in meds withdrawal. 

I didn't make great road decisions for heading west either, and that likely held me up even more. My legs were angry at me for only doing a tiny hike, but with my end goal being a hotel in Merrillville, Indiana, I at least wanted to get some sleep at the halfway point before I got to La Crosse, Wisconsin, which would be my final stop before heading home. 

I refuse to give the Pennsylvania Turnpike any toll money for their exorbitant prices, and on the way east, I'm pretty sure 96.8 percent of the Ohio Turnpike was under construction, so the Lincoln Highway it was. 

I did a tiny Adventure Lab at a rest stop in Ohio, but as I entered the Fort Wayne area, the sky was illuminated with so much lightning that it looked like fireworks. The tornado sirens were blaring. I scanned the AM stations searching for more information, but everything was listed by county, and that didn't help. The instruction was "vehicles on road take shelter," but in an unfamiliar area like this, I wasn't even sure what that meant. 

Then I arrived at my hotel shortly before midnight and found out that a tornado touched down one highway exit away. Perhaps the delays in my journey were an unexpected advantage in this regard.

Also, I'm a hiker, I guess.

The Great Wander of 2026 - Day 18

 

The Great Wander of 2026

Day 18: June 11th, 2026

States Hiked: Pennsylvania (16 total so far)

Trails Hiked: York County Heritage Trail

Distance Hiked: 14.0 miles

Elevation Gain: 531 ft. elev. gain

Cumulative Wander: 134.9 miles

Duration: 4h 31m

Day 17

Day 16

Day 15

Day 14

Day 13

Day 12

Day 11

Day 10

Day 9

Day 8

Day 7

Day 6, Part 2

Day 6, Part 1

Day 5

Day 4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

The choice to hike this trail on my last day in Pennsylvania was less about finding somewhere new or challenging and more about returning to where my passions all began long before I called myself a hiker, or photographer for that matter. 

When my great-grandmother passed at age 100, my parents asked if I wanted to go by her old house. "Sure," I replied, "when am I ever gonna be in that small town ever again?" 

The only thing I remembered from being there were the railroad tracks through the backyard, where my great-grandfather would walk out, get picked up, and go to work on the railroad all the livelong day. 

But when we got there, they were in the midst of being torn up. I took several photographs just to document the memory, grateful I'd seen it before they were gone. Then I found out that was a niche photography group, so I started looking for more, which led me to rail trails, which led me to documenting more photo journeys.

Then I started tracking FitBit steps. And people started saying they enjoyed my photography, which was interesting because I'd never had any training, nor did I know why they were good, but I'm never one to turn down praise. I still don't know why people think they're good. 

Living in Central Pennsylvania at the time, there was no shortage of abandoned railway infrastructure. I learned the signs of the landscape and patterns from the aerial views. Logging more miles, taking more photos, I started to love the concept of rail trails, but wished they left some of that abandoned infrastructure intact for my own selfish photographical purposes. 

Then I discovered the York County Heritage Trail. 

On one end in York, abandoned spur routes and industrial buildings were everywhere (it is York after all, the place LIVE sang about so affectionately). But on the other was New Freedom, with an excursion train complete with performers, and the tracks left intact along the trail to the Maryland border. 

Before I moved to Minnesota in 2017, I put in a lot of miles and photographs on the southern end of this trail, including visiting the rail cafe, the town of Glen Rock, and the lovely preserved station at Hanover Junction. It was even a rendezvous point for me with someone I was dating who lived in Maryland at the time, and we took photos together as a date. 

I sure can put in more miles than I used to; and I intended to get to the Howard Tunnel before I turned back, but I had one of those Rhode Island storm feelings. Good thing I did too, because the last two miles of the return were filled with thunder claps and looming darkness. This time I barely missed the storm, which would definitely totally absolutely be the theme for the rest of the trip. Nothing bad happened. "It's fine," promised Lio Rush. 

The trail still hits, even in the muggy-ass sun.

The Great Wander of 2026 - Day 17

 

The Great Wander of 2026

Day 17: June 10th, 2026

States Hiked: Pennsylvania (16 total so far)

Trails Hiked: (redacted) Neighborhood, Appalachian Trail: Boiling Springs to White Rocks

Distance Hiked: 1.3 miles, 7.4 miles

Elevation Gain: 36 ft. elev. gain, 771 ft. elev. gain

Cumulative Wander: 119.9 miles

Duration: 24m, 2h 25m

Day 16

Day 15

Day 14

Day 13

Day 12

Day 11

Day 10

Day 9

Day 8

Day 7

Day 6, Part 2

Day 6, Part 1

Day 5

Day 4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

The Appalachian Trail was once again calling my name. 

Annapolis Rock wasn't enough for this trip, so I searched different areas that went through the area where I grew up. The previous summer, I'd covered nearly 20 miles, starting from the place that connected my neighborhood to where my friend in 6th grade lived. Now that I say that, maybe I really was more into this at a younger age than I realized...

But first, I was going to partake in something that Minnesota and Wisconsin just don't have figured out, to my utter and continuing incredulity... diners. 

In addition to thinking Kwik Trip is remotely the shit (it'd be a third-rate Turkey Hill at best in Pennsylvania), for some reason the greasy spoon diners that were plentiful both where I grew up and in Washington just don't seem to exist where I live. So, when I'm back in the area, I always go to Sheetz, I always pick up Grandma Utz's kettle chips, and I need to go to a diner. Not that places like Original Pancake House aren't really good, if you can get there at 6am before the line backs up, but sometimes you just want to get the 7.99 special and have a waitress who has seen some things, probably smoked a pack of Marlboros, and has no time for your bullshit. After a little stroll in the neighborhood waiting for everyone to wake up and be ready, that's exactly what we did. With how much the Midwest loves their food, it's beyond me why there isn't a diner in every little township like there is in Pennsylvania. 

Now that I had three days' worth of calories from one of those establishments, the urge to hit the AT as well as perhaps add another mountain to the list was overwhelming. I hadn't been to Boiling Springs since a breakup in 2011, and I wondered if it was still the beautiful town I remembered, or if my unfortunate ending there had pierced the veil. 

Nope.

While the town's population made me more nervous than it did back then, Boiling Springs feels like one of those colonial towns that never truly adapted to modern times, so something as rugged as the AT going right through it made thematic sense. 

Heading back from the access point, I noticed that the road to my right was the place where the aforementioned dissolution transpired. 15 years later, I was in the best shape of my life, both mentally and physically, and memories like that could no longer derail my entire week. 

Getting to the top of Center Point Knob wasn't too difficult, about what Annapolis Rock was minus all the tourists. But at the top, the AT blue blaze led me to the White Rocks, which both seemed gorgeous and terrifying, as I'd heard enough stories about rattlesnakes living under such. 

I decided I'd tempted fate enough times this trip. Not like I'd run into a tornado or anything later... 

Superior Hiking Trail #5-3 - Onion River Road to Lutsen Mountains

Superior Hiking Trail

Map 5 - Section 3

Lutsen Mountain Recreation Area to Onion River Road Trailhead, Return via Gitchee-Gumi Trail

Date Hiked - November 23rd, 2025

Miles - 18.5

Elevation Gain - 2418 ft. 

Duration - 7h 10m

It's the same Superior Hiking Trail that it is all year...

Except for the unseasonably lovely weather in November, and how early it got dark, and the lack of North Shore tourists, and no bears, and no mosquitos, and no ticks, and no overgrowth... 

Come to think of it, I think I prefer hiking the SHT in the autumn, especially when I don't have to make the four-hour drive home afterwards! 

I don't know why it took me so long to think of the idea. The hike the previous weekend likely got me wound up for the Superior Hiking Trail after spending most of the summer in Washington state. September saw my life turn into a whirlwind of status quo disturbances, and yet, therapy and proper medication were bringing me to a fully present state in reality in a way I'd never before experienced, and by late November, I appreciated every moment on the trail without the need for escapism or dissociation. 

And again, a lovely weekend stay at the Mountain Inn, rather than attempting to drive four hours after a seven hour hike? Definitely allowed me to press farther and harder than I might've otherwise, especially since all I had to do was walk up the rest of the hill to get started. 

I started northward with a decent climb to the overlook around the bend, fallen leaves crunching beneath every step, and the barren trees leading to incredible sightlines normally impossible at times when most of the tourists are present in Northern Minnesota. Instead of continuing northward, I doubled back and opted for the journey through Mystic and Moose Mountains respectively. Every step along the trail in the solitary seclusion the SHT provided me on that day injected energy and healing into my once-deprived stable state of mind. The steep ascents and descents for which the SHT is notorious didn't bother me in late November as they might've with greenery, bugs, and chokeable humidity levels, and trading that for 40 degrees and an early sunset was more than worth it. 

But also, dear Wanderloon, maybe noting that approach of early darkness would've been advisable to recall while working down an intense and difficult hike when a return trip would need to be considered? 

I'm a wanderer. Even with being therapized and medicated, some things will never change. 

With a few extra hours of daylight, I probably would've done the Oberg Mountain Loop in addition to the considerable miles and elevation gained with this southward trek, but that whole thing of deep woods with no light and treacherous terrain? How about I not do that? 

It still got dark, I'm not hiding from that at all (even though I could've, because it was dark, you see.) But, twilight visibility and decreasing temperatures were easier to manage on a paved trail that placed me back at the road up to Lutsen by the time it was dark, rather than fucking around with rock staircases that take pleasure in tripping fools. 

Epic Hikes of Washington State - Green Mountain

Green Mountain

Date Hiked: August 9th, 2025

Trail Hiked: Green Mountain via Gold Creek and Wildcat Trails, Green Mountain Lookout via Gold Creek Trail, Green mountain via Davis and Gold Creek Trail, 

Distance Hiked: 9.87 miles

Elevation Gain: 1414 ft. 

Duration: 3h 26m

Green Mountain is one of those hikes that would be the highlight of an entire region in most states.

But in Washington, it's more of a "hey, it's close!" 

That is not to disparage the hike whatsoever, it was a lot of fun. The gains were intense but not exhausting, the mix of terrain and sights were pretty decent, and coming out to the overlook was pretty sweet once the forest cleared way. But, again, it's Washington, so the best views are of mountain hikes that would probably be significantly more awesome and intense, so it's an odd mix of feeling accomplished and... I don't know... like settling for a somewhat moderate hike when a quest would've been attainable? 

It doesn't make sense, but even in the thumbnail above, I crave the gains and views that would've been better than this one. 

Then I also have to remind myself that hikes like this are necessary to get to hikes like the ones in the distance, and I have to say "shut up with your facts and logic, Brain. I want to do the bigger mountains!" Easier to say a year later with strong mental health and another year's worth of experience, strength, conditioning, and progress, but alas.

The summer of 2025 in Washington had been the exact opposite of the stereotypical expectations. When one pictures Washington state, there's normally a lot of misty rain, fog, and other conditions that implore folx to find those Vitamin D supplements and have them at the ready. Instead, it was unexpectedly dry, sunny, and clear, leading to skylines and horizons such as this one, with infinitely better visibility than, say, my Mt. Walker hike where the view was non-existent. 

Without the gaping void in my soul and the constant pit in my stomach, I think I would've appreciated this one a lot more than I did at the time. Hiking was an escape from a spirit-crushing depression (soon rectified by the correct medication and life alterations), and I don't think I appreciated a hike like this for much more than the squiggly circle on the app and the cumulative stats that followed the conclusion. It makes me want to go back for another chance to appreciate it more, but with the aforementioned experience and conditioning, I simultaneously want to pursue the harder ones I avoided at the time. It's admittedly a privileged position to be in, but those views call to me more than they did at the time, understandably. 

I sound like I'm trashing the hike, and I don't mean to. It's a decent hike with a lovely view, but I remember next to nothing about it, and that's on me, not the hike itself. I was just in such a bad place at the time that even something like "not doing a more difficult hike" felt like a personal failure for which I should've felt guilty. Such a weird thing to say. 

What a difference taking care of one's mental health makes! 

The Great Wander of 2026 - Day 16

 

The Great Wander of 2026

Day 16: June 8th, 2026

States Hiked: Pennsylvania (16 total so far)

Trails Hiked: (redacted) Neighborhood, Mechanicsburg, PA, Middlesex Township Park Trail

Distance Hiked: .6 miles, 2.2 miles

Elevation Gain: 36 ft. elev. gain, 157 ft. elev. gain

Cumulative Wander: 111.2 miles

Duration: 12m, 39m

Day 15

Day 14

Day 13

Day 12

Day 11

Day 10

Day 9

Day 8

Day 7

Day 6, Part 2

Day 6, Part 1

Day 5

Day 4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

In the grand scope of things, I'd barely consider this distinctive from a zero day. But, it was more the sentiment of the short hikes than the actual miles gained that meant something to me. 

On the morning of the 8th, my chosen family went for a walk with me in the neighborhood, and that mattered far more to me than when or where we went. For the second time, they were putting up with me twice within a short timeframe of each other (last year), and they never made me feel like an intrusion or a bother. Especially at this point in life, that matters so much more than it ever did before. 

The neighborhood was lovely, being shown around was better, and the company couldn't be beat. 

The second stop was a combination of waiting for my parents to be available, and seeing an area to which I hadn't traveled since I was young enough to be involved there. 

When I was a kid, there were separate baseball fields shortly down the road from each other. There were two on the lower end of the hill. One was for "Pony" leagues, which I think was ages 8-9. It was diagonally opposed by the "Teener" field, which was appropriately named. Because of the limited fields back then, there were sometimes practices in between the outfield fences of the two called the "Tweener Field" because clever. This would no longer be necessary.

Up by the township building, there was the "Major" field, ages 10-12, and when I was at the age for that to be appropriate, it was considered the "nice" option. Nobody wanted the Pony field, as it was down by a bunch of bugs, the infield was of lesser quality, and the Major field just felt like a big deal, being up on the ridge and closer to the road. 

Funnily enough, it's now the worst-looking of the available options a few decades later. Things are always changing. 

But, this park was no longer two fields nearby and one field by the township building. The number of fields has doubled, and I saw softball being played specifically on one of the fields built since then. I saw a splashpad, tennis/pickleball courts, disc golf, and of course, a hiking trail that connects the two parks. None of this infrastructure was there the last time I traveled to this park. 

It's not a particularly difficult hike by any means, nor was I looking for anything but a few miles on the trail, a verified complete badge, and the feeling that I did more than nothing at this point in the Wander. Nearing the end of my time to free roam, I didn't want to miss any opportunity, no matter how minimal. 

I spent this evening (and the two following) with my parents, and I think that's more time I've gotten to be with them since I moved to Minnesota in 2017. A genuine privilege it was, indeed. How fortunate. 

The Great Wander of 2026 - Day 15

 

The Great Wander of 2026

Day 15: June 7th, 2026

States Hiked: Maryland (16 total so far)

Trails Hiked: Annapolis Rock via Appalachian Trail

Distance Hiked: 5.4 miles

Elevation Gain: 837 ft. elev. gain

Cumulative Wander: 108.4 miles

Duration: 1h 51m

Day 14

Day 13

Day 12

Day 11

Day 10

Day 9

Day 8

Day 7

Day 6, Part 2

Day 6, Part 1

Day 5

Day 4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

The only reason I stayed at a hotel in West Virginia was proximity to seeing family in Maryland, and as soon as I got the opportunity, I yeeted myself far away from that state where only bad memories and fears remained. I don't know what was going on that weekend, but it was the closest reasonably-priced hotel in my network at a mere 90 minutes away, so I did what I had to. 

On the way to eastern Maryland though, a bridge crossing the 70 labeled Appalachian Trail caught my attention.

Immediately deciding I needed more miles on the AT to prepare for the inevitable thru-hike, my positive energy from Vermonters still brimming with delight, I saw the choices were Annapolis Rock or Washington Monument (would've done both had time permitted). Opting for Annapolis Rock, I broke out my sticks and joyfully approached the AT in a new state for the first time. 

Despite what I write about on here, there are times where I think I'm probably just an average hiker with an abundance of enthusiasm. 

Then, I get on a trail like this on a Sunday when it's swarming with trail tourists, and even when I tried to slow down as to not pass the groups, it was inevitable. I remembered where I was. 

This is not to bitch about people having the right to hike where they want to. Of course they do, and trail tourists are expected, particularly at easy grade rises with splendid views at the top. 

But also, I feel like if you're setting foot on one of the Triple Crown, maybe at least pretend to know trail code and etiquette, maybe? 

"Hey, maybe let's not all walk beside each other and not pay attention to people trying to get around us?" 

"Hey, let's not glare at people for having the nerve to be hiking past us?"

"Hey, let's not toss our trash on the trail?"

None of those ideas should be unreasonable on any trail, let alone the AT. But, I made the mistake of going on a Sunday with beautiful weather, so the joke's really on me for having expectations even remotely divergent from such. This is why I normally try to get on the trail early in the morning, because the tourists often don't get there until noon. I was also spoiled by the folx at Camel's Hump, so it was likely extra annoyance for that reason, which is nobody's fault entirely, but also... Stop being garbage and pick up your garbage, ya tourist fucks. 

Nothing about this hike felt like 837 ft. in elevation gain. The grade was mostly gentle, a lot of it aided by foundational steps, and the terrain was never even slightly terrible. The AT's standards don't allow for it, but I've been disappointed before. 

As for the view, it was a rock, it was apparently named Annapolis, and there were so many people on it that I snuck up for one aerial photograph and immediately departed.