2026 AT Section Hikes - Day 31: PA Route 873 to Smith Gap Rd.

Day 31 - (Sat, 27 Jun): 12.9 miles nobo slackpack from PA Route 873 (1261.4) to Smith Gap Rd (1274.3). Total 2026 AT Miles ≈ 363.5 Total AT Miles ≈ 2021 I have ≈177 miles left to complete the AT. I have 23.6 miles left to complete PA. I took the inclement weather route out of Palmerton due to the rain. It ended up raining all day long so I did not get very many photos or videos. I was so wet that I couldn't even unlock my phone because my hand would just slip right across the screen of the phone. I did not have one dry spot on me in which two dry my hands off to use the phone. The rain did stop for approximately 20 minutes so I was able to get a few pictures and videos at that point. Unfortunately, it was pretty well flat at that point and so I did not get pictures of these steep rocks or rack scrambles or Boulder popping I had to do. Of course I took all those really slow because the rocks were wet and a little slippery. A family called The Rock Family provided Trail magic at one of the road crossings. There were three generations of that family there, a grandson, his dad and his grandpa. All three of them have hiked the Appalachian Trail at one point. It's all very exciting I've gone over 2,000 total AT miles and I am below 200 miles left to do to complete the trail.