Pine Grove Furnace State Park and the Appalachian Trail, PA

While we were staying in Michaux State Forest in Pennsylvania, we drove to Pine Grove Furnace State Park, approximately 7 miles away. Along the way is a trail head for the Appalachian Trail (AT). See these two links https://www.nps.gov/appa/index.htm, or http://www.appalachiantrail.org/ for more information on the AT.

You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.



At Pine Grove Furnace we stopped at the State Park office and the lady there was very knowledgeable about the history of the area.



There is an Appalachian Trail Museum in town, along with the AT going through town. It was interesting to see the posters about some of the people who had thru-hiked the AT, and some of the items they had in the building. It’s a pretty small building though, which used to be a grist mill for the town of Pine Grove Furnace.



For more pictures of the Pine Grove Furnace Visitor Center and the town of Pine Grove Furnace, and the AT Museum, please click here.

Free Camping in Michaux State Forest, Pennsylvania

On Freecampsites.net we found free camping in the Michaux State Forest in southeast Pennsylvania. This is approximately 15 miles from Gettysburg. There are camp/tent areas, but there are also two parking lots which larger vehicles can stay in. It is free, for seven days, but you have to apply for a permit with the State Forest Office. I called them a couple of days ahead of time and the personnel emailed me the form plus camping information and maps.

You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.



We got there on a Friday and had a couple campers there over the weekend, but during the week we were the only campers. There were bikers, hikers and horseback riders that came throughout the week.



While there we went to the town of Shippensburg, about 7 miles away, to see if we could get our mail sent to the post office this week. Also, to use internet, as there is very little cell service at our site. We were able to have mail sent General Delivery.



Pros in this area: (1) Free for 7 days; (2) Very few campers, none during the week while we were there; (3) Large parking lots to park in; (4) Hiking/biking/motorbike/ATV/horse trails all over, including access to the Appalachian Trail. (5) Decent size towns within 20 miles. (6) Paved roads. (7) There were 79 antenna TV channels, though most were the same ones.

Cons: (1) Very poor cell service, which we usually don’t stay at for more than one day, but we were able to get emails and texts, just couldn't send anything out.



There are two State Parks within the State Forest. Right off Hwy 30 is Caledonia State Park. Further north off of Hwy 233 is Pine Grove Furnace State Park. Our camping area is about half way in-between. I had read about an AT (Appalachian Trail) museum at the Pine Grove Furnace State Park, so one morning we drove up there to check it out. I’ll do a separate blog post for that.

Family Time in Virginia

Family time in Virginia usually involves some kind of remodeling, and this time we helped replace patio doors. They also put motion cameras outside and did a few odds and ends.



This spider was found behind the siding of the house.

We played Pokemon Go and took walks and played lots of cards. I did lots of baking and cooking. It was busy! It looks like I forgot to get a picture of Kuiper, their greyhound. He’s a big couch potato.